At a busy Tulsa intersection housing strip malls with Starbucks and cell phone stores, more than 200 people turned out to demonstrate against President Donald Trump Saturday.
Trump has been in office for about three months, and some people gathered at 71st Street and Memorial Drive said they’re feeling the effects of his dramatic overhaul to government personally.
April Nesbit is a professor of biology at East Central University in Ada. She drove two hours to protest because a federally funded internship offered through OK-INBRE was eliminated for her science students.
“Some of them have worked on cancer meds, some of them have worked on disease studies. It has to be health care related, everything is health care related. I’ve had students who worked on antibiotics, discovering novel antibiotics,” said Nesbit.
Nesbit said her students will have to find other summer jobs that most likely will not involve science.
Larry Miller, 70, and his family have lost $15,000 in investments since Trump took office. Trump’s chaotic tariff policy has roiled markets across the country.
“So we’re a little concerned about it,” said Miller.
Other protestors cited living with worry and fear. Carmen Michel is retired after teaching public school for 24 years. She said the dismantling of the U.S. Department of Education drove her to stand by the side of the road and wave a sign.
“I don’t know what else to do. Right now, this is the only thing I can do. These are my two cents. And if I could think of anything else to do, I would gladly do it,” said Michel.
Tulsa’s protest was one of hundreds across the country encouraged by the 50501 Movement, which describes itself as a decentralized network opposing the "anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration.”
The 50501 campaign says interest has been growing in its organizing efforts that began shortly after Trump’s election. On Feb. 5, the group estimates there were about 80 protests in 88 cities.
