I recently attended a protest against the unconstitutional, dehumanizing, and authoritarian-leaning Muslim ban last weekend, signed into effect by President Trump in an executive action. I am unequivocal in my belief that this is not a terrorist ban, as Trump puts it, as the majority of countries banned are majority-Muslim countries and have also produced some of the fewest amounts of terrorists statistically.

To dehumanize, disparage, and discriminate against billions of human beings and Americans solely due to their religious beliefs and practices is an inhumane and unforgivable thing. It is unsettling in its deep resemblance of fascist, authoritarian regimes of the past. It is a truth that history does, indeed, repeat itself, and we see this now, with civic action- power of the people, democracy forming and evolving passionately- in response to an unsustainable tyranny. We may have a government that transcends one bad leader, but the latent forces erupting under the surface in Trumpism have always been there; they are finding a place to flourish, a place to express themselves. It is too easy to simplify this. We must participate and engage in an honest, fact-based, empathetic, and unrelenting democratic process now. We must create intellectual spaces where civic education is a priority and an excitement, a passion, not a forgettable duty to neglect.

I see change blooming and bursting in these crowds. There is pain and loss and suffering, but there is also an unapologetic, explosive nature about the collective hunger for equity and change in these people. This is where we start to see change erupt, but as one sign so brilliantly said, revolution is not a one-time event. It can’t be. So let us protest and feel what we feel, and let us also get engaged and in action. We will agitate and organize. We will resist and critique. This is where the change starts.

These photos were taken at a protest last weekend in Copley Square in Boston.