It was a most colorful affair, but a peaceful one.
An estimated 400 activists gathered at Mall A, a public square in downtown Cleveland Monday to voice their criticism of GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump. They came from across the country and comprised a broad swath of liberal and progressive organizations, including Code Pink, Black Lives Matter and the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign. For over an hour, activists passionately addressed the crowd, occasionally breaking into familiar protest chants like "The people, united, can never be defeated!"
The main message?
That a Donald Trump presidency would create even more poverty and take the country backwards.
“I'm here to tell you there is not a problem of scarcity, there's a problem of greed," Cheri Honkala, a national organizer with the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign. "There's enough to go around in this country.”
Honkala, like many on the left, aren't exactly enthusiastic about the other side of the aisle, either. She said a Hillary Clinton presidency wouldn't be much better, and urged former Bernie Sanders supporters to back Green Party nominee Jill Stein.
“The thing is, they say that we have to choose between two evils in this country and I say no," she said. "Because I ain't with her. I'm with Dr. Jill Stein.”
Frank Chapman of the Chicago Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression called for an end to divisive politics seen in the likes of Trump's inflammatory campaign rhetoric.
“What he's trying to do, he's trying to disunite us. Black against white, black against brown, gay against straight, women against men," he said. "He is trying to divide us. We cannot accept that division. We are going to stand united and defeat this racist, aren't we?”
This article appears in Jul 14-21, 2016.