Culture & Community | Education & Youth | Arts & Culture | New Haven Public Schools | Citywide Youth Coalition | May Day
Student speakers ranged from Rosa, who read poetry, to immigrant rights advocate Ambar Santiago-Rojas. GraceHowe Photos.
Fifteen-year-old Journey Rosa’s words boomed across the New Haven Green, as they stood center stage in front of hundreds of people.
“I’ve heard justice in the way my own voice learned to stand up straight,” Rosa read. “I am fifteen/ Not fragile, not fresh/ Not some soft idea of hope.”
Dressed in red, Rosa stood among dozens of other New Haven Public Schools students, teachers, and the city of New Haven workers who, many of whom shared their own speeches to the audience.
In celebration of May Day, or International Workers’ Day, hundreds gathered on the New Haven Green Thursday afternoon, as New Haven Rising led a protest and march for labor unions, LGBTQ+ and immigrant rights, fully funded schools, and the general safeguarding of Democracy as the country veers toward authoritarianism and drastic cuts to federal funding.
Top: New Haven Academy senior Melissa Rodriguez and ESUMS senior Ambar Santiago-Rojas. Bottom: Wilbur Cross High School senior June, New Haven Academy junior Ruby Takacs and James Hillhouse High School senior Alice McGill.
At the rally, both speakers and attendees created and held space for working class solidarity, immigrant rights, access to healthcare, housing, and education, public school students and teachers, and every American who has had their rights threatened by the Trump Administration since the president’s inauguration in January.
Partners on the rally included the New Haven Federation of Teachers, City Wide Youth Coalition, Unidad Latina en Acción, CT Students for A Dream, Hartford Deportation Defense, the Hartford Jewish Organizing Collective, Husky 4 Immigrants, Make The Road Connecticut, CT for All, and over a dozen others.
But it was students like Rosa, alongside a lineup of charismatic speakers, that put into words the raw and fiery feelings of the afternoon.
“They break our spines and ask why we don’t stand tall / They play Monopoly with our homes and call it capitalism / They cut our schools and say the budget can’t stretch!” Rosa roared as they revved up the crowd. “But billionaires don’t leave dollars when it’s war machines they’re supplying.”
Middle photo: Rashanda Mccollum and her Students for Educational Justice students. Bottom: Rev. Marks and NHFT leadership lead the march ... behind the Cross drumline.
The Wilbur Cross High School Marching Band kicked off the march, their drums sending vibrating booms over downtown. Behind them, members of the crowd found the power in their voices, the chants carrying across the Green and down Chapel Street. As the sun slowly began to set in the sky, it cast a striking beam across the crowd, and people appeared to glow.
We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us, one poster read as it turned gem-colored in the sunlight. Erase all borders/ No one is illegal, read another.
“We stood up and fought back,” chanted Rev. Scott Marks, director of New Haven Rising. “And we will fight again.”
Held just about a month after the nationwide “Hands Off” protest that took place in April, May Day's rally captured a specific New Haven pride, too. It was evident in the march and in the speeches that New Haven takes care of its people—even if the state won’t—especially if the country won’t.
“The working class is the strongest group of individuals in the United States, we are the people,” said New Haven Academy history teacher Dave Senderoff, who wore red to work for May Day and signed up to attend the rally. “We’re not going to give up and we are invested in our future, our future is the children, and the children need to be educated.”
Grayce Howe is a senior at New Haven Academy. She was the Arts Paper's 2024 New Haven Academy spring intern. The New Haven Academy internship is a program for NHA juniors that pairs them with a professional in a field that is interesting to them.