Congressman Joe Kennedy III wasn't one of the featured speakers. But Kennedy – with his mother Sheila Rauch, wife Lauren Birchfield, and one year-old daughter Eleanor – joined roughly 125,000 protesters gathered on Boston Common Saturday at the Boston Women’s March for America.
Not surprisingly, Kennedy was disappointed with the newly inaugurated President Donald Trump.
“[Trump] had an opportunity to try and unite a country, while he had the world watching him, and decided not to do that,” Kennedy said. “It’s extraordinarily disappointing and disheartening, and it’s up to us to make sure he understands that there are an awful lot of people out there that don’t share those views, that are willing to stand up for each other, that are willing to fight for each other, and fight for our country. I think the statement today is pretty loud and clear.”
When asked if his intention was to protest President Trump, Kennedy, a Democrat, said he was keeping a watchful eye.
“I’m not a fan of the new president, he ran a campaign that I think is against an awful lot of values that I believe in,” he said. “I think my job is to stand up for those values where we can, and if he tries to reach out to people that don’t necessarily share some of his views and recognize that he’s now the president of 320 million Americans, and not just the 60 million that voted for him, then great. But this is a big country, it’s a diverse country, there’s an awful lot of voices in this country that are concerned and uncertain and afraid of the vision that he’s going to bring to our government.”
U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren and Edward Markey, Attorney General Maura Healey and Mayor Marty Walsh made speeches, and were joined in the march by Kennedy. Boston’s protest was one of over 670 marches held around the world Saturday in support of equal rights.
