SCOTUS Ruling Evokes Range of Dismay among Demonstrators on Bedford Common

June 24, 2022
Standing up for their beliefs ~ Image, Mike Rosenberg (c) 2022 all rights reserved

 

Rich Daugherty with a sign he first held in 1973 ~ Image, Mike Rosenberg (c) 2022 all rights reserved

Rich Daugherty attached a hand-made sign to a nine-foot metal pole: “I Dream That Women One Day Will Have the Same Rights as Guns.”

“It’s from 1973,” he explained, adding, “I thought we won.”

Daugherty and more than 30 others—mostly women—lined The Great Road along the north side of the Common during rush hour Friday in a semi-spontaneous protest of the U.S. Supreme Court’s announcement earlier in the day overturning Roe v. Wade.

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A rock-solid perch ~ Image, Mike Rosenberg (c) 2022 all rights reserved

There were two generations along the street, plus a couple of kids perched on top of the World War I memorial boulder, their faces obscured by their sign, “Pack the Court.”

Signs expressed some of the moods evoked by the ruling: protest (“SCOTUS Has Betrayed Women”); defiance (“Rise Up” and “Fight Back”); solidarity (“Honk If You Trust Women”); principled (“Women’s Rights are Human Rights”).

An impromptu sign workshop ~ Image, Mike Rosenberg (c) 2022 all rights reserved

One sign read “Happy Birthday,” but the owner just needed the blank side of the poster board to write a more appropriate message.

The group numbered around 10 at 5 p.m., but more than tripled in size by 5:30 as more participants drifted in from different directions. Several were veterans of racial justice demonstrations in the same spot over the past two-plus years.

Passing drivers almost universally showed support with horns and gestures.

Mike Rosenberg can be reached at [email protected], or 781-983-1763

 

Impromptu demonstration to protest SCOTUS ruling on Roe v. Wade on June 24, 2022—50 years and 1 day after Title IX legislation was signed by Richard Nixon, affording women’s athletics the protection of gender equity with men’s teams ~ Image, Mike Rosenberg (c) 2022 all rights reserved
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Clare S
June 25, 2022 4:27 pm

I do not like in any way that Rich’s sign from 50 years ago is relevant again today. But I do like that he is out there holding it. Thanks to all who speak out in troubled times.

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