Protestors March of Fifth Avenue, Demanding Every Vote be Counted
By Anna Mutoh, published: Columbia Journalism on Medium, Nov 5, 2020
Protestors congregated in Washington Square Park after marching down Fifth Avenue from Bryant Park. Photo by Anna Mutoh
Hundreds of protestors marched along Fifth Avenue Wednesday to demand that every vote be counted, as President Trump moved to halt the vote count in three states.
Former Vice President Joe Biden was ahead of Trump, with four states yet to be called Wednesday night.
“We are here tonight to make certain that the world knows that we’re watching and that we will not allow him to get away with undermining democracy,” said Robert Croonquist, 72, who carried a sign saying, “Defend democracy. Count Every vote!” as his friend Michi Takeuchi pushed him in a wheelchair.
The crowd of around 500 marched from the New York City Public Library at 42nd Street to Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, chanting, “count every vote, every vote counts” and “no hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here.” The protestors were of every age but many walked with canes or were in wheelchairs.
Kellen Gold, 23, a student with Protect the Results, said several organizations were involved in the march, including Rise and Resist and New York Communities for Change. Similar groups protested across country, from Seattle to Washington, D.C.
“I wanted to be in New York City for Election Day, with my people,” said Elaine Matthews, a retired climate change researcher at the Goddard Institute for Space Studies, who just moved back to New York from California. She heard about the march from the Granny Peace Brigade, a group of 80 and 90-year-olds. Matthews helped hold a 10-by-10 foot sign that said “count every vote” six times in big block letters.
As the mask-wearing group inched closer to Washington Square Park, passers-by and shop owners stood on the sidewalk cheering and clapping hands. Protesters were escorted by police, who said the march was peaceful.
“There’s a reason everybody is this passionate,” said Takeuchi, a second-generation survivor of Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped the atomic bomb during World War II. She is not a U.S. citizen and said she was frustrated more than ever that she could not vote.
“We are at the brink of U.S. democracy’s breaking point,” she said.
Michi Takeuchi (top left), a 40-year New York resident and second generation survivor of the World War II atomic bomb in Hiroshima, Japan is a member of Youth Arts New York Hibakusha Stories, and collaborates with her friend Robert Croonquist, 72, who is here to march with Rise and Resist (bottom left in wheelchair) Photo by Anna Mutoh
Many chanting on Fifth Avenue were in their seventies marching down to Washington Square Park. Photo by Anna Mutoh
The scene on Fifth Avenue the evening after the election, as protestors turned out to demand that every vote be counted. Photo by Anna Mutoh