This morning, Julia Sutton will slip on a red skirt speckled with white elephants to watch the inauguration of the 45th U.S. president.
Sutton will sit on the Capitol lawn as incoming President Donald Trump is sworn in, an event she’s been looking forward to since she voted for the real-estate mogul in November. Unlike some of her peers, she is excited to see Trump shake up Washington D.C.
“He’s definitely much different than the past Republican candidates we’ve elected,” said the 21-year-old UF public relations senior.
While Sutton watches the incoming president take office, other Gainesville residents will be watching, too, but not all in admiration. Some will hold signs, parading through the streets of D.C. at the Women’s March on Washington, while others will express their contempt at the new president during protests in Gainesville.
Sarah Tenbarge: The UF English junior will protest incoming President Trump at the Women’s March on Washington on Saturday. Tenbarge dislikes Trump’s anti-muslim, anti-woman, anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric.
Julia Sutton: The UF public relations senior will watch incoming President Trump’s inauguration from the Capitol lawn with her father, Robert Sutton, Chairman of the Broward Republican Executive Committee. Sutton believes those protesting the inauguration are wasting their time.
For Sarah Tenbarge, a UF English junior, her disdain for Trump and his incoming administration stems from their frequent attacks on immigrants, the LGBTQ+ community, Muslims, minority groups and women. On Saturday, she will be one of thousands marching through the streets of the nation’s capital.
“I certainly feel like I’m protesting Trump’s inauguration,” the 20-year-old said.
Tembarge will fly to North Carolina tonight to meet up with her aunt and board a bus to D.C. alongside fellow marchers. Although she has no idea what to expect this weekend, and admitted to being a bit nervous, she’s eager to hear others speak out against social injustice, she said.
“I’m hoping to get a greater sense of community,” Tenbarge said. “Because right now, it’s easy to feel really alone in this political climate.”
At 9 p.m. Thursday, Gainesville Mayor Lauren Poe issued a statement through his Facebook encouraging the protests.
“To all of the GNV women headed to D.C.: thank you! I am proud that you are representing us by exercising your first amendment rights. I hope the bonds you form last a lifetime and that you bring that passion back to our community to work towards positive change. Go get some!”
For Sutton, however, protesting a presidency is a waste of time.
“I do understand that everyone has a right to say what they want and do what they want, but this is an event where everyone needs to get on board and be one for the country,” Sutton said. “Protesting is not something that I condone.”
Sutton, whose father is the chairman of the Broward County Republican Executive Committee, flew to D.C. on Thursday night with her best friend to join her family at the inauguration.
She is one of only two conservatives in her friend group, and she has felt unfairly attacked by Trump opponents in the aftermath of the election, she said.
“You guys are literally hating on Trump because of how he acts, and how quote-unquote ‘cruel’ he is, yet you guys are doing the exact same thing to me,” Sutton said of those who criticize Trump supporters.
Some at UF traveled to D.C. not to protest or support the incoming President, but simply to document history.
Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons: Theveteran of the civil rights movement and UF professor will give the keynote speech at Gainesville: City of Resistance counter-inauguration protest on the steps of city hall. Simmons believes Trump’s rhetoric is dangerously regressive and plans to continuously fight what she views as his administration’s hateful policies.
Paul Ortiz: The UF professor and director of the Samuel Proctor Oral History Program raised close to $12,000 to send 16 UF students to document the inauguration. Although Ortiz couldn’t make it to D.C., he’s excited for his students to witness history on their own.
Sixteen students with UF’s Samuel Proctor Oral History Program rode in vans for 12 hours to the nation’s capital Wednesday in order to film, broadcast and report on the inauguration and Women’s March, said Paul Ortiz, the director of the program.
UF’s Center for Gender, Sexualities, and Women’s Studies Research has collaborated with the program since late November to raise the nearly $12,000 needed to send the UF journalism, history, political science and gender studies students to D.C.
“The best universities in the country — Stanford, Duke, Columbia — they’re sending their students to be in D.C. this weekend. We need to be there also,” said Ortiz, a UF history professor.
The students pushed for the chance to see the historic weekend. They taught one another interview techniques, how to use video equipment and the history of past inaugurations, said Ortiz, who couldn’t join the trip due to scheduling conflicts.
“I wish I could be there,” Ortiz said. “I’m so excited for our students, but I have to rely on social media just like everyone else.”
UF professor Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons won’t be in D.C. this weekend either, but she still plans on protesting, she said. While Trump is being sworn in, she will stand tall on the steps of Gainesville City Hall and speak about staying hopeful and taking action during the Trump administration.
The 72-year-old professor of women and religion, Islamic studies and African-American religious traditions will be the main speaker for Gainesville: City of Resistance’s counter inauguration today.
During the civil rights movement, Simmons marched with Martin Luther King Jr. She was imprisoned, beaten and threatened while fighting against Jim Crow laws.
“What I see (Trump) representing, and many of his cabinet selections, is a return to those bad old days that I have fought against for 50-plus years,” Simmons said. “And I am not going to stand by quietly and watch a return to that.”
The battle she first waged more than 50 years ago continues as she plans to continuously speak out against discrimination toward African-Americans, Latinos, Native Americans and the LGBTQ+ community during Trump’s time in office. The best way to resist Trump is to cast an educated vote in 2018, she said.
“It’s no time to be depressed. It’s no time to feel helpless,” Simmons said. “We are not helpless. Hillary Clinton won almost 3 million more votes. We are the majority in the United States — people keep forgetting that.”
@molly_vossler
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