Greater Springfield, MA CNV Opposes Trump Policy

by Mike Moran & Rev. Lauren Holm

Concerned that President Trump's recent executive order deploying federal agents to protect statues, monuments, and federal property is exacerbating violence in cities around the country, the planning committee of Greater Springfield (MA) Campaign Nonviolence recently asked three of its members―retired United Church of Christ minister Rev. Peter Wells, Springfield attorney Patrick Murray, and Rev. Lauren Holm, pastor of Bethesda Lutheran Church in Springfield and convener of Greater Springfield Campaign Nonviolence―to draft letters to Springfield Mayor Domenic Sarno and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker requesting that they oppose the use of such federal agents in Springfield or anywhere in the state. The letters condemn this policy as threatening "our First Amendment rights of free speech, freedom of peaceful assembly, and freedom to petition our government." 

They thank the mayor and the governor for the positive role of local and state police authorities toward peaceful demonstrators to date and encourage them to "actively resist the President's initiative" and, in the unlikely event that violence might escalate, to call on National Guard personnel, who function under state authority, to restore civil order. 

Pastor Holm signed the letters on behalf of the group and adapted them into a letter to the editor of the Springfield Republican, which published it on July 28. 

A day earlier the Republican issued its own editorial statement deploring the President's policy as "un-American," reversing the U.S. Declaration of Independence's reminder that governments derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.”  The editorial notes, “That’s how it is supposed to work in America, where the ultimate authority lies with the citizens." Greater Springfield Campaign Nonviolence is encouraged by this strong statement of community support for its work to make Springfield a nonviolent city.