Above: Ellie Langille, a high school senior volunteers with NH Open Democracy where she has been organizing voter registration drives at high schools. ARNIE ALPERT photo

By: Arnie Alpert, Active with the Activists

Arnie Alpert spent decades as a community organizer/educator in NH movements for social justice and peace.  Officially retired since 2020, he keeps his hands (and feet) in the activist world while writing about past and present social movements.

CONCORD—My first exposure to Alex Keenan was at the April 19 “No Kings” rally in Concord, where he was waving a sign that said “Kids Know Trump Hurts America” on one side and “Make America Smart Again” on the other.  Toward the end of the rally, he took the microphone, made a short speech, and led a few chants.  He made another appearance on the stage May 1 for International Workers Day.  This Sunday he was one of the featured speakers at “No Voice Too Small,” a rally organized by NH 50501 to highlight state and federal policies the group sees as harmful to children.

“My name is Alex. I’m 10 years old. I’m autistic, and really proud to be here today. I want to talk about what happens when adults in power forget that kids like me matter,” he began.  “When someone like RFK Jr. says that they want to make a registry of autistic people, that’s terrifying. That’s not safety, that’s control.”

He went on to critique threats to Medicaid and the Department of Education.  “It’s like saying our learning doesn’t matter, but education is everything. It’s how we grow, it’s how we fight back,” he said, singling out the need to support trans kids.

Keenan’s chant for the day was, “No. Fear, no hate. Medicaid and education make us great.”

NH 50501 is the grassroots group that popped up in February in response to a national call for 50 demonstrations in all 50 states on 1 day, all to focus opposition to Donald Trump’s myriad assaults on democratic norms.  Coordinating with local Concord groups like the Kent Street Coalition and often in collaboration with other organizations, NH 50501 has rallied several times at the State House since February.  At the May 1 International Workers Day rally, which focused on threats to immigrants coming from the federal and state governments, they announced their next one would feature the voices of the under-18 set. 

The crowd that gathered by the State House steps and on the City Plaza along Main Street was just a few hundred, smaller than previous rallies, but that did not dampen the enthusiasm of those who showed up, as usual with home-made signs carrying slogans like “Protect Kids, Not Guns.” 

Also taking a turn on stage was Ellie Langille, a high school senior who volunteers with NH Open Democracy, where she has been organizing voter registration drives at high schools.  “Registering to vote is super, super important for so many reasons,” she said, “and the largest being that every single person deserves a voice. Young voters have the power to sway an entire election, but without adequate registration, this can never happen. High school voter registration is the first step in advocating for what young voters want to see happen in government.”  Speaking to any interested students, parents, or teachers, Langille said she’s ready to help them out if they want to host a voter drive at their own school.

Rea Zobel, another high schooler, had a full set of grievances about New Hampshire schooling, including the danger of school shootings due to widely available firearms, the legislative attack on confidential counseling, new barriers to getting birth control, and low pay for teachers.  “So tell me,” she said, “is this the America you want for yourselves, for your kids? I should hope not.”

50501 let a few adults take the stage, too, including Deb Howes, president of the New Hampshire branch of the American Federation of Teachers.  Howes described the union’s “fight back” agenda, which includes resisting efforts to keep students from learning “true and honest American history” and borrowing library books they want to read.  Despite what some legislators may believe, “All students have a First Amendment right to access a wide variety of materials in their school library,” she said.

Howes also described the AFT’s “fight forward” agenda, which includes de-emphasizing standardized tests.  “We don’t want to measure students and call them failing. We don’t want to measure schools by state testing and call them failing. It’s just something they have used to tear us all down and tell us we’re bad and ship money off to vouchers.  We want to stand up for schools that are safe, welcoming, relevant and engaging for our students.”

Howes was followed by Heath Howard, one of New Hampshire’s youngest State Representatives, who noted the state has been ranked 41st out of 50 in business development.  “The reason that happened,” he said, “is because businesses can easily see that we’re not investing in our workforce.  We’re not investing in our future, we’re not investing in our students, we’re not investing in our youth, and on top of that, we’re not also investing in our people.” 

“We need to tell our legislators here in Concord that they need to step up and change how we are funding our future and making sure that we provide a sustainable way of educating the next generation, because without that, we are going to become a state that’s at the bottom of the rankings for everything,” he said.

For a change of pace, a costumed group from the Kent Street Players took the stage dressed as billionaires and performed a skit about how the legislature’s plan to expand the school voucher program would benefit wealthy families at the same time they cut funds for higher education, family planning, and Medicaid. 

Another brief speaker was Alex Dubois, a middle school teacher from Concord.  “If we ban books in schools before we ban guns,” he said, “we admit that we’re more afraid of our children learning than we are of them dying.”

As they have in the past, organizers publicized the importance of peaceful protest, staying out of the road and off the State House steps, and relying on the white-vested “peacekeepers” to defuse tensions with any counter-protesters.  This time they had an additional point: “Signs must be PG. This protest centers children and their needs. If your sign is profane, put it back in your vehicle.”  People can bring their F-word signs next time.