The flyer read, “Sometimes change calls for a little trouble.” But the crowd of roughly 150 people gathered at the Chestnut Hill West station seemed more jubilant over the success of their rally than troubled. 

Organized after the “No Kings” protests that took place nationally on June 14, President Donald Trump’s birthday, the “Good Trouble Lives On” rallies marked the July 17 anniversary of the death of civil rights activist and Congressman John Lewis. 

Many in the Chestnut Hill crowd later took the train into Center City to join a larger event held outside City Hall. The Good Trouble protests were organized and attended by several civil rights groups, some of whom are local (Indivisible Philly and One Million Rising, among others). 

As the crowd grew, so did the response to their presence, as evidenced by lines of cars and buses either honking or sending solidarity signs through their windows: fists or thumbs raised. 

Many of the protesters were elders with signs displaying their concern for the future. One sign read, “For my children.” Another protester, Kristen Klein, held up a sign showing an illustration of Trump on one side and on the other side various slogans, including, “close Alligator Auschwitz now.” Sanctioned by President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Alligator Alcatraz is a recently opened ICE detention center in the Florida Everglades. 

Klein, part of the Philadelphia branch of the 50501 Movement calling for 50 protests in 50 states, worries for the safety of herself and others amid Trump’s changes to U.S. law. 

Jean Warrington, executive director of Historic Fair Hill, attended the protests downtown and told the Local in an email, “We were inspired. The speakers were young, diverse, energetic, and brief, [and] the music was good.” 

She ended by quoting Lewis himself: “When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, say something.  Do something. Get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble.”