‘Musk or us’: Protesters demand U.S. Rep. Barrett’s attention

Organizers call for open communication and oppose budgets handing power to Elon Musk

FRIDAY, Feb. 21 — When leaders of Indivisible Michigan 7 requested a meeting with U.S. Rep. Tom Barrett, R-Charlotte, they received no answer.

Today, they visited anyway.

Over 100 protested outside Rep. Barrett’s downtown Lansing office this winter morning to demand his attention. When the representative declined to speak with organizers, they left a letter listing their demands and requesting a town hall meeting.

The organizers’ demands targeted billionaire Elon Musk and his so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which they believe has superseded the congressional power of the purse.

“Traditionally, the U.S. House of Representatives has a role in our representative government, and they are not currently performing it.” said organizer David Hopkinson. “We would like our representative to act like a U.S. House member.”

Another organizer, Shelley Cichy, echoed those concerns: “We don’t know what DOGE is or how much power it has. And Musk immediately took over the funding arm that Congress is supposed to have, so we’re concerned about that.”

“He has so much power and wealth,” she added. “It feels like the oligarchy is taking over.”

Indivisible Michigan 7 is part of Indivisible, a national organization that implements the techniques of the Indivisible Guide. The 2017 online handbook by congressional staffers offers  methods for getting congressional members’ attention. When local groups organized to try those methods, the first Indivisible groups were formed.

“Originally in Lansing, there were probably five groups that formed and were active in those years,” Cichy said in reference to the first Trump presidency. “Now in this area we’re just one group, with a pretty big email list and active people.”

The “Musk or Us” protest follows other high-profile grassroots protests in Lansing. Hundreds gathered at the Capitol Feb. 5 as part of the decentralized, nationwide 50501 Protest. The event, which came together in just four days,  garnered national coverage. And when the 50501 organizers called off a planned “Not my President’s Day” protest on Monday because of severe winter weather, another new group called MI Resist jumped in to stage a demonstration anyway, with hundreds turning out. Much of the leadership behind both protests were first-time organizers.

Cichy attributed the uptick in new grassroots movements to a lack of leadership from the Democratic Party.

“It’s like the Civil Rights Movement or the Vietnam protests,” Cichy said. “If your leadership isn’t doing anything about it, it’s up to us.”

One protester was David Castro, 75. Castro is worried about the Trump administration’s cuts to National Institutes of Health research grants and diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, both of which helped his Mexican-American daughter succeed as a clinician treating multiple sclerosis.

“The hospital she is working with, where she started the clinic, had been on a three-year search to find someone who could treat multiple sclerosis,” Castro said. 

Castro fears that the Trump administration’s budget cuts will exacerbate such shortages by decreasing access to medical education.

“We are all recipients of the kinds of programs that are being cut right now,” Castro said. “These are the benefits we get when our money is spent well. This is what we’re going to lose when it’s taken away.”