CONCORD — Hundreds of people Saturday afternoon marked the third anniversary of the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection at a rally in the American Revolution town of Concord with the goal of defending democracy and keeping Donald Trump from reclaiming the presidency.
The crowd gathered in front of the steps to First Parish, where participants displayed handmade signs bearing messages like “Defend Democracy” and listened to speeches by former governor Deval Patrick and Danielle Allen, a former Democratic gubernatorial candidate, Harvard professor, and founder of Partners in Democracy, a nonprofit organization.
Patrick told the gathering he is “uneasy about American democracy today.”
Two major challenges facing democracy, he said, are making it function and making citizens understand that their participation matters.
Democracy is hobbled, Patrick said, by voter suppression efforts, gerrymandering, and wealthy people and corporations pouring money into politics to influence policy decisions. Too many voters, he said, are convinced their votes don’t make a difference.
“We’ve been treating the functions of our democracy — as a friend of mine puts it — as if it would handle limitless abuse without breaking,” said Patrick. “Whether this is all part of a grand strategy, or just a series of unfortunate coincidences, they add up to serious constraints on participation and representation that make our democracy weaker.”
Allen addressed the crowd while holding a replica of the gilded torch from the Statue of Liberty. Her remarks focused on “how to fight with love.”
US adversaries in Russia, China, Iran are behind efforts to radicalize American citizens, and use the internet to push them to embrace extremist views, she said.
“What about those people among us, some of whom are genuinely extremists, and some of whom are only vulnerable to being extremists?” Allen asked. “We must engage with them with love.”
She spoke about an email exchange she had with a man who wrote her an expletive-filled message that criticized Harvard’s response to campus controversies concerning the Israel-Hamas war and asked whether she was “into supporting Hamas.”
Allen said she wrote back to the man several times and gave him a link to a column she wrote in The Washington Post about Israel and Gaza. In follow-up emails to Allen, she said, the man stopped using swear words in his writing, saying he only did so in hopes of grabbing her attention. And eventually read her column.
“Thank you for just responding and doing so in a thoughtful way as opposed to a flat, robotic response,” Allen said the man wrote after reading her column. “The interaction has been very good for me and will inform my future interactions.”
He signed his name to the email with the words, “kindest regards,” Allen said.
“Fight with love, my friends,” Allen said after she finished reading the email. “Fight with love.”
Concord Indivisible, a group of progressive activists who want to elect more Democrats, and Reclaim Our Democracy, a volunteer organization with roots at First Parish in Concord, organized the event.
Indivisible Mass Coalition, a statewide organization, said affiliated groups organized similar gatherings to mark the third anniversary of the Capitol riot in Orleans, Martha’s Vineyard, and Worcester. Democratic Representative Jim McGovern spoke at the gathering in Worcester, according to his spokesperson.
“January 6th was an assault on our democracy,” said Debbie Paul, chairperson of the Indivisible Mass Coalition. “It harmed people. It harmed the legislators. It caused chaos, and we need to remind ourselves that democracy is fragile and we all have to work to make it work for us. We can’t take it for granted and that’s why I’m here.”
This year’s anniversary of the attack on the Capitol comes just over a week before Republicans in Iowa hold their caucus, the first presidential primary test for Trump and the first chance for voters to weigh in on his future since the riot.
Trump is the leading Republican candidate this year and refuses to acknowledge his loss four years ago to President Biden, who is seeking reelection. On Jan. 6, 2021, rioters loyal to Trump attempted to keep him in power by trying to prevent Congress from counting Electoral College votes to formalize Biden’s victory.
On Friday, Biden warned in a speech near Valley Forge, Pa., that Trump’s attempt to recapture the presidency poses a grave threat to the nation.
“We nearly lost America — lost it all” Biden said of the attack during his remarks.
If elected, Trump has suggested he would pardon some Capitol rioters who have been convicted of violent crimes and he has embraced their presence at campaign events.
In Concord, Shirley Sun, who was born in Taiwan and lived there until she was 24, said she fears the possibility of Trump returning to the White House. She cited his remarks about pardoning people who were convicted for crimes related to the insurrection and his vows to seek revenge against political opponents.
“I’m afraid that Donald Trump will get elected again,” said Sun, a Concord resident. “I feel like I have to do this because I grew up in Taiwan during a period of time when we were under martial law. I know how it feels. People here, they don’t know. I had to do this.”
Lucas Lee, 18, a college student who grew up in Carlisle, said he also attended an event at First Parish last year marking the anniversary of the attack on the Capitol.
What happened during the attack, “weighs heavily on a lot of people’s minds right now,” he said.
“They say remember your history or be doomed to repeat it,” Lucas said. “And I think Jan. 6 is something that just has to be remembered because it is a message about how fragile things can be if we’re not engaged citizens, if we’re not respectful of one another, if we’re not open to civil discourse with people who disagree with us.”
Rob Munro, an assistant head of school at Concord Academy, said he’s supporting Biden.
“We’re going to fight like hell to make sure people are safe, seen, supported, and heard,” he said. “Regardless of what the outcome is at an election level, we’re going to do the hard work that needs to happen at the ground level.”
This story has been updated to correct an earlier version that misspelled Rob Munro’s first name.
Laura Crimaldi can be reached at laura.crimaldi@globe.com. Follow her @lauracrimaldi.
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