A chanting crowd, signs held high and proud, their mostly grey and white hair was whipping back in the harsh wind of a stormy Saturday. The senior citizens are not fazed, though; they have shown up through worse. Through snow and sleet and rain, Speak Out Seniors does not miss a single Saturday to protest, determined to fight until they have inspired the new generation to join their crusade advocating for change in the government.
Speak Out Seniors was founded after President Trump’s reelection in 2024, with the main goal of spreading awareness and protesting the current administration. It was started by aspiring activist Stephanie Schoen and has since grown from 55 people to an organization partnering with Brookline Pax (an organization that has been around for over 40 years) and Activist Evenings.
Schoen said her motivation for showing up and pushing for a change is knowing that the next generation will experience the fallout of the current administration.
“A lot of us seniors have grandchildren and, honestly, we want to see this country be a good country for our grandchildren,” Schoen said.
Schoen and other activists in the area said they have not observed any engagement from younger people. Schoen, while proud of the progress she has made, said she was disheartened by the fact that younger people are not helping in the fight against the Trump administration.
“The majority of activists right now seem to be seniors, people who were young during the Vietnam War,” Schoen said. “We bemoan the fact that younger people have not jumped in in the same way.”
Laura Walters, who co-leads Activist Evenings, an activist group for democracy, said she wishes younger people would heed her advice.
“[Young people] have power, they really can affect change, and people of my generation will be there for them. We need them to be in the battle for us, with us, because we’ve been doing it for a long time. We need to make this a multi-generational fight,” Walters said.
Debby Litt, an activist who recently moved to Brookline and has been involved with both Activist Evenings and Speak Up Seniors, thinks there is a widespread feeling of hopelessness and fear that keeps the youth from engaging.
“Nobody can do everything. Everybody can do something. But this is a scary time. This is a really scary time,” Litt said. “I have a 95-year-old mother, and she’s lived through a lot, but she’s never seen anything like this.”
Litt said her experience speaking out during the Vietnam War affected her mindset in terms of their current activism.
“At that time, we saw demonstrations have an effect; big, large-scale demonstrations seemed to work. I think their power may have dissipated over time, and people became disenchanted with that as a means of change,” Litt said.
According to Walters, the people who protested during Vietnam have more faith due to the success that they have witnessed in the past.
“We all started when we were not much older than you are now. I started when I was 17 in 1968, fighting against the Vietnam War, so we know that young people working together have power,” Walters said. “We want to work with you to help you realize the power you have because we know. This always makes me cry. We owe it to you. It’s our responsibility to leave you with a better world.”
Walters said that students should be doing anything they can to get involved, whether it be calling voters in swing states, attending protests or simply making sure they are educated and spreading the message to people who have time to take action. She said that the only way to restore hope is to be involved.
“My favorite saying is ‘the only tangible part of hope is action.’ That’s our motto at Activist Evenings,” Walters said. “I mean, I could sit all day and doom scroll, and that’s not going to do the world an ounce of good.”
