Marty Walsh, mayor of Boston, spoke before a rally against Judge Brett Kavanaugh on Boston City Hall Plaza on the morning of Monday, October 1, 2018, before a scheduled appearance by U.S. Senator Jeff Flake at a separate event there.
We believe. We support her. And we’re going to stand with her. Thank you for coming to City Hall Plaza today.
I want to thank NARAL, Rebecca for putting today together, ACLU, Jane Doe, and all the — Planned Parenthood — and all the other organizations that are here this morning. Thank you for putting together — this together today. [Applause]
I was walking around before we started this morning. And one of the young women who goes to Emerson grabbed me, and she said to me, ‘What are you going to do about what’s happening?’ And that question is right. What are we going to do [about] what’s happening? This must be my 50th rally that I’ve attended in the last two years. A rally for women’s rights, immigrant rights, Muslim rights. All of the rights that this administration [in] Washington are trying to take away. And we all know what’s happening right now.
And I want to say to the senator – not our senator, Senator Flake. I guess I want to say thank you for asking the question, but that’s your job. That’s your job. [Applause] That’s your job to vet the nominees sitting on that committee. That’s your job to get to the bottom of anybody who’s being appointed to the United State Supreme Court, because that appointment lasts for 30 to 40 years.
That’s your job to ask questions about an investigation. That’s your job, and that’s the Republican leadership’s job, to do. They did nothing special last week. There’s nothing to thank them about. [Applause] We thank them for doing their job. That’s their responsibility.
And I hope, I hope as the senator lands in Boston today and comes here to City Hall, the plaza, I hope he understands what Senator Markey talked about, that we’re a city of firsts. And we’re a nation of firsts. And that it’s important for him to understand that. That he has an opportunity to do something really special at some point next week.
Judge Kavanaugh, or Brett Kavanaugh, showed last week that he’s not listening. There’s no question about that. He showed us, and the Republican leadership showed us that they’re not listening, either. They’re not listening to witnesses. They’re not listening to survivors. And they’re certainly not listening to the American people.
The ruling of the United States Supreme Court, what’s at jeopardy, we all know. We know. Workers rights and voting rights and women’s reproductive rights. And so much of our life is in the hands of the United States Supreme Court today.
So to answer the woman’s question who asked me earlier, what can we do? We can be leaders. We can go out and fight and protest. We can stand up for what is right. We can stand with victims. We can stand with people and let them know that when people are accusing them of lying that we stand behind them and with them and beside them, in front of them, and we’re going to walk with them every single time. That’s what we can do. And that’s what we have to do. [Applause]
I want to just say to all my colleagues here today, and I can’t mention them all, some of them were mentioned. I want to thank us. Because we stand together. We might argue and differ on issues. But when it comes to protecting people, we don’t argue and fight. We stand together every single day. Whether it’s women’s rights or immigrants’ rights or survivors’ rights.
And I want to make sure: We need to send a message to the United States Senate, and the Congress, that we’re paying attention. Because these attacks on every average normal-day people aren’t going to be tolerated anymore.
I want to end with saying: Thank you for coming out today. Whether you’re holding a sign or wearing a button or just standing in the crowd. Thank you for being here today. Because these times right now call for that. It calls for us to be present. It calls for us to hug our neighbors. It calls for us to stand with each other not against each other. It talks about, we stand, it calls for. This great country has given us all so much. We are not going to let this Congress, this Senate, these nominations, and this president tear us down. Thank you and God bless you. [Applause]
