On a day on which the temperatures remained below zero and snow blanketed the campus, approximately 20 BVU students and people from the Storm Lake community bundled against the elements and chose to stand by the BVU Victory bell holding creative signs and colorful flags for hours, participating in a nationwide Presidents’ Day protest.
During the four hours of the peaceful protest, from noon to 4 p.m., people could come to the bell, pick up a sign, and join in an exercise of free expression. Several students, including the event organizer Lexi Gutknecht stood their ground in the subzero temperatures for the entire duration of the event. Gutknecht explained part of the mission of their protest.
“After President [Trump] was inaugurated, he signed a lot of executive orders and.. me and a lot of the people out here…strongly disagree with him and believe some of them are unconstitutional, like, for example the [issue of] birthright citizenship. We’re advocating to keep that safely secured in the Constitution,” said Gutknecht.
Critics have argued that one executive order that aims to eliminate birthright citizenship infringes on the Fourteenth Amendment which grants citizenship to anyone who is born in the United States. The order questions the integrity of how that statement holds up to extending citizenship to everyone born in the United States. There were two criteria given to when a person cannot ensure citizenship. First, drawing from the White House’s executive order, “when a person’s mother was unlawfully present in the United States and the father was not a United States citizen or lawful permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.”
Secondly, if the mother’s presence in the United States is temporary such as (these but not limited to), a work, student, or tourist visa and requiring that “the father was not a United States citizen or permanent resident at the time of said person’s birth.”
This interpretation of the Constitutional Amendment denies people citizenship that are born to parents that are not in the country on a legal or permeant status which is one of the basis’s the protesters disagreed with.
Lazurus Winklepleck, another BVU student at the protest, said, “It’s my firm belief that we need to love each other, love thy neighbor- this is not loving thy neighbor.”
Protestors held signs with messages such as “Speak up for those that were silenced,” “No human being is illegal,” “Resist Fascism,” and “DEI means Everyone.” Others also waved rainbow flags with the messages “Hope, love, inclusion, equality, kindness,” and “We are all connected, stronger together.”
As the four-hour mark of the protest approached, Gutknecht said, “I didn’t know what the weather was going to be like, but that being said, weather doesn’t wait for change and neither should we.”
