Pleasant Hill joins nationwide ‘Hands Off’ rallies

PLEASANT HILL, CA (Apr. 5, 2025) — A large crowd gathered at City Hall in Pleasant Hill today for a rally organizers called “Hands Off.” The event coincided with similar rallies across the country and a larger one in Washington, D.C.

The rally’s stated purpose was to send a message of “hands off” to the current federal administration as it makes sweeping and questionable changes to health care, data, jobs, and services.

Many participants at the local event carried signs expressing frustration with the actions of Donald Trump and Elon Musk.

Contra Costa County supervisor Ken Carlson took the bullhorn to thank all who showed up for the event in his hometown of Pleasant Hill. He said, “As a public servant, what’s my job? To serve the people. To protect the people and do what’s right. I can’t believe I’m saying this, I’ve never been as impassioned as I am now…I’m so angry. We do not practice the principles of DEI because it’s government policy, right? We do it because it is right. It is moral. We do not punish those who practice the principles of DEI..”

Participants lined the streets at Cleveland Road and Gregory Lane cheering and waving signs as passing cars sounded their horns.

Work to be done

Roxanne Carrillo Garza, Senior Director of Healthy Contra Costa, said “Every direction we turn, education equity, healthcare for all, economic justice, there’s more work to be done to engage the people and support our local government to hold the line. By now you’ve heard many programs could face large federal reductions to pay for a massive $4 trillion in tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy. And what are they proposing? $1.5 trillion in cuts to programs for working class Americans.”

Another speaker said, “I’m here as a resident of Contra Costa because I do care about this country. This country means so much to me and my family and I know it means a lot to you… This rally …sends a strong message to those in charge of government that we are not willing to give in, we are not willing to give up… I am grateful to all the things you have done to make this…a free country. Which is about to change, or maybe it’s changing already right before our eyes. So we have a moral responsibility to stand up and take corrective action before it’s too late.”