The general practitioner has stepped up on a number of fronts. He had recently returned from a trip to East Africa, where he had seen firsthand the harm to health care done by federal cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development. “It’s just pennies,” he said, comparing the minuscule savings of closing the unit to the widespread damage to the people served.
Hands Off crowd at Mass. Ave. and Mystic. / Jonas Mustonen photo
Calling for kindness, not anger, in seeking correctives, Altman urged listeners to learn about PC4You, a grassroots organization working on the ground in Massachusetts to support these legislative effort – H.1370, H.2537 and S.867, the last filed filed by Sen. Cindy Friedman. PC4You aims to fix the primary-care system in Massachusetts by increasing access, making it free for the patients of practices that opt-in (no copays or deductibles).
The next two speakers, both town residents, called on the Trump administration to keep their hands off. Alison Johnson, described as an educator, focused on administration attempts to intimidate universities. Phil Deloria, also an educator, provided lesson about the meaning of Constitution, then and now.
Those assembled ranged from young families with children to seasoned veterans of the 1960s. They crowded the Minuteman Bikeway, allowing a narrow lane for occasion cyclists to snake through.
Advised not to block sidewalks, the crowd extended to the key corners of Arlington Center – in front of First Parish, Cambridge Savings Bank and Whittemore Park.
As if the energized crowd needed notes, organizers handed out a program listing calls to urge the current administration to keep “hands off” areas that they deem essential to our lives. And a series of calls went out:
John Cole of Arlington holds a pointed sign. / Marjorie Howard photo
“Hands off our Social Security …
“our national parks,
“a women’s right to choose,
“our private data,
“due process,
“education,
“our judges,
“research funding,
“LGBTQ,
“firing federal workers,
“unions,
“U.S. international aid,
“human services,
“our free press,
“Medicaid,
“money Congress has allocated,
“the Constitution.”
Burns wrote April 6: “It was a hopeful day where we generated some action and energy. Let’s all take that forward! Thanks for being there!”
‘Hands-off’: Opinion from Jerry Berger, journalism professor, BU
This news summary by Bob Sprague was published Sunday, April 6, 2025.
