Hands Off
by Donna in Austin, Texas
A Signs of the Time conversation with Donna in Austin, Texas
SOTT: Tell me a little bit about what inspired your sign, what your process was in making it and what it means to you personally.
DONNA: I am kind of proud of the sign because I thought of using the scary hands and insect spray can to say “Hands Off” all of the things that are important to me. You can see all these different words and phrases with Democracy in the center and many of our rights and resources surrounded by American flags.
And the reason I made the sign is… it’s not so much only important for me, but it’s important for my son, my daughter, and my grandchildren. I don’t want them to have the future that it looks like they’re going to have now. I want it to be a better future, the future that I had when I was growing up. And I want them to know that I tried my best to stand up for them and all disenfranchised peoples.
Editor’s Note: Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of The Hands Off protests on April 5, 2025 – over 1,300 demonstrations organized by a broad coalition of pro-democracy organizations in the largest display of public resistance against the second Trump administration until the No Kings protests two months later.
Signs of the Time is an all-volunteer collective that cares deeply about this fraught moment in time. We celebrate the creative ways people are demonstrating at rallies around the country by taking photos of protest signs and uncovering the stories behind them.
By posting protest signs/stories to our media channels, we hope to:
amplify the originality and ferocity of purpose of each sign’s message;
honor the personal stories that inspired the making of the signs;
elevate each sign-makers’ passion as an urgent call to action; and
create an archive of citizens’ resistance against the current administration.
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