A group of seniors line MLK Jr. Blvd. in Central Park on Labor Day.

There were protests around the country on Labor Day, including in downtown Denver. And in the Central Park neighborhood, a passionate group of people calling itself Seniors for Democracy stood along MLK Jr. Blvd., showing support for workers and opposition to what they call a lack of caring by the Trump administration.

Susan Gibbons, organizer of the group, was joined by fellow residents of the Everleigh Central Park senior living community outside their building at Syracuse St. And MLK Jr. Blvd. Other area seniors joined them, holding signs and waving to passing drivers.

“We’re here to support our laborers,” Gibbons said. “This has gotten so out of hand with Trump and everybody in his Cabinet, and the billionaires who don’t seem to have a heart at all anymore. They don’t seem to care about the workers. We just think there should be more money, more benefits, shorter hours, you name it. Everything that the unions have ever fought for is getting lost again. And it’s like we fight and fight and fight for these things.”

Group organizer Susan Gibbons holds a sign at the start of the protest.

She said they were there to support the workers and their families.

“We seniors have concerns for our grandchildren. We have concerns for our children. A lot of us are out of the labor force, but there’s still people to fight, for people to fight,” Gibbons said as she held her signs reading “Workers Over Billionaires” and “Seniors for Democracy.”

The group’s first protest earlier this year, she said, drew about 40 people without much advertising. The next time, after getting the word out, more than 200 people showed up. On Labor Day, a few dozen people joined the sign waving groups with drivers honking their horns in support.

Gibbons and a few others spent time on the median of the road, working to make sure their signs and messages were seen and heard. It’s easier to have a protest in the neighborhood rather than going downtown, Gibbons said. “They don’t want to go downtown. It’s too hard to walk four blocks to the protest. The weather can be inclement.”

The protests downtown are “awesome,” Gibbons said, and she sometimes goes with friends. This time, she said, her group decided to “just do one outside the building, and we’ll invite everybody in the neighborhood to come.”

The Monday protest was kept to 45 minutes so people didn’t have to stand outside for too long. Gibbons always tells people to arrive early and find some shade.

A protestor stands in the median waving to cars along MLK Jr. Blvd.

The next protest for Seniors for Democracy is on October 18 from 11am to noon along the busy street in northeast Denver again.

In a Labor Day statement, the White House trumpeted its record on labor issues. “President Trump stands as the champion of the American Worker,” the statement said. “From surging native-born employment and rising blue-collar wages to innovative workforce initiatives like expanded apprenticeships and trade school funding, the Trump administration is reversing decades of neglect and finally putting American workers first.”

Front Porch photos by Linda Kotsaftis