Frances Stevens Park in Palm Springs is poised to become a defining landmark in the city’s political history.

The park and its sprawling greenspace, 500 N. Palm Canyon Drive, will serve as ground zero for a Resistance March where former U.S. Democratic Sen. Barbara Boxer will address the crowd. Boxer’s presence will likely thrust the march into the national spotlight and offer Coachella Valley Democrats political capital.

It is one event of many around the country that Boxer, a Rancho Mirage resident, has scheduled around the country. She is billing them as “March For Change – Take Our Country Back.” For a complete list of her national marches, click HERE.

The Palm Springs event, which is set for 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. on Jan. 20, is sponsored and supported by the 1,700 local members of Courageous Resistance California, Democratic Headquarters of the Desert, 10 Democratic clubs of the Coachella Valley and numerous Democratic elected officials.

Boxer To Address Resistance Marchers

Sen. Barbara Boxer

“Last year we saw an amazing outpouring in reaction to Donald Trump’s inauguration,” Boxer said in a letter encouraging participation. “On January 21, 2017, millions worldwide gathered in their communities to protest and advocate for policies that would recognize women’s rights and equality for all as human rights.

 

“This year,” she continued, “on January 20, 2018, we will march again — just the first step in the march to the ballot box in November, when we’ll be united around candidates who will stand up to the ugliness of Trump and his dangerous policies.”

If you are energized to oppose this Administration and this Congress as they undermine our civil rights and America’s core democratic values, I hope you will be part of the January 20 marches, already scheduled all over the country, Boxer implored.

Boxer served 24 years in the U.S. Senate (leaving in January 2017), 10 years in the U.S. House of Representatives, and six years on the Marin County Board of Supervisors.

Boxer To Address Resistance Marchers

Priscilla Richardson

Priscilla Richardson, former president of Democrats of the Desert and a political activist, blasted an email out over the weekend asking Coachella Valley activists to turn out in throngs. Her mission is simple.

“… to show the Trump Administration that their actions in the past year on health care, freedom of religion, immigration policy, DACA, environmental policies, public education, taxation, and a host of other issues have the increased the resistance to Trumpism,” Richardson said.

If we don’t show up, the press and Trump supporters can assume we’re happy with the leadership of this administration, Richardson said.

“We must not let them believe that,” she said in bold capital letters. “Do you want them to assume that lack of protest means we’re OK with the Muslim ban, decimating the environment, stalking our Latino neighbors, defunding health care, (especially women’s health care), undermining LGBTQ rights at every turn, rescinding DACA protections, building a big wall, applauding racists as ‘fine people,’ gutting public education at all levels, passing a tax bill that benefits corporations and the wealthy … No! No! No! But if we don’t show up, they’ll never know we care.”

Frances Stevens Park is located between Downtown and Uptown Palm Springs and situated on the corner Palm Canyon and Indian Canyon off East Alejo Road.