CLEVELAND — Mansfield native and Ohio State University at Mansfield product Sarah Schmidt participated in an anti-Donald Trump rally in Cleveland Monday during the Republican National Convention.
Her message, along with hundreds of others in the group, was clear.
“I’m here to basically resist the Trump campaign. Everything it stands for basically,” Schmidt said.
The rally, organized by The Coalition to Stop Trump, attracted several activist groups from around the country. It started at the corner of St. Claire and Mall Drive at noon, where protesters chanted “the people, united, will never be defeated,” and “dump Trump.”
Schmidt was also part of the planning of “counter events,” a euphemism for events that showcase Trump protesters. The events were organized by Counter RNC 2016, “the coordination hub for all events taking place in Cleveland in response to the Republican National Convention.”
Schmidt lives with her husband and daughter in Wooster, Ohio, and works for Kent State University with the Global Education Initiatives. Before working at Global Ed, she served as the Program Coordinator for the Mohammed Said Farsi Chair of Islamic Peace at American University.
She has spoken at conferences and seminars in Washington D.C., Oxford, London, and Prague. According to her profile on Kent State University’s website, Schmidt “has advocated for refugees in the Middle East, partnered with schools and universities in Haiti, and traveled throughout Europe, North Africa, and the Arabian Gulf.”
“My husband works in Mansfield and my daughter goes to daycare at Ohio State (at Mansfield),” she said, adding she still calls Mansfield “home.”
“It was at Ohio State (at Mansfield), in the classroom, where I started to develop these values and my current world view. The faculty there, they mentored me and turned me into the progressive thinker I am today,” she said.
But with all her experience abroad, Schmidt said she does not feel safe on the streets of Cleveland. Ohio’s open-carry laws loom in her mind.
“But it’s not just the open-carry laws, I’m against the militarized police, too. Those two combined,” she trailed, shaking her head.
Cleveland’s police union president admonished Gov. John Kasich to restrict open-carry laws in Cleveland for the week during the RNC.
“Ohio governors do not have the power to arbitrarily suspend federal and state constitutional rights or state laws as suggested,” a Kasich spokesperson wrote in a statement.
Stay tuned for additional stories during the RNC. For live updates, follow Dillon Carr on Twitter and Facebook.
