‘We need to generate mass public disapproval through non-violent spectacle and performance,’ the protest group says
A pink-vested protest group, the Rapid Response Choir, led a crowd in joyful song Monday in response to the Department of Government Efficiency’s cuts to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
“This joy that I have, the world didn’t give it to me, the world can’t take it away,” the group sang outside the NOAA building in Silver Spring, Md.
Hundreds of NOAA employees were laid off last week as part of President Donald Trump’s promise to shrink the government. Sen. Maria Cantwell’s (D., Wash.) office said 880 employees were terminated, but former NOAA officials said it was closer to 650.
“People out there are going to try to tear you down, but the world outside can’t take us down. That’s what this song is about,” one choir member said Monday in response to the layoffs before another taught the crowd the lyrics.
The Rapid Response Choir promises to “show up to be heard for the communities we’re trying to protect” and “will be ready to assemble on short notice at a school, church, community or place of business, and be ready to sing for thirty minutes or longer if need be,” according to its website. It also includes a songbook with lyrics to numbers like “DOGE is to Blame,” “Joy in Resistance,” “All You Fascists Bound To Lose,” and “Which Side Are You On?”
“We need to generate mass public disapproval through non-violent spectacle and performance,” the group wrote. “We need to be give [sic] heart to those uncertain what to do, prompting them to take action themselves.”
“If this adminstration [sic] comes to harm you, we will make noise (hopefully lovely, inspiring noise),” the choir’s website reads.
Founded last month, the choir is on standby to sing during “ICE raids targeting otherwise innocent neighbors.”
The choir also vows that it won’t “interfere with law enforcement, but we will remind everyone of their rights under the Constitution”—a salient promise considering a police officer disrupted Monday’s protest because of an unattended bag. The crowd booed when he said they had to clear the area.
Prior DOGE protests have featured awkward a cappella songs. House Democrats in February held a protest in Washington, D.C., where union leaders accused Elon Musk and other billionaires of trying to “divide us by our color” and “divide us by our tongue.”
“We’ll fight against DOGE. We’ll fight Elon Musk,” union members sang to the melody of the “Battle Hymn of the Republic.”
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