More than 175,000 Massachusetts residents took to the streets last weekend, in Boston and Washington, D.C., to join the chorus of voices nationwide demanding equality, dignity, and justice for all our citizens. But the silence from our governor’s office was deafening.

Governor Baker chose to attend the inauguration of a man the citizens of Massachusetts resoundingly rejected as unfit to serve as our president. He chose not to stand and march with us. The governor could not even spare a tweet in support of the Women’s March in Boston, and we heard his silence loud and clear.

As the president prepares to deport our immigrant neighbors, forcibly register our Muslim citizens, obstruct criminal justice reform, and restrict access to women’s health care, we need our governor to have our backs. We need a governor who will stand up and defend the rights of all Massachusetts residents, particularly those who are most marginalized.

I do not know if we can count on Baker to do that for us.

Clare Malone

Cambridge