By MATEUS FERREIRA/Head Writer
900 people attended Tyler’s third No Kings protest joining over 3,000 nationwide demonstrations against the Trump Administration.
Since the last protest on Oct. 18, concerns over the war with Iran, increased ICE activity and the release of the Epstein Files have taken prominence.
Protesters lined the east side of Bergfeld Park and held up signs to passing traffic. Cars occasionally honked their support as protesters sporadically broke out into chants.
Indivisible of Smith County, the nonprofit that organized the protest, rented the entire park for the event. Loud music blared from speakers on the Centene stage, as people stopped at tents and tables set up by various organizations. UT Tyler Students for Justice in Palestine and the advocacy group Hispanos y Chicanos which helped set up the protest, were among the groups.
Volunteers also set up a giant replica of the Declaration of Independence for protesters to sign their names on. In a nearby tent, demonstrators could insert pins into a voodoo doll with Trump’s image on it.
Who Was Protesting?
Angel Carrizales, who has undocumented parents, said he is alarmed by Trump’s aggressive immigration enforcement.
“It affects my family in a way where if both my parents are gone, then it’s only me to take care of my siblings and that leaves me with a burden,” he said. “We pay taxes, we do the law as it’s written. We follow along, but then they feel like we’re a menace or a threat.”
Shanon Rocha claimed ICE came to her son’s farm in Tyler to target workers and ”clandestine” her Hispanic husband. She explained her family shut the gates on the agents and had them arrested after they refused to identify themselves.
The 68-year-old protestor also said she joined a group of senior citizens that travelled to Minneapolis during the immigration crackdown. She said the group peacefully “confronted” and drove back ICE officers.
“I’m gonna continue to fight until there’s equality for everyone,” she said. “It’s not right to pick people up off the street and take children out of schools. It’s not.
We’re supposed to be a country that loves all people, all colors, all religions, all sexual orientations.”
Legacy High Senior Issac Stone, stood out from the crowd in a King costume, complete with a scepter and crown.
”I look silly in this cloak thing and I think it translates to the flippant cavalier attitude our president has,” he said. “The reason we left Great Britain was because we were being ruled. We deserve to be governed, not to be ruled.”
Stone described having lewd gestures made to him by passing drivers. He said, despite that, he hoped to have civil discussions with people he disagreed with.
Speakers and Organizers
In response to the nationwide demonstrations, The White House claimed the protests were the result of “leftist funding networks” and lack real public support.
Indivisible volunteer Laura Neal disagreed with the comment. Standing next to a sign that said “take a cookie, make a donation,’’ she explained that they don’t even receive money from the national organization. They rely on Individual donations from people in Smith County.
“We don’t have hardly any funding,” said Neal. “So if there is funding, I’d like to know where it is because we have a $20 bill in our bucket.”
The event included speakers like Reverend Steve Miller and US House Senate District One candidate Dax Alexander.
Smith County Democratic Chair-Elect Kristin Hardin Sigler also made a speech, and later commented to The Talon that, since the last protest, concerns over Immigration and foreign policy have risen.
“To launch a full-scale war, to do Israel’s bidding without congressional approval, it’s completely unconstitutional,” she said about the war with Iran. “It’s so un-American.”
The Vice President of Hispanos y Chicanos Unidos Jennifer Orozco explained to The Talon that, since ICE partnered with the Tyler police department, the organization has been trying to educate the Hispanic community on voting.
She added that some people in the community have stopped sending their children to school or are considering self-deportation as a result of the crackdown.
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