Lexington rally brings people together to ‘remind ourselves that we’re not alone’
After Donald Trump won the presidential election last November, Alyssa Porter said she was feeling pretty defeated.
Porter, who had recently moved to Lexington from Florida, said she thought, “I gotta do something.”
“There have to be other people in Lexington that feel the way I do,” she thought.
There are.
On Saturday, Porter brought scores of them to the courthouse plaza on Main Street.
The “Rally for the People” she organized was an “umbrella event,” she said, meant to be a rally for the rights of women and LGBTQ+ people, a way to stand with Black Americans and people of color, a means of supporting the immigrant community and a voice for preventing gun violence, book bans and climate change.
She said she wanted no one to “feel like they couldn’t show up to this,” including people who voted for the current administration.
“If they regret that decision, there is still a place for them here,” Porter said.
She told the crowd that “we are all living proof that there is joy in resisting.”
Darinka Gonzalez carried a Mexican flag at the event. She said she was there to show support for her family.
“My whole family is Mexican,” she said. “They came here for a better life. They wanted us to have equality, liberty and have the same education as everyone else.”
Arlo Pendragon carried a sign that read, “No one is free when others are oppressed.”
“I’m a transgender man,” he said. “I’m a father of four, and it’s not ok what’s going on right now. I’m scared for myself. I’m scared for the people around me. I’m worried about accessing medical care for myself and my friends accessing medical care as well.”
Pendragon said he was encouraged to see the crowd snowball during the five-hour event.
“It’s clear that Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s goal is to divide and isolate the most vulnerable among us,” said Emma Curtis, a newly-elected member of the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council who is also the first transgender person to be elected to a Kentucky city council. “I think coming together physically and standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our neighbors is the most productive thing to remind ourselves that we’re not alone.
“Going forward, I hope that people realize that Donald Trump’s actions don’t represent Lexington’s values and that just because he says something or issues a press release masquerading as an executive order, that doesn’t mean that his words are true or that they’re law.”
State Sen. Reggie Thomas, D-Lexington, spoke to the crowd, many of whom were young people, telling them that throughout America’s history, young folks have been agents for change.
“We need you now more than ever,” Thomas said. “We are upside down in our values.”
Thomas urged attendees to push for a “fair living wage,” a renewed respect for public education and “good health care” that is affordable and gives women the “right to make their own decisions” about their reproductive health.
“I’m asking all of you to do your part,” he said.
After the Rally for the People, many of the attendees walked to a second rally taking place just a few blocks away at Triangle Park.
The African Collective for Liberation has come downtown to rally for two Saturdays in a row, said Lauryn Jackson.
“This government does not want to see us thriving,” Jackson said. “We are fighting for Black people to come out of this capitalistic economic system. We’re going to be building dual contending power, coming together and educating ourselves on ways we can ... make things happen for ourselves.”
The collective, currently a group of about five or six people, is starting a barter and trade group that plans to meet at Triangle Park from 2 to 4 p.m. each Saturday, said Phoenix Berry.
“Being low income, being Black, being queer, the system wants to see me fail,” Berry said, adding that the goal is to “build a new system of support that is outside of the system that we’re forced to be under.”
