From an activist in the Atlanta Chapter |
The main event in Atlanta was at Plaza Fiesta, a large shopping center serving the immigrant community.
Estimates were 400 to 500 people, organized by religious groups and congregations across many religions. The speakers were mostly religious community leaders, and a couple of people running for office. We couldn’t hear much of the content of the speeches, although the tone was very passionate. Some were energizing, others pacifying. The crowd was predominantly white middle class older folks, with a smaller number of younger people, some immigrants from various regions of the world. Many brought creative hand-made signs decrying the camps and treatment of immigrants. One woman had a sign that said “This is some Nazi bullshit!” People were excited to be part of this sizable crowd, but also uneasy/uncertain about what to do next, sensing that the situation demands further involvement of some sort.
The RF contingent came into the crowd wearing mylar blankets with large stickers on the back with the main slogans in Spanish. We unfurled striking banners in Spanish and English, and passed out stickers and flyers throughout the crowd. The stickers were everywhere. We signed up a good number of people – some people came up who had been involved in RF at the very beginning and were excited to hook up again, others had seen us before at other events, some had never met us.
There was an intense thunderstorm in the middle of the event, but most people stuck through it until the end. The last speaker ended the rally on a down note, imploring people to leave in silent contemplation. Shortly after the rally broke up, we got on a bullhorn and started chanting “Concentration camps, we say no! Trump and Pence must go!” and said that people coming out today all over the country was very powerful but could not be left as a one-day event. We called on people to join up with RF to bring forth a movement of millions with sustained protest in the streets to drive out the Trump/Pence regime, that we couldn’t wait until 2020 or rely on the Democratic Party, that we should look at Hong Kong, South Korea, etc. to see that this is possible. One RF organizer read a “Public Service Announcement” that she had written about the impending ICE raids. Several small groups of people came up to talk and sign up.
We invited people on the spot to meet together at a nearby restaurant. Ten people got together, a mix of our chapter core and people new to RF, for a couple of hours of vigorous discussion over RF’s mission, impressions of the Lights for Liberty event, and plans going forward. Questions were debated including: the foundational importance of understanding that we’re confronting a fascist regime; whether the only way to build a large broad movement is to appeal to people’s self-interest; whether voter registration is something people should see as part of the solution; the relationship between oppressed people who are the direct targets fighting against their own oppression, and others standing up against the attacks; how the regime’s threats against Iran and Venezuela and international agenda are an important part of the picture; why RF says “In the name of humanity”; the Pastor Martin Niemoller quote in relation to all this. We made plans to stay in close communication through the weekend in relation to hooking into two initiatives: “ICE Chaser” car caravans on Sunday to provide early warning to communities being raided and to video ICE, and a Never Again civil disobedience action being planned to shut down the regional ICE field office on Monday; and to reconvene later in the week.