Photo by Donnell Suggs/The Atlanta Voice
The crowd could be heard a mile away from where the rally was taking place. By microphone, megaphone, and word of mouth, chants of “Immigrants are welcome here” were loud and clear.
During a rally on March 22, Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff told a crowded room of supporters inside The Eastern, a live music and entertainment venue in the city’s Reynoldstown section, that “Georgia will bow to no king.” On Saturday morning in the shadow of the Georgia State Capitol, hundreds of people repeated that same message, but with the entire nation in mind.
One of the thousands of “No Kings” rallies today occurred in Liberty Plaza. The rallies are part of a nationwide protest of many decisions by current and former United States President Donald J. Trump. The coordinated efforts around the country come on the heels of rampant deportations of Hispanic people and the riots that those deportation efforts have stirred up. Case in point: Los Angeles and, to a bit less dramatic, but equally as important, scale Atlanta.
On Saturday, “No Kings” rallies took place around Georgia, in cities both big and small, including in metro Atlanta’s Decatur and further south of Atlanta in Fayetteville, Griffin, and McDonough. The rallies were also scheduled to take place north of Atlanta in Gainesville, Marietta, Suwanee, and Woodstock.
In Atlanta, thousands of people gathered in Liberty Plaza. There were mothers and fathers with children in strollers and on their shoulders, elderly people using the aid of walkers and canes made their way through the crowd, and young people holding signs and raising their fists in solidarity with the event’s speakers.
Those signs were colorful, large, small, on paper, cardboard, T-shirts, and hats. The messages were similar, but the delivery varied: “Kings are for Burgers,” “No humans are illegal,” “The Holocaust started as a mass deportation,” and “ICE melts in Georgia.”
Georgia State Rep. Dr. Jasmine Clark was one of the dozen speakers during the rally who asked the crowd to resist what has been taking place around the country.
“Trump is a parasite to our Constitution,” said Clark. “Trump is a parasite to our country.”
During the rally, four people were seen making their way through the crowd holding a yellow flag in opposition to the message of the rally. They were universally booed, but were not physically engaged. Shouts of “F%&k you, Nazis” could be heard as they continued their march.
This protest was non-violent and ended without police intervention.
