IFN Staff

About 100 people protested the actions and policies of the Trump administration during a peaceful demonstration in Downtown Statesville on Thursday evening. Protesters gathered outside of the Statesville Civic Center and held signs criticizing the president’s immigration policies as well as the significant funding cuts to healthcare and education, tax breaks for the wealthy, and the erosion of constitutional protections that have occurred since he took office in January.

The demonstration was one of more than 1,200 held across the country on the fifth annual John Lewis National Day of Action. The “John Lewis Good Trouble” protests honored the legacy of Lewis, a civil rights leader who served in the U.S. House of Representatives for 33 years before his death on July 17, 2020. A founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a Freedom Rider, and leader of the “Bloody Sunday” march from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965, Lewis encouraged Americans to stand up against injustice. “Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America,” he famously said.

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