BY STACIE LETT CAIN
Several hundred people gathered in Downtown Statesville on Saturday to participate in one of more than 3,300 “No Kings” demonstrations held in all 50 states. The protests, organized by more than 300 organizations, were held to call attention to the policies and actions of the Trump administration.
Nationally, organizers called it the largest single-day nonviolent protest in modern American History with an estimated 8 million people participating.
In Statesville, protesters showed up in the Square early, carrying homemade signs and chanting.
“For me, this all started with seeing how cruel, violent, and lawless ICE agents were acting,” said Maggie Hurst, a Statesville resident who protests most Saturdays downtown on the square. “After the first protest in Hickory last April, I felt that I, personally, needed to put myself out there in a highly visible way, to our Statesville community.”
Another participant, Peggy Palmer, said she hopes members of Congress will change their ways.
“What bothers me most isn’t any single policy,” she explained. “It’s that Congress is watching all of this happen and doing nothing -– they’ve chosen their party over their country.”
But if there was an issue that she felt passionate about, it would be, like Hurst, immigration.
“Immigration enforcement has always been part of the law, but what’s changed is the atmosphere of fear and random targeting that goes far beyond anything we have ever seen before,” she said. “I’m not at this rally because I hate the other side. I’m here because I remember when we disagreed and still found common ground, and I want that country back.”
Statesville police officers were on hand to ensure that there were no public safety issues.
“Everything has been going very smoothly today,” Captain Anthony Hamby said. “We fully support everyone’s First Amendment rights and are very pleased that everything today has been going without incident.”
As Hamby spoke, a man in a white Cadillac SUV pulled up to the traffic light, opened his door and yelled “Jesus is the only King” repeatedly into the crowd. Hamby, watching closely to see what came next, heard a voice from the crowd exclaim: “Thank you for sharing your belief!”
With that, the man returned to his vehicle and drove away.
“That’s what I mean,” Hamby said. “It’s all going smoothly.”
Hurst said the protests have the power to change individual hearts — if not the Trump administrations policies.
“I think these protests raise awareness that those of us who call ourselves ‘Christians’ are called to live our lives in a way that aligns with Christ’s teachings to seek peace, love our neighbors as ourselves, feed the hungry, and so forth,” she explained. “These demonstrations do me good, personally, in taking two hours a week to try and make our community a better place.”
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