“Hey, ho, racism’s gotta go!”
As thousands poured into the Knoxville Convention Center to listen to Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, a group of protestors led by Knoxville’s SomosUno chanted in unison to passing pedestrians and cars on Henley Street.
Earlier in the day, the group’s embedded message, “We Are One,” appeared on the face of The Rock in an effort to attract larger numbers to appear at Trump’s scheduled appearance, which held thousands of supporters as the comb-over candidate travels across the Southeast for his campaign.
Julian Rodrigeuz, a graduate of Carson-Newman University, described the event as a larger collaboration between SomosUno, a organization designed around the needs of Latin American students, and similar organizations across Tennessee.
But the binding factor for the gathering, he said, wasn’t the protestors’ opposition to Trump’s aggressive policies for border control, but rather support for democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders as a guarantor for Hispanic families and his message of equal opportunity.
“Maybe get some people across the line to agree with us, but I wanted (to raise awareness) and to dispel some of the rumors and misinformation that has been spread about Sen. Bernie Sanders,” Rodrigeuz said.
For Rodriguez, Sanders’ appeals lie in his grassroots voter support from twenty-somethings and a strong social media — a factor that could make historic victory if Sanders lands the presidency.
“That proves that our message can be spread and can be seen throughout all walks of life and it doesn’t have to be a bunch of people whose parents are in support of Donald Trump,” Rodriguez said. “That’s the way they’re going to (change the) vote. Just to spread information like that.”
Like Rodriguez, Alicia Faggioli, UT senior in chemistry, said the primary role of the protest was to voice fundamental concerns for the well-publicized comments made by Trump about immigration reform and international relations with the Middle East and China.
“He keeps talking about how Mexicans are illegal immigrants and are criminals,” Faggioli said. “It’s hard to believe that we have made this country our home and they made us feel like we’re not welcome, especially someone with so much power like Donald Trump.”
Such power, she emphasized, can be powerful when channeled into protests like the SomosUno where she is an active member, seeking to alter the perception of immigration for older generations — some of whom flipped off the protestors as they shifted between chants.
“We hope to reach out to all the Latinos, especially in Knoxville, get them out to the polls and stand against people like Donald Trump,” Faggioli said. “We want to show that racism and inequality is still a thing and address (it) as an issue.”
True to televised statements expressed in GOP debates, Trump prominently echoed his stance on immigration by stating that the erection of a wall between the United States and Mexican border would be the best solution, and described its scale as too fearful for any illegal immigrant to cross without risk of repercussions.
“If anyone gets to the top of that wall, they’re gonna be afraid to come down — it’s a long way down,” Trump said to a roaring crowd. “We’re gonna have a door in the wall, but they’re gonna come into our country legally.”
In addition to a scattering of other topics, Trump’s comments on the mass shootings in Paris that killed at least 129 civilians led to several heated minutes on gun control, prompting the candidate to promote himself as a “big, big, big Second Amendment person.”
“If 20 of those people who were shot had guns — you’ve heard the stories — it would have been a totally different story, there would have been a shoot out at the O.K. Corral,” he said. “There would have been death, but it would have been their death.”
While the Manhattan tycoon remains a public spectacle, Paulie Murphy, a retired Knoxville teacher and protestor, said Trump’s “message of hate” completely contradicts the refugee story inherent to the United States’ inception as a nation.
“It is against all belief in freedom that I have known and when I poured my heart and soul into this country,” Murphy said. “It is irrational anger against people uniting to make things right and make a better life for all of humanity.”
Though her grandparents immigrated from Ireland almost a century ago, Murphy maintains that America’s historic openness for immigrant populations needs a reboot by leaders in the American legislature who may dispel the ill-conceived ideas preached by Trump.
“It just scratches the surface because it wasn’t that long ago,” Murphy said. “Everyone is just trying to survive and raise their families and everyone in those families work so hard and they don’t get a lot of reward for it.”
Though Faggioli and Murphy reported overall positive reactions from on-lookers, some witnesses at the rally saw students holding a College of Republicans banner while shouting discriminatory phrases at the protestors from across the street.
College Republican’s Communications Director Greg Butcher released a statement on the UT College Republicans Facebook page in response: “The University of Tennessee College Republicans unequivocally denounce those actions, as well as any attempt by the College Democrats to grandstand and pin this on our organization and our members because of the individual actions of some.”
UT College Democrats has also called for the group to “publicly apologize for their unacceptable behavior that took place tonight.”
The Daily Beacon will update this story with details as the week progresses.
Thousands of Tennesseans gathered downtown to listen to Donald Trump's comments on a variety of national issues on Monday night.
