In Their Own Words: TUC Protesters Tell Their Stories

When Donald Trump held his rally at the Times Union Center in Albany on April 11, there was a sizable crowd demonstrating against the billionaire’s rhetoric and the tenor of his campaign. The crowd increased in size over the evening as the candidate spoke to his supporters.

When the event let out, the two groups verbally clashed repeatedly. The tension reached the point that mounted police had to intervene to separate the mogul’s supporters from the anti-Trump forces.

When I did my reporting on the rally (and on the Sanders rally from earlier in the day), I met some of the men and women who were involved in the actions outside of the Center.

I’ve collected many of their videos and photos here.

What follows is an account of what happened on April 11 outside of the Times Union Center, in their words.

Jasmine Shea

“When I heard Trump was having a rally I planned a dance party protest on Facebook. Then another girl who had made a public page reached out to me and added me to the event to co run.

We strictly told people to this was anti hate anti Trump rally. We knew Bernie was in town and told people to leave any pro candidate signs or shirts at home. We told people to bring music or head phones so you can protest without hearing the trump supporters.

We were just New Yorkers standing up against bigotry and hate and doing it in a fun way with dancing and showing what love and diversity looks like.”

Katie Lamar

“I am only seventeen-years-old, and attending the protest, as well as the Bernie Sanders rally hours earlier, was a few of the most exciting hours I’ve ever had. I was strong and confident in my attendance during the protest, and although there were much fewer of us than there were of the supporters, I felt secure that my dissatisfaction was only stemming from the part of me that loves my country. And that doesn’t include just the privileged(as many of the supporters believed I could tell as they were screaming “White power!” and “Build a wall!”) but rather, all walks of life.

I felt like I was on the right side of that barricade.”

Amy Fortin

“Every time someone shouted at us to get a job I shouted back that I’m a small business owner (I’m the owner and sole proprietor of a dog walking company). They didn’t really know what to do with that. One guy accused me of being a Republican, to which I responded, “Nope, I’m a Socialist and I LOVE paying taxes!”

Jasmine Shea

“The police knew what we were doing. I called them ahead of time to tell them that are plan was just to have a dance party.

Which in some cases we did in the beginning.

I got the name of the Lt. in charge so when I arrived I informed him what they were doing to be in communication and let them know we weren’t there to fight anyone. We were going to be civil and stay in the barricaded area. They were super nice and honestly from a protesters view they were there to protect us.

When the people inside got kicked out of the rally inside came out to the street the cops made all protesters stay inside the barricade.”

Katie Lamar

“Throughout the protest, there were Trump supporters with varying levels of anger. One man brought his young child, probably about four years of age, closer to the protesters, “Don’t yell at my kid. We support Trump.” I yelled at him, “Down with white supremacy!” and he yelled back “Fuck you!” and gave me the middle finger. His little boy looked frightened, but stayed in place. This went on a little while longer until he finally wandered off back into the crowd.”

Amy Fortin

“A guy yelled to ask what we were doing here and we asked him the same. He said he was supporting Trump and we asked him why. He deflected with questions about who we were supporting (which we had agreed beforehand would not be discussed) so we redirected him back to our question and tried to get him to tell us what Trump’s platform was. He kept deflecting and we kept asking. He finally just walked away.”

Jasmine Shea

“Things Trump supporters said to me:
Get a job. Get off welfare. You’re a worthless nigger. You’re an illegal. Black lives don’t matter. Youre worthless. Youre trash. You’re a racist ( though I was surrounded by all different races within our group). You’re a whore. You’re a schmuck. You’re a slut. You’re a nigger.

Had money thrown at me.

Had at least 3 older white men in my face calling me names.

Heckled for almost 5 n hours of nothing but pure hatred screamed at me.

All by both sober and drunk white people. All white people. Only one and said good for you for sticking up for what you believe in which is America.”

Michael Barber

“A guy stated, in front of APD, that we’d be shot and hanged if the cops weren’t there.”

Katie Lamar

“I made eye-contact with a boy from my high school in the line. He started to record me with his cellphone, as I yelled “Love trumps hate!” and he started a chant, “USA! USA!”

Quickly, us protesters had the same idea, and began to chant “USA! USA! USA!” back at them. This perplexed them, as our chants were soon in unison. The boy from my school was smiling and laughing, and finally just yelled “Trump!” before quieting down.

There were a few Trump supporters who just wanted a quick in-and-out, many included men with recording devices coming up to us and yelling “Get a job!” over and over. Nobody ever inquired about the poster in my hands, “Hate is easy, love takes courage” or “My Body My Choice #NeverTrump.” Instead, I was met with racist nonsense, as line after line of white people rushed through to see Trump.”

Jasmine Shea

“After the rally got out it was a lot worse. I held up a sign saying “I don’t apologize for my blackness nor your fear” and that just made all of them angry.

Same stuff said fueled by more hate from seeing Trump.

A girl and her boyfriend and some other guy came into our protest area. the girl called me nigger under her breath and when I got to her face-to-face I said call me again call me again call me again and she back down. She walked away but then was still talking a lot of shit and her boyfriend got into my face saying that I should be scared because he’s a Marine he was from Philadelphia.

It was all hate. All people who didn’t even have real facts or wanted to hear real fact.”

Katie Lamar

“I am proud that I had the opportunity to stand with the protesters, people of diverse backgrounds and open hearts. I am very grateful I got to see hate and love on the same street, fighting with voices and ideas, to show me that politics is not just something on TV. It will impact me, and it will impact you, whether or not we do something about it.

On Monday- I decided to do something about it.”

Jasmine Shea

“We were just New Yorkers standing up against bigotry and hate and doing it in a fun way with dancing and showing what love and diversity looks like.”

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This ain’t about these “types” of people. It’s about all of us, as a people -letlive

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