For the fourth time in less than eight weeks, downtown Lexington was the site of a large protest against the Trump Administration. Thursday’s rally was one of more than a thousand May Day events around the country. Rain kept attendance down, but hundreds gathered at the Robert F. Stephens Courthouse Complex, including Tona Barkley, who drove from Owen County.
“I think we're losing our democracy, and we've got to, we've got to stand up and show – I think we're, we are the, the visible part of all the people who are unhappy with what's happening, and we're part of a bigger movement.”
Barkley said she thinks protesters are making a difference, along with lawyers contesting President Trump’s executive orders and universities standing up for free speech rights.
Rain moved the speakers, and many rally-goers, to take shelter under an overhang. Among those giving speeches was Kelly Smith of Bluegrass Activist Alliance.
“So Trump and Musk are implementing policies that further protect billionaires, while working families are told to tighten their belts and unions are under attack.”
Some of the May Day speakers represented unions. Smith said for years, Lexington sanitation workers have been working to get a collective bargaining agreement with the city – and they have the support of the groups that organized the rally.
