A No Kings Rally, part of a national event, was last Saturday on West Main Street in Durant to protest the policies of President Donald Trump.
Democrat Patrick Southerland attended and he is running for State Senate District 6, a seat held by Republican David Bullard.
Southerland said he attended to show his support for those who want their voices to be heard.
“I think no matter what side you’re on, a voice is your voice and that’s a voice that needs to be heightened because it’s something that here in America, it’s what we have our rights to is our freedom of our voice and I feel like that is something I should show support of, especially since I’m an individual who is going to be representing a certain district,” Southerland said.
Earlier in the day, he said that he helped with a couple of booths at Colton’s Main Street Run.
“Colton’s Run is something that’s been very supportive for this community for the past 17 years,” Southerland said. “My family’s been a part of the Bryan County area for six generations, so seeing something like Colton’s Run going on has always made my heart. It’s always been deep and near to my heart, and I always want to show support anywhere I can when it comes to community.”
Darrell Dorsett of Durant said he was attending to protest Trump.
“We don’t want a king, we want somebody who respects the Constitution, respects our rule of law and treats people humanely,” Dorsett said. “One of the big reasons why I’m against him is because he’s been wanting to deport people since the very beginning in 2015. He’s been wanting to deport people ever since his first term. So, he’s not going after the bad people, he’s going after anybody he can. I mean he’s stripping people’s legal statuses just so he can try to tell people that he’s deporting people.”
Lucas Freeman said he has lived in Durant for more than a decade, and he was protesting because he wanted to make it known his feelings concerning the current state of things.
“Right now, there is blatant corruption happening on the federal level,” Freeman said. “Mind you, there’s always been some corruption there, but the way in which it’s so out in the open and that there are so few people actively talking about it, actively making a stink about it is ridiculous and quite frankly, I think a part of it has to do with the fact that the stock market’s doing real good and there’s a lot of people making a lot of money off of that.
“I believe that we need to do what we can to curb the corruption, greed and return back to kindness and I come out here to be among people who are like minded. To be among people who make me understand that I’m not alone in this.”
Asked if he thought there would be changes after the mid-term elections in November, Freeman said that he genuinely hoped so.
“I fear that that there will be meddling in the elections in some way, shape, form or fashion,” Freeman said. “I believe that the ruling party, every accusation is a confession and with the number of times Trump has said, ‘Oh, they’re cheating. They’re cheating probably.’ I don’t have proof of that but at the same time, all of this that exists, it’s just people. If you have enough people convinced to turn the other way on anything, well then, all kinds of things can happen that can result in the disenfranchisement of voters.
“I mean, they’re openly doing it with the gerrymandering, with the state question that just happened here recently concerning voter registration, voter ID and all of that, right? They worded it in such a way that they are going to allow the legislature to pick the very specific rules set for it and when that happens, well it’s controlled by the red hats, so of course, it’s going to do whatever they can to disenfranchise as many people who are going to be voting against them making some money and so, I hope there’s change. I think we will see a lot of blue taking office here and there, but in terms of it actually making a larger difference, I’m not sure.”
Kaseem Jacobs traveled from Atoka to attend the rally.
“I’m out here because I’m not happy with the way that our country and our state is heading and I needed to be around people who share that view because being in a state as red as Oklahoma, having these kind of views can make you feel isolated because everywhere you look, is a MAGA, is people who support the Republicans for their whole life and so you can kind of get that mindset of that’s just how it is here,” Jacobs said. “There’s no hope. Being around people like this lets you know it doesn’t have to be like that and being out here together can kind of get more people motivated to come together and not just accept it for what it is and try to be that change.
“I feel like the people hold the most power in this country. We are how the country operates and how it regenerates. Without us, this country falls apart and so I want more people to realize that we have the most power in this country, not the people who are running it. There are more of us than there are of them. The more united we are, the better off this country will be.”
