Protesters gathered outside Donald Trump’s private fundraiser in Tampa shortly after demonstrating at the GOP presidential nominee's campaign headquarters at 3104 N Armenia Ave. Tuesday.
Many of the protesters were holding up placards with messages that ranged from “White Supremacists Are Un-American” to “Latinos Are Not ‘Rapists and Criminals.” The protesters included members of the local chapters of the NAACP, Black Lives Matter, Fight for 15, Organize Now, CAIR Florida, LULAC 7250 and Mi Familia Vota.
“The opposition is trying to push the progress that has been made over the last 100 years back to racism and bigotry,” said Ben Small, president of the Hillsborough County chapter of the NAACP. “My call is to let them know that we will not go back and push the time back. We want to go forward to make sure that each and every citizen in this country has that opportunity to do so… We want freedom and justice for all.”
Trump was in Tampa for a private, $25,000-a-plate lunch fundraiser at the Centre Club in the Westshore area.
Several local influencers and Florida politicians were invited to the fundraiser, including Florida Gov. Rick Scott; Florida House Speaker Steve Crisafulli; Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus; and Bill Edwards, Sundial and Tampa Bay Rowdies owner, according to the Tampa Bay Business Journal.
Protesters said they were frustrated and upset that Trump has a campaign office based in West Tampa, which the New York Times called a “politically unfriendly turf” that has “a Democratic stronghold long dominated by Latinos, especially Cuban-Americans.”
“The language of hate, division and fascist sentiments have no place in democracy and no place in the political process in this still fledgling but great nation,” said Rev. Charles McKenzie, Florida coordinator of the Rainbow Push Coalition. “We the people who are gathered here today are going to fight with all of our might to ensure that you do not take this country backwards, but that we continue to move forward because this is what democracy looks like, this is what democracy sounds like and this is what democracy is.”
At the end of the press conference, a Tampa Bay Times reporter asked the 20 protesters to raise their hand if they aren’t going to vote for the democratic nominee for president Hillary Clinton. Nearly half raised their hands.
The reporter then posed the question of whether voting for Clinton would prevent a Trump presidency, since “you only have two choices right now.”
In response, the protesters said that they don’t want to award corruption (with which they accuse Clinton) with presidency. They also stressed that the United States is supposed to be a democracy where citizens should have more than two choices.
“I don't think any communities will be safe under either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Me speaking out against Donald Trump doesn't mean that I'm going to be voting for Hillary Clinton,” said Dezeray Lyn, 38. “I'm not voting for either of them and I don't support anyone who wants to tell me that I'm voting for Donald Trump if I don't vote for the other evil party that's there. We do have choices.”
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 4, 2016.