Protesters lined the sidewalks at the corner of Poplar and Highland on a soggy afternoon in Memphis to protest the usurpations of President Donald Trump. The line of sign-waving citizens on Highland stretched about three quarters of the way from Poplar to Walnut Grove. On Poplar Avenue, the crowd stretched from Osaka Japanese Cuisine to well past West Galloway Drive. Exact numbers were difficult to determine due to the dispersal of the crowd along the sidewalks, but this reporter estimates at least a thousand people attended the rally. On Sunday, organizers said more than 4,000 people attended.
The air was filled with constant chanting and the blaring of car horns as drivers expressed support for the protests. The green space on the northeast corner of Poplar and Highland, which has become a rallying point for weekly protests against the ongoing ICE deportations and the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE)’s arbitrary defunding of government programs, was filled with protesters who listened to speakers like state Representative Karen Camper, organizer Amber Sherman, Memphis Community Against Pollution (MCAP)’s KeShaun Pearson, Jack Richbourg, and Scott Banbury of the Sierra Club.
General Sessions Court Clerk Tami Sawyer began a fiery speech by asking the crowd to pray for Minnesota state Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, who were killed in Minnesota by an assassin disguised as a police officer early this morning, and for state Senator John A. Hoffman and his wife, who were wounded by the same gunman. The two politicians are Democrats, and the police have recovered a hit list of other liberal politicians from the car of the suspected gunman, who remains at large at the time of this writing.
The No Kings protest was one of an estimated 2,000 such events taking place simultaneously across the United States. The protests were scheduled in response to the president’s military parade, which takes place in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, but they have taken on new urgency this week after Trump ordered the National Guard and Marines into the streets of Los Angeles to quell protests against ICE raids. Hundreds of Latino immigrants and undocumented people have been seized off the streets in Los Angeles and other American cities in recent days.
In Memphis, American flags were in evidence everywhere. A Hispanic man, who declined to give his name, carrying a large American flag said, “I want to reclaim this flag for our side. They can’t have it.”
Mexican flags, Pride flags, and an assortment of other banners flapped in the breeze as the Mighty Souls Brass Band performed in the green space, which was muddy after heavy rains the night before. The crowd was jubilant and rowdy, buoyed by strong demonstrations of support from passing motorists. No counter-protesters were in evidence, and there was zero police presence on the street. This reporter witnessed one man driving by who waved a Trump hat out of his open window. He was roundly booed. One woman yelled, “You voted for a rapist!”