Activists gathered on the steps of the Arkansas State Capitol Saturday as part of a nationwide push against the Trump administration's policies.
Protestors crowded under the blazing sun to sing protest songs and cry out in chants against the Trump administration. The protest was part of the 50501, a recently-formed group hosting similar rallies across the nation.
Twice the group was led in a chorus of “This Land is Your Land.” The lyrics have often been interpreted as a protest song, and were initially written by Arlo Guthrie as a sarcastic response to Irving Berlin's patriotic anthem “God Bless America.”
During the rally, a stream of speakers stood before a podium on the Arkansas Capitol steps, waxing outraged on the president's latest policies. This included his deportations of Venezuelan migrants without due process, mass layoffs of workers in the civil service and the ongoing war in Gaza, which many described as a genocide. Signs protested a recent wave of tariffs enacted by the Trump administration and the president's relationship with Tech billionaire Elon musk.
Several protests and speakers wore face coverings or medical masks deciding to disguise their identities. Some wore masks identical to the “hacktivist” group Anonymous, and shirts that said “resist.”
Steve Evans spoke during the protest. He told Little Rock Public Radio that President Trump would suspend the American election system.
“I'm not afraid, I'm old enough where I'm not afraid to die,” he said. “But I want to live long enough to see Donald Trump in prison where he belongs.”
Caroline Morgan spent the protest in a red dress and white bonnet, identical to a uniform worn by handmaids in the fictional Hulu series The Handmaid's Tale. Morgan said it was hard to stay in character the entire protest, standing quiet and still by a stop sign.
“I haven't been speaking much because that's the handmaid costume,” she said. “We're living it. We're living the handmaid's tale.”
