The former president is coming to Long Island today. These are the groups protesting Trump’s Nassau rally.
Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, is set to speak at Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale this evening. More than 60,000 people are expected to attend. The former president, currently running against Democratic nominee Vice President Kamala Harris, received nearly half of Long Island votes in the 2020 election.
However, Trump is also perhaps the most controversial politician in living memory, with everyone from parents to local politicians fighting over the reality-star-turned-president — and the former president’s comments about Haitian Americans in Springfield, Ohio have turned up the heat.
Who’s protesting Trump’s Nassau rally?
Today at 3 p.m., Nassau County Legislator Carrié Solages (D-Valley Stream) is joining a group of Haitian Americans to protest outside of Trump’s Nassau rally, following the racially-charged remarks that Trump and his running mate, Senator J.D. Vance, made about the disproven claim that Haitian immigrants are abducting and eating pets in Springfield, Ohio.
The protestors aim to raise awareness on the harmful impacts of such rhetoric and call for stronger protections for Haitians across the U.S.
“We demand a formal apology from the Trump campaign as well as a restatement of the true facts,” said Solages, who in 2011 became the first Haitian American elected to the Nassau County Legislature. “We will not tolerate dehumanizing lies about our community.”
The legislators and Haitian activists will be joined by representatives from the Holocaust Memorial and Tolerance Center. They will be protesting Trump’s Nassau rally in the free speech zone outside the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Also protesting Trump’s Nassau rally in response to his and Vance’s recent claims about Haitian Americans is the 1199SEIU, the largest healthcare union in the U.S..
The workers employed in hospitals, nursing homes and home care are protesting to “stand in solidarity with the Haitian community in the face of recent attacks,” a release from the union stated.
“Absent any real plan to improve the lives of the American people, Trump and the Republicans resort to the same old authoritarian playbook of spreading hate and blaming immigrants for the challenges our country is facing,” said George Greshamn, president of the union’s east division.
The healthcare field has “many thousands of members who belong to the Haitian diaspora,” the statement continued, and the contributions of Haitian Americans to healthcare have been invaluable. The union endorses endorse Kamala Harris for president.
“We reject the politics of hate and division,” Gresham continued in the statement. “In this election, we cannot let the Republican Party and their billionaire donors deflect attention from their efforts to take away our freedoms, erode workers’ rights, and weaken our democracy.”
The union will be protesting Trump’s Nassau rally on the corner of Hempstead Tpke and Uniondale Ave today at 4 p.m..
And yesterday, a collection of Haitian community members and Long Island organizations — Elmont Culture and political activism groups Make The Road Action, New York Communities for Change and The Corridor Counts — held a rally at the Haitian-owned Blue Mermaid Restaurant in Uniondale.
The event protesting Trump’s Nassau rally denounced “the harmful anti-immigrant, LGBTQ+, worker and tenant hate spread during last week’s Presidential debate and as part of Trump’s reelection campaign,” a release said. The protest also condemned Trump’s claim that Democrats support “after birth abortions.”
The group aimed to “highlight the unity among Long Islanders, condemn the violent rhetoric against the Haitian community and the dangers of dehumanizing immigrants for political gain,” they said in a statement. “Everyone in our neighborhood should be able to thrive, live freely, and feel safe.”
While these groups are protesting Trump’s Nassau rally, others are lending their full-fledged support. The Suffolk County Police Department Police Benevolent Association, for example, is set to voice their support for candidate Donald Trump today in a tailgate at Nassau Community College at 3 p.m..
