UF students protest Trump on Turlington Plaza
They basically gave the Turlington preacher a day off
Over 100 students took to Turlington Plaza earlier today to protest Trump winning the election.
They were a mix of members of the Radical Student Alliance (RSA) and students that agreed with their message.
UF junior, Rey Andras, said, “We’re protesting Trump’s entire platform as well as the problems he represents in this country. Problems like racism, fascism, the exploitation of minorities and marginalized people. You’d have to ask each person what they specifically disagree with and believe, but in general we all refuse to support Trump’s presidential platform and we want to make the campus safer for minorities.”
Sophia Eikenberry, a freshman, gave us a basic idea of their goals. “Realistically, we want to block Trump from passing amendments that would make the problems we have worse, the same way Obama was often blocked by Republicans. More than that we want people to stop racism or injustice when they see it happening, whether their part of a group or not.”
The RSA advocates gender equality among several other issues
Theresa Chapman, a sophomore and active RSA member was involved in planning the protest since Friday.
She told The Tab: “We all noticed how silent the campus had been about how the election was effecting the minorities on campus.”
Apparently they saw white nationalist posters across campus which said “Are you tired of Anti-White Propaganda?”
Protesters with the RSA hold up signs promoting a range of issues from Black lives matter to ending fascism
Trump supporters also showed up as part of a counter-protest.
Students supporting Trump came out and protested against the protestors.
Theresa said the group don’t agree with the systems in place.
“A lot of people conflate being radical and make it seem like it’s about anarchy or fighting the government, but really we just don’t like how the current system exploits the working class and makes life hard for minorities and marginalized people.”