In response to the ‘Trump Train,’ cars ‘Rally for our Future’ in support of Biden

Written by Aspen Stoddard
October 18, 2020

ST. GEORGE — More than 50 vehicles congregated at Dixie State University Sunday afternoon to participate in the “Rally for our Future” protest.

Participants in the “Rally for our Future” event gathered in the parking lot of Dixie State University, St. George, Utah, Oct. 18, 2020 | Photo by Aspen Stoddard, St. George News

At around 2 p.m., the parking lot began to fill up at Dixie State University where people were drawing messages on their vehicles and hanging flags that showed support of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden and Black Lives Matter, as well as messages promoting peace and inclusiveness.

Kassandra Carreon, one of the event organizers, told St. George News that after seeing the “Trump Train” that took place on Oct. 11, she and many others felt that it was “a rally for hate” and wanted to take action.

“A lot of racist comments were made during the rally, and so we decided to act on it and show that not everybody in St. George – it’s a smaller city – so we want to show that there are people who are just pro-humanity is the best way to say it,” she said.

While the rally initially began as an anti-Trump rally, Carreon said they also wanted to show the diversity that exists in St. George as well as their love and support for Biden and running mate Kamala Harris.

But mainly, “we want to vote him out,” she said. “We are here to express that if we want Donald Trump out of office, we have to vote for Biden. He has shown a lot more humanity and compassion toward others than Trump has.”

Kassandra Carreon, one of the organizers for the “Rally for our Future” stands by her flags in the parking lot of Dixie State University, St. George, Utah, Oct. 18, 2020 | Photo by Aspen Stoddard, St. George News

As they were organizing this event on Facebook, Carreon said that it was disheartening to see the negative responses, and due to safety concerns they had to change the event location from Bluff Street Park to Dixie State University.

“We have received multiple threats, which is why we had to actually change the location and be really private and filter through anybody that was going into the group because we received threats about hurting the people that are coming to this rally. We’ve received a lot of hateful messages.”

One of the more interesting messages she received she said they were calling Donald Trump their “savior.”

Robert Molina, a participant, told St. George News that he came to the event after hearing about an anti-Trump rally and wanted to have a voice.

“I was born in California. I’m a Mexican American. I’m not from Mexico, but I’m not for Trump because of things he said, which made it seem like he’s not for Mexicans, but I could be wrong. It’s just the way he’s portrayed it.”

Janie Smith told St. George News that being in conservative Utah and surrounded by Trump supporters, she wanted to show that not everybody here is a Trump supporter.

“There’s another way of being. There’s someone else to vote for even if you live here,” she said.

Participants in the “Rally for our Future” event gathered in the parking lot of Dixie State University, St. George, Utah, Oct. 18, 2020 | Photo by Aspen Stoddard, St. George News

Smith said that her support for Biden also largely has to do with the Supreme Court.

“When we have conservative justices, we have a corporate court that supports big business, big oil,” she said, “besides everything Trump has done and is doing to this country to destroy it, that’s why.”

For Destiny Alatorre, who also helped organize the event, this event gives her a sense of community.

“We didn’t think other people had the same views as us, and so we were kind of shooting it out there, and this gives us a sense of community where everyone feels welcome.”

Another organizer of the event, Sandy Adrade, said because there have been a lot of attacks on minority groups, there has been a lot of worry with people she knows about them being deported to Mexico.

“Coming from an immigrant background and having people that are close to home that are not from here and have the possibility of being deported back to Mexico, places that they’ve never grown up in, that hits home real hard,” she said. “We’re hoping that everybody makes a stand and goes out and votes and makes a change and makes this better.”

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

After graduating with a Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction, Aspen Stoddard spent time writing and traveling before returning to St. George News. She now works as a managing editor.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @STGNews

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