This Labor Day over 60 community members, many being Coastal Carolina University students and professors, gathered with signs on the sidewalks of U.S. Highway 544 near campus for an anti-authoritarianism peaceful protest hosted by Coastal Democracy.
The power of social media and word of mouth invited members of local and campus-based organizations and affiliations throughout Horry County. A wide range of demographics that make up the local community stood together united against autocracy and injustice portrayed by the current government administration.
Initially, CCU Assistant Professor of Sociology Todd Madigan was looking to join a local group that advocated for administrative change. He said when he couldn’t find the type of group he was looking for, “the next logical step was to start something.”
Madigan said this protest served as the beginning of a local civil resistance movement and nationwide strategy to ending authoritarianism in the U.S.
“We’ve got groups doing their own thing, which is important, but what we want to do is we want to gather everyone together in a strategic way to really put an end to this,” Madigan said.
While participants protested a broad range of injustice felt by the working class, the protest intended to specifically speak out against aggressive immigration deportation policies.
“The feeling or thoughts of, like, coming back to campus and feeling like we are a target or that we just feel unsafe or less than other people just because of the way that we look like, is heartbreaking and terrifying and absolutely disgusting, honestly,” said a member of Coastal’s Hispanic and Latinos United student organization.
Racism and stigma association is a fear felt by people of color throughout the nation. While the current administration works to dismantle initiatives embracing diversity, equality and inclusion (DEI), the societal and institutional issues that DEI acknowledges are not just disappearing. In fact, one Coastal student held his tongue at the protest as a truck slowly drove by spewing slurs at him.
Protestors were advised by group leaders not to engage with insults or taunting but instead to smile and wave, and participants followed through with that request. Co-founder senior sociology major Olivia Hurley said that responding with hate and violence would go against what the crowd was protesting for.
“We just want to bring everyone together and let everyone know that we have their backs and we’re one big community,” she said.
The united front that the protesters held in support of their immigrant neighbors and people of color spoke louder than the occasional insults and slurs thrown their way, as most cars passed by honking in support and screaming “thank you” to the crowd.
South Carolina is known as a red state, where 69% of Horry County votes were in favor of President Trump in the 2024 general election. However, Madigan is not surprised at the overwhelming support from the community that participated and responded while passing by.
“I don’t think most of those voters realized what they were voting for. I don’t think they were voting for cruelty,” he said.
Acknowledging the growing turn around in Trump supporters locally and nationally, senior sociology major Zachary Fluker is taking steps to show that political affiliation does not need to be blindly followed.
“Now I can see a lot of people are starting to regret their choices, and they don’t feel like they can speak out against what they already voted for. So, I just want to be that voice for them and hopefully they can, you know, step up and speak out also,” Fluker said.
Coastal Democracy is growing rapidly. Madigan started the initiative over the summer, leading up to about 15 people at a prior meeting. Once classes were back in session, students began to join the movement and coordinate with CCU’s Social Justice Club, Women’s and Gender Studies Program, Black Student Association, Hispanic and Latinos United organization and Rotaract Club.
“I couldn’t stand seeing everything that was going on in the world today and just feeling like I wasn’t doing anything about it. So, I figured this was the perfect opportunity to get involved and hopefully make a change,” Hurley said.
Madigan said updates for future meetings and events will be posted to the Coastal Democracy Instagram and sent via email, because the fight against authoritarianism is far from over.
“We don’t just want to protest it, we want to end it,” he said. “We have a strategy of next steps, and this is just the first one.”
