People's Plaza celebrates 50 days
On June 12, following a wave of Black Lives Matter protests that swept Nashville and the country, a group of activists decided to set up camp on the steps of the Tennessee State Capitol. They aimed to establish an autonomous zone, similar to the protest site that had sprung up in Seattle a few days prior. They called the area Ida B. Wells Plaza — named for the pioneering Black journalist and activist — and demanded to speak with Gov. Bill Lee about removing the Nathan Bedford Forrest bust from the Capitol, as well as defunding and demilitarizing the police. Earlier that day, Lee issued a statement saying that camping on state property “not expressly designated as a campground area” is illegal, adding “that law will be enforced.”
No arrests were made that night. Tennessee Highway Patrol officers took down demonstrators’ tents the next day, but the protesters didn’t leave. After hours of stand-offs on the lawn of the Capitol, the campers and several supporters moved across the street and set up a new site. They began organizing shifts for people to stay overnight in the plaza and launched Twitter and Instagram accounts under the handle People’s Plaza.
On Aug. 1, protesters celebrated the 50-day mark of plaza occupation, which they say is the longest continuous protest in the country.
“It’s been a blur,” says activist Justin Jones, one of the first to camp out at the site. “What started as a protest became a community with a life of its own.”
Justin Jones
Saturday night’s celebration was full of music and dancing, as protesters — nearly all of them wearing masks in compliance with COVID-19 guidelines — gathered on the sidewalk across the street from the Capitol, waving signs and blasting music from Megan Thee Stallion, Rico Nasty, Missy Elliott and more. They turned the crosswalk stretching across Dr. M.L.K. Jr. Boulevard into a runway, showing off their best moves.
Longtime activist the Rev. Venita Lewis, also a frequent presence at the plaza, spoke at the event. She thanked and congratulated the protesters on their continued occupation, saying, “This space will never be the same again.”
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Jeff Yarbro also spoke, telling the protesters their occupation represented “50 days where this group of people has made the undeniable claim that the people’s house belongs to the people.”
Several nights of action led up to the day-50 celebration, including vigils for victims of police violence and immigrants detained by ICE.
The site has lasted seven-plus weeks despite nighttime raids and mass arrests at the Capitol. Most arrests were made on the grounds of criminal trespass and took place after bigger events — like on July 4, when 55 people were arrested following a massive march organized by Teens for Equality.
Many protesters arrested on July 4 accused state troopers of unnecessary force and of leaving them out in the sun for hours with their hands zip-tied. They also reported unsanitary conditions in the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office, and witnessed correctional officers use a chemical agent on a man in a cell. Over the course of June alone, WSMV reports, Tennessee spent nearly $880,000 in overtime pay and travel expenses for state troopers to observe the protest — and that Lee still had no plans to meet with the protesters. Protesters have noted several times that they likely would have gone home by now had Lee simply met with them.
Angel Stansberry
Jones, who has been arrested five times during the occupation, says the run-ins with state troopers were traumatic for many protesters. Many protesters were arrested multiple times, and one People’s Plaza press release from July estimated there had been more than 150 arrests made at that point.
“It’s definitely shown just the fragility of the state, in terms of the fact that they’re willing to spend all this money for armed troopers to guard an empty building,” says Jones, “rather than just come down and have a conversation about a crisis in America and in Tennessee.”
On July 9, the protesters claimed a victory when the State Capitol Commission voted to relocate the bust of Forrest, an early Ku Klux Klan leader and alleged war criminal, to the Tennessee State Museum. The protesters decided to carry on in the plaza.
But now the activists are beginning to consider a transition stage. While they voted a recent nightly assembly to continue on until at least Aug. 8, the future of the movement may look different than the current 24/7 occupation — group members say they’re looking to create something more sustainable for the long-term struggle against racial injustice.
The protest site has grown and changed a lot over the past 50-plus days — from just a single tent and a handful of people to a community that organizes email campaigns and sets up socially distanced dance and yoga events in the plaza. But for activists like Sheronica Hayes, it’s the consistency of movement that’s most impressive.
“I think that, for me, it hasn’t been about what changed,” says Hayes. “It’s been about what remained [consistent], and that consistency has been people really believing in what we’re here for and what we’re fighting for. I think that the most impactful changes have been from that consistency of us building relationships and … just becoming more confident in our ability to assemble and organize.”
For all the nights spent outside, the multiple arrests and the challenges of organizing a movement during a global pandemic, the activists say it has been worth it — and they’re optimistic about the future.
“We didn’t know that we would even come this far,” says activist Jonelle Christopher. “We just started and said, ‘Hopefully we can stay one night.’ And Gov. Lee. said we wouldn’t stay one night and that we would be arrested and charged for camping on state grounds. And so we’ve made it this far by being able to continue to reclaim this space. And so it’s been a major, major win for all of us, and we want to continue to win.”
Sheronica Hayes
Venita Lewis
