On Saturday, Senator Reverend Warnock joined an estimated 10,000 Georgians outside the Atlanta Civic Center for a No Kings Rally to denounce the executive overreach of the Trump Administration
The Atlanta rally was one of over 40 events held across Georgia
ICYMI from 11 Alive: Georgia’s Sen. Warnock calls protest essential to democracy at ‘No Kings’ rally
Senator Warnock: “You cannot outsource democracy to anybody. You cannot outsource citizenship. It is all of us. That’s why they’re trying to divide us, because when all of us stand together and raise our voices, we win”
Above: Senator Warnock speaks at the No Kings rally in Atlanta
Atlanta, GA – U.S. Senator Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) joined an estimated 10,000 Georgians outside the Atlanta Civic Center for a No Kings rally to denounce the executive overreach of the Trump Administration. Senator Warnock encouraged the audience of thousands to stand up for democracy and make their voices heard every day.
“You cannot outsource democracy to anybody. You cannot outsource citizenship. It is all of us. That’s why they’re trying to divide us, because when all of us stand together and raise our voices, we win,” Senator Warnock said.
Above: Senator Warnock at the No Kings rally
Photo credit: Abbey Cutrer/AJC
“People are literally grabbing on me and they’re saying, ‘Keep fighting for us. Please fight for us.’ They say, ‘Keep standing up.’ They look at their preacher, and they say, ‘Give ’em hell…keep fighting.’ Well you have my promise. I am going to keep fighting for Georgia,” Senator Warnock said.
In his remarks, Senator Warnock spoke out against cuts to the Atlanta-based CDC, which has seen its workforce cut by about 3,000 this year. According to the Georgia Recorder, the latest round of layoffs in October affected about 600 workers. Senator Warnock also spoke out against threats to health care tax credits, President Trump’s cruel immigration policies, and ongoing ICE raids around the country led by masked agents breaking apart families and communities.
Read the partial transcript of Senator Warnock’s remarks below:
This is not about me today. This is about us. This is about the first three words of our charter, document. That is our covenant, that is our creed.
Say it with me, we the people. Come on. Say, We the People. We the People.
Say, no kings in America.
We the people.
Thank you all so much for being here in this moral moment in America, in these defining days of our democracy. This is what democracy looks like. […] And we are here today to ensure that we are always able to stand up and make sure our voices are heard. Are you ready to make sure your voices are heard in this moral moment?
I heard y’all were having a rally, and I had to drop by. I am much encouraged, and I’ve got great hope because of the massive turnout that we are seeing all across our country, in 50 states, in 2700 cities, in red states and blue states, the people united shall never be defeated.
But it is especially heartening and significant that we gather in Atlanta, Georgia, the hometown of a great American, Martin Luther King, Jr, I I’m proud to serve not only as your Senator, but as the pastor of Dr King’s church, Ebenezer Baptist Church, and Dr King said, “we will have to repent in this generation, not only for the violent actions and vitriolic words of the bad people, but because of the appalling silence and indifference of the good people.” Are you ready to raise your voice?
And so it’s so important in this moment that we stand up. It is so important that we make sure our voices are heard. […] I agree with the humanity of all people. I agree with the humanity of Palestinians, of Israelis, of children on all sides of the track of Ukrainian children, red, yellow, brown, Black, or white, young, young, rich or poor, gay or straight, because we all God’s children and we’re standing up in this moment.
I’m deeply concerned about what’s happening in our country. I heard an American president stand up the other day and say to generals in our military that we’ve got to stand up, he said, “against the enemy within.”
Listen, listen, listen to me. I don’t care what your politics are today. I mean that, if you are an American citizen, you should be deeply concerned. I know you are. That’s why you’re gathered here today. We should all be deeply concerned about an American president who stood in front of our military and said that the real concern is the enemy within.
They are trying to divide us so that they might rule us, but we join united with one voice, Democrats and Republicans, red, yellow, brown, black and white, and saying together, no kings in America. Are you ready to fight for our American nation?
So what we’re witnessing right now, this is what we’re witnessing: We’re witnessing the separation of families. We’re witnessing awful actions by ICE agents who are masked, showing up in communities all across our country. Imagine this: agents of the government flying in Black Hawk helicopters into Chicago, rappelling down an apartment building in the middle of an American city. Literally separating Black people from brown people. I’m a preacher, but I have to say this, what the hell is happening?
And all of us have to be concerned, because this is what Martin Niemöller, a pastor who lived during Hitler’s Third Reich, he said, “first they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak because I was not a trade unionist. They came for the socialists, and I did not speak because I was not a socialist. They came for the Jews, and I did not speak up because I was not a Jew. And then they came for me, and there was nobody left to speak up.”
When we speak up for our neighbors, we speak up for ourselves. When I stand up for your family, I stand up for my family. When I stand up for your children, I stand up for my own children.
And that’s why I’m standing up in this moment, and I’m saying, as a United States Senator, that you must restore the tax credits of the ACA, because all of God’s children deserve health care. Atlanta, you have my promise I’m going to stand up on this issue, because Atlanta is the city of the CDC, and I want to thank our CDC workers for fighting for us, for setting up for us, for keeping us healthy. CDC is not the enemy. CDC is not a hazard to our health. Robert F Kennedy is a hazard to the health of the American people, and he’s got to go.
So let’s stand up in this moment. I know that it is painful. I don’t take any of my votes lightly. We need to reopen the government and extend health care. We don’t have to do one or the other. We can do both at the same time, because we are America. And so isn’t it interesting that the folks who have taken health care from 15 million Americans, the folks who are raising your health care premiums, have you opened up the portal to see that your health care premiums are doubling, tripling, quadrupling in order to give a tax cut to billionaires? And now the same folk who are trying, who are taking your doctors away, are now trying to doctor the maps by engaging in gerrymandering, by trying to squeeze your voices out of the democracy. There’s a word for that. It’s called fascism.
And so in this moment, let me say to you, do not give in to those who are trying to weaponize despair. They are trying to convince you that they have already won, and if they convince you that they have already won, then you lose your fight. But you must never lose your fight. You must never lose your courage. You must never give up your voice, because your voice is your human dignity, and your human dignity is connected to your destiny, and our destiny as an American people.
And so I’m going to fight for your health care, because the health of our democracy is tied to the health of your families. Long before I came to the Senate, I came to the United States Capitol, not as a Senator, but as an activist pastor leading Ebenezer Baptist Church, because I remembered, as Republicans were trying to cut health care, remember in 2017, I remember Doctor King’s words. Out of all the injustices, inequality and health care is the most shocking and the most inhumane. And so I showed up in the Capitol long before I represented you as a Senator fighting for your health care.
And I said in 2017 to our elected representatives that a budget is more than a fiscal document. A budget is a moral document. Show me your budget, and I’ll show you who you think matters and who does not. I said in 2017, that if this budget, which would cut the people’s health care in order to give billionaires a tax cut, if this budget were an EKG, it would suggest that our elected representatives have a heart problem and are in need a moral surgery. And so I showed up in 2017 to perform moral surgery on those who allegedly represented us, but we’re trying to take our health care.
I’m saying to you that when you show up on a Saturday morning like this, let me tell you what you’re doing. You are the moral surgeons in America who are trying to heal our country, heal us of the divisions, heal us from the hate, heal us from the bigotry, heal us from the short sighted, craven politicians who would literally hear 30 and 40 year olds on a group chat using all kinds of ugly and racist and anti-semitic words, and have the audacity to say kids will be kids. That’s not my America.
And so let’s send a clear message to Washington, I’m done, as I close, and nobody believes a Baptist preacher when he says. As I close, everywhere I go, people are literally grabbing on me, and they’re saying, keep fighting for us. Please fight for us. They’re saying, keep standing up. They look at the preacher. They say, give them hell. Keep fighting for us.
Well, you have my promise. I’m going to keep fighting for Georgia. I’m going to keep fighting for all of our children. I’m going to keep fighting for what Dr King called the beloved community. However, let me say this to you, while I will continue to fight, I can’t really fight for you. You cannot outsource democracy to anybody. You cannot outsource citizenship. It takes all of us. That’s why they’re trying to divide us, because when all of us stand together and raise our voices, we win.
Are you ready to win? Are you ready to hold on to the best in the American covenant, and the American spirit? Are you ready to fight for health care? Are you ready to fight for workers? Are you ready to stand up for women? Are you ready to stand up for reproductive rights? Are you ready to stand up for voting rights? Are you ready to stand up for human dignity? Well, stand up every single day. Do it for all of our children. Do it for all of our grandchildren, and together, we will win.
God bless all of you. Keep the faith and keep looking up.
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