Savannah DSA’s Migrant Rights Working Group is building a network of neighbors who can show up fast when our immigrant community is targeted and help make Savannah a real sanctuary city in practice, not just in name. From rapid response when raids or detentions happen to court support, accompaniment, and political education, we need more comrades plugged in and ready to act. If you’re interested in joining the rapid response team or helping us grow a “sanctuary mindset” across our chapter and city, reach out to the Migrant Rights Working Group to get involved.
Rapid Response Training: Learn how to mobilize quickly when raids or detentions occur in our neighborhoods.
Sanctuary Strategy: Brainstorm local campaigns to force Savannah officials to practice non-cooperation with ICE.
Political Education: Deepen our understanding of immigration policy and how to build community defense.
Build the Network: Grow our list of neighbors ready to respond to state violence.
NAACP Silent Protest Parade, July 28, 1917 — Over 10,000 Black Americans marched silently down Fifth Avenue in New York City to protest the East St. Louis Massacre and other acts of racial terror.
The East St. Louis Massacre – July 1, 1917 George Robles
During World War I, East St. Louis, Illinois became a destination for thousands of African Americans fleeing the South as part of the Great Migration. Drawn by factory jobs, more than 10,000 Black workers arrived between 1916 and 1917. But their presence—and their growing role in the industrial workforce—was met with racist hostility by local white residents.
On July 1, 1917, a rumor spread that a Black man had killed a white man. The next day, East St. Louis descended into a week of racial violence. White mobs carried out arson, beatings, and drive-by shootings, targeting Black homes and neighborhoods with the passive support of local authorities.
“This is a massacre that will go down in history as one of the bloodiest outrages against mankind.” — Marcus Garvey
By the end, hundreds of Black residents were killed, thousands were driven from their homes, and over $400,000 in property was destroyed.
The massacre shocked the nation—especially as Black soldiers were being deployed abroad “to make the world safe for democracy.” Civil rights leaders, including Marcus Garvey, condemned the atrocity and called out the hypocrisy of a nation preaching freedom abroad while permitting terror at home.
In the end, there would be no material change from the federal or state government. The federal government refused to prosecute anyone or investigate the complicity of police and city officials. In contrast, many Black residents were charged with crimes—for defending themselves during the mob’s attacks. Congress ignored repeated calls for anti-lynching legislation. Federal anti-lynching laws would not be enacted until 2022… no, that is not a typo.
I highly doubt anyone reading this didn’t know what kind of nightmare we’d be living under a Trump presidency—then or now. So, for those who vote, you voted. Yet here we are. Trans rights dismantled even further at the federal level. Anti-immigrant policies intensify as ICE acts as our de facto Gestapo. The genocide Israel is committing in Gaza remains livestreamed. Voting wasn’t enough.
So you protested.
Protestors march around the Forsyth Park fountain during a “No Kings” rally on Saturday, June 14, 2025 in Savannah, Ga. Richard Burkhart/ Savannah Morning News, USA TODAY Network
You marched. You carried signs and flags. You chanted for all of Savannah to hear. You stood in the streets, in the Georgian heat and walked. You protested because you had to… because you know silence complicity. You know voting will never be enough; it’s time to get out there!
But has anything changed? It would be understandable for anyone to think, “Am I wasting my time? Why am I still doing this?”
Why Do We Protest in the Face of Impossible Odds?
Because protest is a declaration: we are still here and we will not be silent. It’s a refusal to normalize oppression. As Assata Shakur once wrote:
“Nobody in the world, nobody in history, has ever gotten their freedom by appealing to the moral sense of the people who were oppressing them.”
Protest forces confrontation. It disrupts the illusion of consensus. It reminds the powerful that the people are watching—and that we are not content to suffer quietly. When we protest, we are letting not only those in power that we the People are angry . . . we send a message to those who drive past us, watch us from their homes and storefronts. Nothing changes without this first step.
The system wants you to give up. It survives on fatigue. It knows that if it can just outlast your outrage, it wins. As civil rights organizer Ella Baker said:
“We who believe in freedom cannot rest until it comes.”
Showing up isn’t just about opposing injustice—it’s about building community. Protest is where we meet each other. Where we build trust. Where we start to imagine what comes after the march ends.
But protest alone is not liberation. It is the spark, not the fire.
Why Is Protesting Not Enough?
Because protest without organization is just noise. Because the capitalist state has militarized itself against dissent. Because the police don’t care if you chant “no justice, no peace.” Because private equity firms don’t lose sleep when you hold a sign.
Change doesn’t happen because we make good points. It happens when we organize power. When we build structures that outlast the protests. When we are in the streets and in the meetings. When we disrupt and when we build.
Angela Davis reminds us:
“You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.”
So What Has to Come Next?
Volunteers organize a grassroots mutual aid table providing free food, clothing, hygiene items, and first aid to neighbors in need.
Protesting is step one. But if we stop there, we lose. Now it’s time to organize! We have to:
Organize workers.
Join a union.
Start a union!
Join local mutual aid.
Build dual power structures.
Pressure institutions through direct action.
Run—and support—radical candidates locally.
Help build the infrastructure for continued organizing.
This is what DSA was made for. We’re not just protesting—we’re organizing housing justice campaigns, coordinating strike support, running political education events, campaigning to protect our migrant neighbors, showing up to city council meetings to make our voices heard and building the tools for long-term resistance.
While we would love for you to join the Savannah DSA, if we aren’t your cup of tea, join someone.Be an active member of your community. Ask where you’re most needed—and then bring your skills, your curiosity, and your desire to make a difference.
As Puerto Rican freedom fighter Pedro Albizu Campos said:
“The people will save the people.”
If you feel hopeless, that’s because they’ve trained you to be. But history belongs to the organizers, to activists, to those who resist. The ones who refused to stop at protest and began to work to build something better.
So no—protesting is not enough. But it is a beginning.
If you decide to show up, show up with us! Your local Democratic Socialists of America chapter is more than a banner at a rally—it’s a space to get organized, to get trained, and to get to work. Join a working group. Attend a meeting. Bring a friend.
