102 days have elapsed since President Donald Trump took office for the second time. In this period, the Trump Administration — alongside Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has made numerous policy decisions that sparked controversy across the country, compelling many to voice their dissatisfaction — and Durham is no exception.

On May 1, the Durham Progressive Democrats organized a demonstration in the heart of downtown Durham near the community’s iconic Major the Bull statue. The protest, as part of the nationwide May Day Strong movement, called on the state’s legislature and representatives to stand against recent and future policies made by the Trump Administration and DOGE.

But this protest is not just political. For many Durhamites, it’s personal.

“My younger brother, Alexander, he’s 28 now. He was diagnosed with autism when he was about 6. Hearing the comments that RFK Jr. made really hurt my whole family,” said Gregory Williams, a campaign organizer for Bike Durham. “He has a girlfriend, he has a dog. He has his own home. He’s an extremely productive member of our society and someone I’m proud of, so to hear him or people like him be talked about in such a callous way is unbelievable.”

Williams hopes that the protests will compel both federal and local administration to hold themselves and each other accountable.

“I want to see accountability become the standard again in this administration. I think that just watching folks move through and do what they want is completely eroding the American system and way of life,” said Williams. “To see accounts like the President’s tweet things that imply the courts can’t stop him if they don’t have an army terrifies me, terrifies my family.”

Tim and Linda, two longtime Durham residents and activists, recall how the country’s political history ultimately set the stage for the current administration.

“We have been to many demonstrations through the years, going all the way back to civil rights in Vietnam,” said Tim. “I think we both feel we should have seen this coming, because there’s been so much wealth accumulated by so few, such inequality, and we’ve really had rule by the very wealthy for a very long time.”

“That’s the direction this was going now,” Tim concluded. “Now we’re trying to stop fascism.”

Linda concurs. “It’s easy for a lot of people to just wait and see what will happen. But at this point, I don’t think we can do that. We just have to put our voice out there so people would know that we are together in this.”

“We need to demonstrate,” Tim said. “But I think we need direct action that is disruptive. I mean, learn from the Civil Rights Movement; look how people accomplished what they did. They put their lives on the line.”

Should Americans delay in taking action, Tim and Linda warned, it might be too late.

“We can’t wait when all of this would just come down on us and we’re caught empty-handed,” said Linda.

Tim recalled a poignant quote from a Holocaust survivor that he found fitting for this moment: “Evil doesn’t come all at once. It comes in little steps.”

Ricardo Velasquez, an Immigration Law Attorney based in the Triangle, has seen firsthand how the Trump Administration’s stance on immigration has affected Durham’s residents.

“We’ve had more people be in jail for minor things that they’d be out of jail for,” said Velasquez. “It’s a fundamental unfairness that because you’re here and you don’t have the documents, you’re going to be imprisoned, waiting for your day in court when someone else might not have to spend that time in jail.”

Even his fellow immigration attorneys are not safe; according to Velasquez, one of his coworkers had received a notice demanding they leave the country.

“That’s how indiscriminate the administration is trying to disrupt our government and our way of life,” said Velasquez. “It’s crazy that we have people in there that have no elected responsibility, yet are given the opportunity to steal our information and then direct different agencies to cancel contracts with no oversight.”

Riley, alongside other protestors, feel Sen. Thom Tillis and other representatives have failed to act on behalf of their constituents. They hope these protests will propel Tillis to finally take action against the Trump Administration and DOGE.

“We hope to put pressure on Thom Tillis and other representatives that do have the power to say no. They would like us to think that Trump’s ascent to becoming a king is just inevitable, but it’s absolutely not,” said Riley. “Our message is that we fully expect our representatives to do their jobs and to assert congressional authority, and to enforce the constitutional checks and balances that do exist.”

For Sen. Tillis, Riley only has one word of advice:

“He needs to know that we’re watching, and we expect him to show that he will assert independence and to stop this authoritarian backsliding, or we’re going to vote him out and put someone in his place who will stand up.”