“May Day:” Protesters rally at the state capitol in Jackson for the fifth time

Brenda Scott is the president of the labor union, Mississippi Alliance of State Employees.

“To me, the nation is about to get a taste of Mississippi, because over the 34 years that I've worked here representing state workers, I've seen how they are not appreciated,” she said. “They are not rewarded as far as pay raises. Their due process rights on the job is always threatened.”

Antoinette, a federal worker who declined to give her last name out of fear of retribution, says her work environment has become more difficult to navigate.

“This is a hard time for federal employees in general,” she said. “So I came out here today to raise voices with my brothers and sisters of other unions here. We just want to make sure that we're appreciated and we're understood. We provide service to the American public. We care about the American public. And right now we're being villainized.”

There was also a wider spectrum of protesters than earlier demonstrations.

Allison, who declined to give her name to avoid conflict with her family, is a 35 year old nurse who says she was raised in a conservative, Christian community. She says she doesn’t identify as either Republican or Democratic, but instead, a “free agent.” 

“The reason why I came out today is my concerns for our country's democracy and adhering to the Constitution, which I feel like are American issues, not partisan issues,” she said. “Something that I think Republicans and Democrats should be concerned about, angry about, and feel the need to change.”

Allison says she’s also concerned about the rights of immigrants.

“We have a president that has openly denied a unanimous nine-zero Supreme Court ruling and said outright, and doubled down on it, that he will not obey the Supreme Court's ruling,” she said. “We have a president that also clearly does not support due process for all, something that is one of our fundamental rights as Americans, actually for all people on American soil.”

Others echoed Allison’s sentiments. Eduardo Rangel is from Philadelphia in Neshoba County.  He has Mexican and Choctaw Indian heritage and decided to wear a shirt that reads “I just look illegal.” 

“If you talk to me, we hang out, you would not know my background, my history or my family,” he said. “ I think that's why certain people become comfortable saying things that are dehumanizing towards immigrants.”

Rangel says he believes the contributions of undocumented workers in Mississippi’s labor force is not recognized enough.

“So many of our farms in Mississippi are worked by illegal labor,” he said. “So many of the millionaires that live in Mississippi, their businesses are running off of illegal labor.”

Rangel added that he believes that “International Worker’s Day” is especially important for Mississippi to recognize.

“In a place like Mississippi, it's so big because we already have so few working rights,” he said. “We don't have protections to organize, we don't have protections to unionize, and we suffer for it.”

Kathleen O’Beirne, who has participated in many of the protests held this year, says she felt it was important to highlight how changes in Washington could impact Mississippi.

“I think it's not clear to most of us Mississippians that our senators and our representatives in DC are paying attention or that they have any plan for how to improve things,” she said.

O’Beirne says she is urging Mississippi’s Republican congressional members to hold town halls.

In another part of the state, protesters gathered in the center of Hernando in DeSoto County. 

“We had a fabulous protest today,” Kelly Jacobs said. “It was a work day, so I wasn't expecting as many people that would come on the weekend. There were more than 35 people that came.”

Jacobs said earlier protests in the town had up to 55 demonstrators. Still, she says she’s hopeful about the impact of the signs carried by protesters.

“I have to say that they're worried about our democracy,” she said. “That was our biggest chant, is ‘Tell me what democracy looks like. This is what democracy looks like.’ They brought signs. They were worried about the schools, about no more funding for Head Start. They were worried about arrests, about the Fourth Amendment and due process.”

Jacobs, who is White, says there was some pushback from other members of her community. 

“There was an occasional White man who flipped us off or gave thumbs down,” she said. “One older white man kept circling around the block three times to yell at us, but we just cheered and waved and that was the discourse. We send him love. He has the right to his opinion, but we're not really there to listen to his opinion.”

Jacobs says a greater number of protesters in Hernando expressed interest in participating in demonstrations in the future.