SPRINGFIELD, Ill.—Roy Kozlowski felt if he didn’t speak up and protest now, he might never get the chance.
“There might be repercussions for me speaking up, but this might be the last time I get to speak up,” said Kozlowski at a Stop the Steal rally in Springfield, Illinois. “Why do I think that way? Because of the censorship from Big Tech.”
“Totalitarian governments don’t like free speech, tyranny doesn’t like free speech. Tyranny cannot exist if people are able to speak up,” he said.
Demonstrators in Springfield on Nov. 14, 2020 were part of a larger movement, with hundreds of thousands more protesting in similar Stop the Steal rallies across the countries and at a march in Washington the same day. Protestors started grassroots rallies on Nov. 7, 2020 after mass media announced election results before the process was over, calling for transparent elections. But in Illinois, protestors that say said there was much more at stake that concerned them.
Lori White said, “I believe in the Constitution, I also believe that we have this opportunity in time to stand up for the truth and righteousness for this nation.”
“I’m doing it for my children and my grandson and everybody’s grandchildren, so that we stay a free nation,” she said.
“We’re very close to losing our freedom but I believe God is intervening and fighting for us,” she said.
Steve Dedin drove three hours to the rally and had a lot to think about while he did.
“I’m here today because I’m so concerned with preserving our heritage, our sovereignty, voter integrity. There’s so many issues,” he said. “The list is so long. And as I’m here today I thought to myself, we all sit back and watch people try to destroy our heritage, they take down our statues, condemn Christians and Jews, and the voters.”
The media have been hurting, not helping this division and the tearing down of American heritage, he added. “This country was established on Christian values and morals and we fight for that today as we see everybody trying to tear it down, our heritage, our statues, erase our statues, and it’s wrong. So I drove three hours, alone, to stand here. I don’t know any of these people and I stand here proudly just to do my part,” Dedin said.
Friends Read Free