About 200 people gathered on the Colorado State Capitol steps to make themselves heard on Thursday, two days after the election of Donald Trump. Led by Colorado state representative Joe Salazar, the protest included voices from Denver's African-American, LGBTQ, Latino and indigenous communities.
A much larger protest is planned for Thursday evening, starting at 5:30 p.m. on the Capitol steps.
Salazar said the action was a response to a "wave of hatred," adding that he's heard reports from his Adams County district that Latino schoolchildren have been taunted by white students about being deported.
The Guardian has reported a "spate of claims of hate crimes in the U.S. on Thursday made on social media and to police, in which the alleged victims said abusers had in some way cited Donald Trump’s victory in the U.S. presidential election."
Shorter Community AME Church's Pastor Tim Tyler said his community is fearful amid the turmoil.
"I called my 80-year-old mother," he told the rally. "The first thing she said was she's thinking about going out to purchase a gun."
While the rally was assuredly directed at the president-elect, Tyler said the struggles that this group was here to address did not simply appear on Tuesday night.
"We understood, whoever was elected president, we still had fights to fight," Tyler preached.
But, he said, the election results did reveal how tough some of those battles would be. "We've just gotten confirmation from the United States of America that we have a race problem."
MORE: Another demonstration at the Capitol that night turned into a march through downtown Denver. Thousands of people flooded the streets to protest Trump's election.
