What was the rally in Pahrump on Jan. 6 held for?

On Tuesday, Jan. 6, members of the Nye County Indivisible Prickly Pears gathered at the busiest intersection in town to host a rally in remembrance of the unprecedented attack on the U.S. Capitol by pro-Trump rioters, which occurred five years previously - a moment this group is determined to never let quietly slide into the depths of history.

“With it being the 5th anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, we couldn’t let the day go by without doing something. And what usually seems to be most effective is to stand out on the corner of Highway 160 and 372 and make our voices heard,” Nye County Indivisible Prickly Pear and lead rally organizer Muriel Areno told the Pahrump Valley Times.

“Nothing like that had happened before and hopefully nothing like it will ever happen again. I mean, one of the great things about this country is that we have a peaceful transfer of power after an election and it was really a new thing to have somebody deny the fact that they lost.”

The timing of the rally, coming just days after the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife by U.S. forces, had many questioning whether the event was in fact a protest against that action. While there were signs at the rally related to that incident, the event had actually been planned for months beforehand, Areno explained.

“We feel it is important to always remember the attack on January 6th and that’s what this rally was planned for,” she stated. “And I think it went well, we had around 25 people and a lot of American flags, because we do support the country. People brought all kinds of different signs and we got a lot more honks than fingers, which is a great thing. We always get a few of the latter but, it doesn’t bother us too much. We just wave at them!”

The Nye County Indivisible Prickly Pears is part of the nationwide Indivisible Movement, which has groups in every state in the country, all working toward the goal of pushing back against the Trump administration’s policies and actions.

“The whole point of Indivisible is to oppose the Trump regime. From the very beginning in 2017, that’s been our mission – just to resist and make voices heard that are not in accordance with what the current government is doing,” Areno detailed. “There are a lot of people in Pahrump who oppose that and we want everyone in Pahrump to know, not everybody here is MAGA and that we are here, we have our First Amendment rights and we’re going to make ourselves known.

“So many people, even during the last election, were saying, ‘Oh, I thought I was the only one!’ That’s why we try to remain in the public eye here, so people know they are not the only one,” Areno concluded. “There is opposition to what is going on. We really want to be out there and show people, both sides have a voice.”

The Nye County Indivisible Prickly Pears hosts a private Facebook group where residents can apply to join and keep up to date with its activities. Those interested in the cause can also reach out to Areno directly through her personal Facebook page.

For more information on the national Indivisible Movement, visit Indivisible.org

Contact reporter Robin Hebrock at rhebrock@pvtimes.com