The people lying on the pavement are singing.
Ain’t gonna let nobody turn me around,
I’m gonna keep on walkin’, keep on talkin’,
Marchin’ on to freedom land.
The activists’ seven voices are muffled by their matching gray respirator masks. One of them keeps the tempo by tapping the ground with his forearm, which has a bail support phone number scrawled on it in permanent marker. Overhead, the sky is a flat, eerie white. Just beyond the activists lies the entrance to xAI’s Colossus 1 supercomputer facility.
“We need to make it known that this is not acceptable — having no regulation, polluting water, polluting air is not acceptable,” activist Jessica Wainfor told MLK50: Justice Through Journalism from her position on the pavement. “Memphis is not a ground for corporations to take over.”
The group blocked the main driveway into the xAI compound on Friday. They hoped to disrupt the facility’s operations for up to two hours: one for each year it has operated in Memphis. This type of nonviolent protest is called a die-in.
Their respirators had a dual purpose: to protect them from tear gas if a police encounter turned violent, and to filter the air pollutants produced by the facility’s natural gas turbines. A petition filed last summer by the Southern Environmental Law Center found that Colossus 1 is “likely the largest industrial emitter” of nitrogen oxides in Memphis. This family of toxic chemicals is harmful to the lungs and is a key contributor to smog.
“We are speaking on behalf of all the others who are upset and angry about this, and want this plant to be shut down,” said Gisela, an activist affiliated with the die-in. She, like several others, asked to be identified only by her first name. “The majority of the people in Memphis are not okay with this.”
The protestors represented a coalition of various environmental and social justice groups from around the metro area. They said their ultimate goal is for xAI and other major polluters to leave the city.
Jasmine, another activist with the coalition, said that she can hear the turbines from her mother’s house in Boxtown. She has developed respiratory allergies for the first time in the past year, she said, which have caused her to get sick repeatedly.
Neon-vested safety marshals stood at the road, directing traffic away from the complex’s wide driveway. Around ten minutes after the die-in began, a large white SUV swerved around them and barreled towards the protestors. The marshals ran after it, yelling for the driver to stop. He did, less than 10 feet from the people on the ground.
“You do not want to kill somebody today,” a marshal said through the driver’s closed window. “Do you want to talk? I can talk to you, it’s up to you.” The driver, who identified himself as an xAI employee arriving to clock in for work, eventually turned his vehicle and left. MLK50 asked the protestors how they were feeling following the incident.
“Committed,” one activist said.
“Energized,” said another.
“I feel strong.”
“I feel loved!”
“Yeah, I feel connected.”
Not long afterward, Memphis police arrived to disperse the protestors. Three officers approached the die-in and asked the participants to leave. One, whose uniform identified him as K. Miller, said he grew up in nearby Westwood.
“I’m asking y’all (to disperse) as someone who lives out here, who’s maybe more directly affected by the pollution than you all are,” he said. He referred to the protest as “a righteous cause” that he agreed with, but said it was pulling police away from responding to more serious crimes.
“My mom has bronchitis, my daughter has asthma, my other son has bronchitis and asthma,” Miller added. “But what I’m saying is, we can’t (attribute) all the problems to xAI being open.”
The die-in participants did not move. As the crowd of police slowly grew over the next hour, the activists continued to sing protest songs including “This Little Light of Mine,” “Solid As A Rock,” and “Which Side Are You On.” They adapted some verses to fit the circumstances:
Ain’t gonna let Elon Musk turn me around…
Ain’t gonna let no police turn me around…
Ain’t gonna let no Task Force turn me around…
Each die-in participant carried a small, white clover — tucked behind an ear, clipped into their hair or worn as a necklace. Orion, one of the activists, said he distributed the flowers on the way to the protest for good luck.
“In a very literal way, it’s representative of our love for the land and for this place,” he said.
More officers arrived, including at least two federal task force members — one wore a Homeland Security Investigations vest. Eventually, there were over a dozen officers on the scene. But as rumors of imminent arrests began to circulate, the protest hit its two-hour goal. The activists debriefed, still sitting in the driveway, as police kept their distance.
“They’re scared because they know we have the power … and that this power is contagious,” a participant named Jeremiah said to the others. “Next time, it’s not just going to be us. Next time it’s going to be more.”
They then rose as a group while officers looked on. The activists left the premises singing.
Natalie Wallington is the housing reporter for MLK50: Justice Through Journalism. Email her at natalie.wallington@mlk50.com.
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