Dem
47
GOP
53
We weren't able to have an installment yesterday, due to a power outage, but that is now past. So, here are half a dozen more reader reports from the No Kings protests:
D.S. in Bath, ME, writes: Jimmy the Hound brought a lot of smiles and some good therapy to the protesters in Brunswick, ME:
B.Z. in Baltimore, MD, writes: I went to the D.C. protest. My sign was about those "VERY firm ideas on how to deal with kings" you mentioned.
D.T. in Oceanside, CA:, writes: Unlike the MAGA rallies, it was refreshing to see the signs at the No Kings Rallies with all of the words spelled correctly.
A.B. in Bedford, MA, writes: I hail from the very blue Boston area, but was in northeast PA in Pike County, PA (which voted 62% for Trump in 2024) at a reunion of friends over the October 18 weekend. A group of us decided to head to the No Kings rally in the county seat of Milford, PA (Pop. 1,100). The crowd was, to our eyes, an impressive 500+ people and the mood was one of deeply felt disgust topped with jovial/civil affect. What struck me was not only the near absence of pro-MAGA disrupters (which I had expected) but also the range in ages between young and old. I left feeling hopeful that the resistance is very much alive, even in rural Pennsylvania:
M.G.F. in Minneapolis, MN, writes: I wasn't going to write in about my 'No Kings' experience here in Minneapolis, but something B.B. in Newtown wrote connected for me. They commented "the crowd was very white with little diversity..."
I noticed the same thing here, though Minnesota's population is less diverse than Pennsylvania's, there's still plenty of Black, Hmong, Somali, and people of a variety of Hispanic heritage that a representative sample would be noticeable. But what came to my mind was that if I had been asked why I was protesting I would have said this:
I am here on behalf of those afraid to be here. I'm here representing my Black neighbors, whom the President is falsely describing as inherently less capable than white men. I'm here representing my immigrant and refugee neighbors, afraid to leave the house because of ICE's lawless assaults and kidnappings and the arbitrary recissions of visas and green cards that follow. I'm here on behalf of my neighbors who are working an extra job right now because the minimum wage has fallen so far behind the standard of living that their full time job isn't enough. I'm here on behalf of every citizen afraid to exercise our constitutional right to protest because of this Administration's threats. I'm here in support of abundant life: clean air and water, quality education, freedom from gun violence, affordable quality health care, honest governance, peace and tranquility. But mostly I am here because this government is making others afraid to be here.B.B. asked: "My question is, what is keeping them from joining in, and in droves? Is there something we can do to make protesting more open, attractive, and safe for a wider community?"
I think we all know why minority people are not joining in. And I think that the second question is the wrong question. For too long we in the majority have been content to wait for the minority to protest for equality. But that's not their job. It's our job as the majority to ensure equality. Can we make protests safer for minorities to participate? No, we can't. That's a big part of the reason we protest. Those of us for whom protest is less dangerous must shoulder this task on behalf of our more vulnerable neighbors.
My sign read "Stop Terror: Stop ICE." Please call your legislators and demand an end to warrantless abductions by masked and un-uniformed agents.
J.P. in Horsham, PA, writes: At the first No Kings rally I had a hand printed sign that was so popular I decided to make a more professional-looking one. Here I am in Hatboro, PA with my partner, in the middle of what they estimated to be 1,000 people, and directly across the street from Amy's Pizzeria, which made national news a couple of years ago when a customer went on an anti-immigrant tirade against an employee. Feels like a degree of justice on a couple of levels.
More tomorrow! (Z)