'No Kings' protests: Opposition movement grows to encompass Americans of all walks of life
As the dust settles from Mississippi’s No Kings protests on Saturday, this much is becoming clear: Opposition to the Trump administration’s perceived threat to American democracy is drawing larger and increasingly diverse crowds.
Among the protesters at Mississippi’s No Kings Day 2.0 were people of all ages and races, some of whom traveled great distances to participate. The state’s 10 local protests attracted an estimated 5,000 people, including residents and travelers determined to join in a public show of opposition to the administration’s authoritarian tactics.
Nationwide, organizers of the No Kings and 50501 movements said the opposition is gaining momentum, with more than 2,700 protests on Saturday attracting an estimated 7 million Americans–making it one of the largest mass demonstrations in U.S. history. That was 2 million more than participated in the nationwide No Kings protests on June 14. The umbrella group NoKings.org noted that the mobilization was also 14 times larger than the crowds at President Donald Trump’s two presidential inaugurations combined.
In Mississippi, local grassroots organizers have been hosting periodic protests against the administration’s authoritarian tactics since early spring in Gulfport, Hattiesburg, Jackson, Tupelo, Hernando, Starkville and Oxford. This weekend, Corinth, Kosciusko and Greenville were added to the mix.
With protest sites scattered across the state, it was easier for more Mississippians to show up and make their voices heard, though even with 10 to choose from, some participants traveled long distances to attend. Hattiesburg organizer Rachel Ciraldo said that among the estimated 500 protesters there, some came from nearby Laurel as well as from Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. In Jackson, two grandparents from Huntsville visiting family in Canton skipped their granddaughter’s horse show to attend, carrying a sign that read, “Stop the Freaking War on Truth & Knowledge.”
Jackson organizers noted that three women from New York joined the city’s protest on their way to visit a friend in New Orleans. A trio of brothers traveled to the protest by way of their Natchez hometown, after flying in from Barcelona, Spain, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Their 82-year-old mother, Mary Jane Gaudet, joined the brothers.
“I’ve been protesting since the early 1960s,” Gaudet said. “Eventually it works. We would not have overcome segregation without massive protests.” As for why she’s still protesting some 60 years later, Gaudet said, “the president is trying to undo all our progress.”
Participants at the Jackson protest included Vicksburg residents who said they were looking for more “like-minded people,” siblings from Nashville and California in town to care for an ailing sister, four Kosciusko residents who described their hometown as “a liberal desert,” a Jackson native now living in Atlanta who came home to visit family, and a motorcycle group traveling from Tennessee.
Jackson organizer Romaine Richards explained that the Tennessee motorcycle group’s hometown was also hosting a protest but that they could not attend due to their previously scheduled road trip. It was important to them to show up and make their voices heard, so they searched and found that Jackson was hosting a No Kings Day 2.0 event on their route, Richards said. They connected with a Jackson motorcycle group and the two groups attended the protest together.
Another group came from Wisconsin. On their way to Birmingham for a week, the group had stopped to learn about Jackson, and while walking around downtown, saw the protest “and decided fate called them to attend,” according to organizer Jayne Phillips.
In north Mississippi, out-of-town guests attending two different weddings in Oxford showed up to the No Kings 2.0 event held in front of city hall, on the quaint town square. Tupelo organizers said people showed up for that protest from Vardaman, Oxford, Houston, Amory and other small towns, some of which are at least an hour away.
Jackson area residents who found themselves in other locales made their own adjustments. Lee Parrott, a regular attendee and volunteer at protests in Jackson, was in Starkville for the Mississippi Ornithological Society Conference for the weekend with her son and attended the protest there. Parrott said she did not want to miss such an important day and was encouraged by the turnout, which included people of all ages. “There was a lot of diversity, and a lot of excitement,” she said.
Inglish DeVoss, of Madison, was on a trip to Los Angeles with her son to visit the University of Southern California. She and several friends and family members made their way to the L.A. No Kings protest in which she carried a sign reading, “No Law & Order when Congress Covers for Billionaire Rapists.” DeVoss said the day was inspiring, lifted her spirits and made her more hopeful.
“It’s going to be a hard, painful slog,” DeVoss said, “but the best, most lovely, creative, fun, enlightened, diverse and good hearted are among us!”
Organizers will soon announce the date of a third national day of protest.
Images: Jackson protester carries sign proclaiming “Not even a Dem” (via Jessica Akin)