Opinion: On the Mississippi Gulf Coast, a glimpse of an emerging protest movement

Writer among millions of Americans who turn out for mass marches, many for the first time

On a classically hot and humid summer day in Gulfport, Mississippi, my husband and I set out to join one of the more than 2,000 nationwide protests against the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

We carry with us small American flags but no signs, because really, it’s hard to narrow down what to protest: the hate, the lies, the kidnapping, the stealing, the disregard for the Constitution, the insane appointments, the racism, the erasing of history, the president’s silly military birthday parade for himself, a known draft-dodger. And then there’s the fascism.

Friends text me about their own experiences at protests in Jackson, Chicago, Philadelphia and elsewhere, even in Canada, France and Germany. Another friend later reports that there were perhaps 100,000 protesters marching along New York City’s Fifth Avenue in the rain.

Around the country, millions are hitting the streets for No Kings rallies. Many are new to protesting, or, like me, were initially hesitant to participate because they were scared, sad and discouraged.

As we near the gathering, I’m humming Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth.” Because there is something happening here.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has suggested that the mass outpouring for Saturday’s protests could help some Republican legislators get over their “Trump Submission Syndrome.”

Pope Leo XIV, who has called for priests, deacons and parish leaders to accompany migrants to courts and stand in solidarity with them, is today giving a virtual mass in a sold-out stadium in Chicago.

In Gulfport, we walk west on 15^th Street toward the sound of chanting: “Democracy must not fail. Donald Trump belongs in jail.”

I pass a young girl wearing a homemade t-shirt that reads: so bad even the introverts are here.

An older woman passing by asks if she can have one of my American flags. “For protection,” she says.

Across the street from the gathering, three elderly white men stand, huddled together. Two are carrying American flags, and one waves a yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag. He also has an unusually large pistol stuck casually in his front pants pocket.

“I sure hope I don’t have to use this today,” he says as I pass.

I meet Xavier Reichbaum, 20, and Lucas McCarthy, 19, from Ocean Springs. They’re wearing clown masks and holding up signs reading Elect a Clown, Expect a Circus.

“The day after the election, I told my mom Trump won and she started crying,” McCarthy says. He’s wearing a homemade t-shirt that reads, Not a Paid Protester.“We’re Mexican American and U.S. citizens but there’s no guarantee that we’re safe anymore,” he says. “I’m also trans. It’s so scary the way the world is right now. It’s so divisive.”

“I’m sick and tired of people not doing anything,” Reichbaum adds. He’s wearing a shirt with a picture of Jesus. “I’m shocked that he [Trump] even made it this far into office. It seems like the Democrats just left us to fend for ourselves, and that’s messed up. This is the first protest I’ve ever been to. I just wanted to do something. First steps to try to make a difference.”

A man passes, yelling Bible verses into his bullhorn: “I am bathed in the blood of Jesus,” he shouts.

A woman responds: “How about taking a shower like a normal person!”

A Mississippi Rising Coalition organizer in a yellow vest follows the man with the bullhorn, urging protesters not to engage.

Multiple volunteers wearing yellow Mississippi Rising vests strive to keep the crowd from doing so, but that’s hardly a problem because there are only a few counter-protestors who mostly stay across the street.

“I fully support this movement,” Sam Chaney, 72, tells me. “It’s so important to speak out right now. I’m a child of the seventies. What’s going on now is like nothing I’ve ever seen.” He and I stand together for a while, listening to the speeches and reading the colorful protest signs.

History has eyes.

No Kings, No Dictators.

Overcompensating for Something with this Military Parade Donald?

Others hold signs that are more explicit:

Trump… Suck my Freedom

Tiny Hands Off

Impeach and Convict

Resist the Turd Reich

Look What He Has Done to Our Country

Nobody’s Free Until Everybody’s Free

We Will Not Let Hate win

Rebellions are Built on Hope

A woman dressed in a red “Handmaid’s Tale” hat and gown carries a sign that reads Wake Up! Save our Democracy. Save America.

An older woman waves a yellow mop with a sign that reads: Clean up on Aisle 47.

“Do not fear evil men,” someone yells into a bullhorn. “Fear the inactions of weak men.”

A woman next to me turns to her friend and says it’s nice to not feel alone. She’s wearing a t-shirt that says: Be kind to Everyone. Her friend holds a sign that says Only You can Prevent Fascist Liars.

Some signs barely fit all that their owners want to say: You cannot follow both Christ and the cruelty of kings. A leader who mocks the weak, exalts himself, and preys on the innocent is not sent by God. He is sent to test you and many are failing.

One man wearing a red foam clown nose tells me that protesting will be the key to overthrowing this “idiot.” He declines to give his name. He holds a sign that reads No Kings in America Since 1776.

In front of the courthouse, Mississippi Rising organizer Lea Campbell leads the crowd in another chant: “Ain’t no power like the power of the people. Don’t stop.”

Though it’s hot and the organizers run out of water, Campbell is pleased with the peaceful turn out. And the handful of counter protesters?

“We welcome them,” she says. “They have a right to be here, too. Just like us.”

Organizers have calculated that about 1,000 people were gathered in front of the federal courthouse in Gulfport for the two-hour No Kings Day of Defiance demonstration against the president and his “Big Beautiful Bill,” which they call his Big Ugly Bill.

Heather Bridge, 82, from Diamondhead, Mississippi, says she’s been protesting all her life. In California, against Nixon. In Miami, against Santos.

“And now I live here, probably in the worst state I’ve ever lived in but I’m having a good time today protesting against Trump,” Bridge says. “She holds a cardboard sign that her husband Kevin made: D. Trump is 79. Age or IQ? Kevin holds another sign: No Kings. Donald Trump and his Court Jesters: Bent Bondi, Reprehensible Rubio, Harebrain Hegseth, Nutcase Noem, Loony Lutnick.

My phone buzzes and I read breaking news that a person pretending to be a police officer assassinated Democratic state legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark at their home in Minnesota in an act of targeted political violence. The assailant also shot and injured a state senator and his wife in a nearby suburb.

I remember the line in that Buffalo Springfield song: “There’s a man with a gun over there…”

Before we march to Highway 90, I cross 15^th Street and introduce myself to the man with the gun over there. He won’t tell me his name.

“I don’t like what’s happening,” he says, waving his yellow “Don’t Tread on Me” flag. “I don’t like what that side over there is doing in Los Angeles.” He points to the protesters across the street. “They’re throwing ‘Lolatock’ cocktails and rocks at our police.”

I ask him what he thinks about what happened at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

“That was a set up by Pelosi,” he says.

Next to us is another man wearing a cap that reads: Resist the Christian Taliban. He says he wants the man with the gun to read the sign he made:

4 Star General Mark Milley – Donald Trump is Fascist to the core

In WWI and WWII thousands of REAL American patriots gave their lives fighting fascism.

Today’s Fake Patriotic Republicans Openly Embrace Fascism!!

Vote Them Out!!

“These guys think it’s OK to support a regime that will decimate America,” the protester says, pointing to the man with the gun. “For too long we’ve been intimidated by anti-American, anti-Christians supported by this fascist administration.”

He introduces himself but asks that his name not be published because he fears for his wife, a U.S. citizen from the Philippines. “I don’t want her to get hurt,” he says, choking up. “For 72 years I’ve lived in this country and I love it,” he says. He lives in Gulfport.

“People here say we’re sliding towards fascism? We’re here,” he says. “It’s indistinguishable from what I saw in China, Cambodia, India.” A teacher for more than 30 years, he says he taught under authoritarian and fascist regimes.

Still, these protests are heartening because it shows people pushing back, he observes.

“I don’t think people grasp how fragile our democracy is,” he says. “Uniformed, American soldiers at Fort Bragg were openly booing a former commander in chief, openly mocking a U.S. governor they are sworn to represent. And it’s a blip on the mainstream media and we go on to the next thing. Fascism happens with a slow, almost unstoppable slide.”

We walk across the bridge, crossing over Highway 90, where cars honk their support at protesters forming a line with white umbrellas spelling out: MS Fights Fascism. Power to the People.

According to organizers of the No Kings Day protests, this is one of 2,169 protests in 20 cities. There are people of all ages – younger, older, men wearing American flag shirts with bald eagles, women in summer dresses, people who could read Republican yet are here protesting Trump.

“This is the first of what’s required of us going forward,” Campbell tells the crowd. “After this, go celebrate, rest, hydrate. On Monday, get on the phone with Cyndy Hyde Smith and Roger Wicker. Say no to the Big Ugly Bill. We have to blow their phones up. We don’t want people dying. We don’t want our protections to go away. Make your voices heard.”

This article corrects a quote from Xavier Reichbaum.

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Image: Protesters in Gulfport, Mississippi, June 14, 2025 (Margaret McMullan)