“No Kings Day” Time of Peaceful, Important Protest
Monica Rockwell
On October 18th, like some estimated 7 other million Americans, not to mention citizens in other countries worldwide, I attended a ‘No Kings Day’ protest in Greenville, South Carolina. A friend asked me for my impressions, so here they are.
As I arrived, it was quite a sight to behold as people continued to pour into the open area where we gathered in a downtown park, and, as I looked around, more stood along the perimeters and ridges above us looking down. This for a region of South Carolina known to be the most conservative.
About a third to half of the crowd held signs, mostly homemade, some clever and some I’d seen before. One I’d seen before that made me chuckle was “It’s so bad, even the introverts are here.” True enough. Count me among them. I’m not one to make signs nor one generally to chant slogans, though I did chime in with some I thought were good. A few wore costumes.
The protest was, first and foremost, a peaceful demonstration. It was an audience that deeply knew that the ‘would-be king’ would like nothing better than a pre-text to crack down violently on dissent to his and his administration’s gross injustices that are meted out daily, the gross incompetence of his lackeys and enablers, the unprecedented corruption and the erosion of our rights guaranteed under the constitution. Violence is not something to which, claims by the administration and members of Congress aside, this gathering of regular citizens would have engaged in in any event. When I attended the Women’s March in Washington, DC in January 2017 at the time of the inauguration of the first Trump administration, the same held true - it was peaceful. Police presence seemed light.
There were speakers here and there, none that I knew by name or face. While none said anything particularly noteworthy, I was pleased that they kept to language and a message that could appeal to most all. The organizers and speakers seemed to get that this movement, if we’re to call it that, needs to remain the biggest tent, inviting all who are concerned about our civil liberties and maintaining our democratic institutions into the fold. They recognized it wasn’t a time to debate niche or cultural issues that invite strong disagreement. Those are for another day. Issues were largely limited to gutting healthcare which is a principal sticking point in the government shutdown and the ICE crackdowns in Democratic cities, both of which I felt were fair game in the circumstances and on which most all there would agree.
In the end, if we lose our civil liberties guaranteed under the constitution, those other issues will have ceased to matter because they will have already given way under the broad scope of an autocracy.
The demonstrators ranged in age from teens to octogenarians. Someone standing near me commented that they were heartened to see so many younger people taking up the cause. We were largely white. At a glance, we looked like middle America. I hope all these people also vote.
An article I read in the Epoch Times written by a Matthew Vandum argues that several Marxist groups planned to participate. He quotes an anti-Communist expert, Trevor Loudon, that “the core of [No Kings] is the hardcore communist groups.” He really needs to get out more. For the record, I am not a) a communist; b) involved with antifa, an organization which most anyone referencing the group such as it were struggles to explain or identify who’s in charge; c) being paid by George Soros or any other billionaire donor. Though, according to some social researchers, more young people hold favorable attitudes toward communism than in the past, likely owing to factors like increased income inequality, I’d place a bet that the 7 million or so of us who attended a No Kings Day rally aren’t communists.
For an event U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson had tagged as “hate America rallies” and the protestors anarchists, Antifa advocates and pro-Hamas, as a group we looked anything but. We were average Americans showing up to defend a democracy many of us hadn’t realized we needed to keep defending. But, it turns out we do need to keep defending it . . . every day.
Monica Rockwell resides with her husband and son in Anderson and ran for Anderson city council in 2022. Her work can be found in her Substack: “View from the Middle: A Search for Truth in Hard Times”.
