Kurt Stand from Greenbelt, Maryland

We gathered by Greenbelt’s community center, walked along the town’s streets, past a community garden, past our Honk band – with a tuba, tambourines, and other instruments welcoming all as we arrived – then reaching an overpass where we were chanting, waving signs, cheering on as motorists below greeted us with honking horns.  

It would be a fool’s errand to pretend to count numbers – people were constantly coming and going, but hundreds took part, a significant number when you consider that similar rallies at overpasses and in communities throughout Prince George’s and Montgomery County.  

Significant too was that it was diverse in age, diverse in background and – though far from fully representative of the City of Greenbelt – more racially diverse than other recent local anti-MAGA events.  

Those handmade posters were diverse as well reflecting the range of concerns that brought people out – immigrant rights, trans right, support for Medicare, for peace, defense of federal workers and defense of science with a tone that was alternately mocking: No Kings, No Clowns and angry ICE = SS.  

At the core of “No Kings Day,” however, was opposition to illegitimate authority and that was reflected in a sign quoting Book of Samuel 8:18, which, for those not so well-versed in the Bible, proclaims: 

When that day comes, you will cry out for relief from the king you have chosen, but the Lord will not answer you in that day.

Another, reminding us that megalomania in power is nothing new, recalled Louis XIV’s L’etat c’est Moi (I am the state), by providing the appropriate rejoinder:

Tu n’est pas l’etat (“You are not the state”). 

 Key to the rally and critically important to this moment and the future, was reclaiming our nation’s conflicted heritage.  Opposition to illegitimate authority runs like a thread through U.S. history from the time of the American Revolution and the Battle of Lexington and Concord on June 14, 1775, up to the present.  It has defined every struggle in recent memory for social, racial and economic justice and is a heritage we ought to acknowledge and defend even as we seek to expand its meaning.  

That was in plain view in Greenbelt on June 14, 2025, as lots of U.S. flags were carried along with signs that declared:

Yes to the Magna Carta

We did it 249 years ago — we can do it again

The Constitution Separates Powers for a Reason

I’m old enough to remember “Liberty and Justice for All” was a thing

Perhaps the most important words were on a signs directed at all attending this and other rallies, words to remember in these dangerous times:

Don’t Trust Authority

Trust Each Other.

And, last but not least:

You are the “Solid” in Solidarity.

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Molly Martin from Jackson, WY

Longtime community activists in Jackson, Wyoming told me that the “No Kings” protest on June 14 was the largest demonstration the town has ever seen. On a warm, sunny day, hundreds of people filled the sidewalks around the town square.

My friend and I, tourists on our way from the San Francisco Bay Area to Yellowstone National Park, were glad to join the rally. We found a welcoming crowd gathered beneath Jackson’s iconic antler arches.

A speaker addressed the crowd with somber news of lawmakers assassinated in Minnesota. He warned that the Trump regime had made violence a tool of its agenda, and urged everyone present to remain peaceful and safe.

Jackson, a gateway to Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks, depends heavily on tourism. Locals are deeply concerned about cuts to the National Park Service. NPS workers told me about layoffs and unfilled positions. With summer just beginning, the park system is already stretched thin.

A couple of police cars were parked nearby, but officers only intervened to remind demonstrators to stay on the sidewalks. At one corner, two older women sat calmly on horseback, representing the Jackson police as volunteers. They said the horses were their own, serving no role that day except to receive a steady stream of affectionate pats from passersby.

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Douglas Marshall from Bell and Montebello, California

I called this event. Few people showed up, some for fear and some because my rule about no foreign flags “did not align with my values.”

Our mayor, a leader of our large Muslim community, and our Chief of Police, son of immigrants, both expressed their support but did not attend. The Mayor is a Bernie guy.

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