My husband, Mike, crafted signs. I breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday morning when the rain stopped, the clouds parted and the sun appeared. We were headed to the No Kings rally in Grant Park with our friends John and Juan.
On the Brown Line platform as we waited for our train to arrive, a group of young Latinas chatted. They complimented our signs, so Mike offered them three, which they happily received with gratitude and smiles. The train cars overflowed with protesters, but everyone remained polite and respectful and buzzed about the march.
Off the train downtown, we met a friend dressed as a monarch butterfly. (“The Only Monarch We Need,” her sign said.) Big crowds headed east from the train. Mike noticed an elderly woman struggling to get her bearings, and so we stopped. Hanna, 90, had ridden the bus solo from her apartment on the North Side. She joined our crew and gamely kept up the pace until we found spots in Grant Park. Rousing speeches! Festive crowd! Peaceful protest.
Packed in the crowd and unable to move as we tried to leave Grant Park, we stood in one spot for 20 minutes. No one pushed, no one got grumpy, no one complained. Really, no one complained. When Hanna began to tire, some medics found her a chair where she could rest.
Later, we sat in the cafe at the Art Institute chatting about the march and sharing stories. Hanna, originally from Czechoslovakia, told of living under Soviet rule in the 1960s and her overwhelming desire to escape the repressive Soviet government. Juan recounted the story of his mother exiting El Salvador in the 1970s leaving five children behind until she could afford to bring them to the U.S.
We dropped our new friend Hanna off at her apartment, promising to keep in touch. Juan and John made their ways back to the suburbs. I placed our No Kings sign against a tree. It was a good day. Chicago was at its finest this past Saturday, and our spirits were restored.
The people of Chicago are a mixed lot, and that’s how we like it. We’re tough, and that’s why we will continue to push back against tyranny. The people of Chicago are proud — proud of our beautiful city and proud that over 100,000 people came together to say “no” to authoritarianism, to bullying and to the abuse of our immigrant neighbors.
We chanted over and over at the rally, “We love Chicago!” We surely do.
— Barbara Dillon, Chicago
Voicing our opposition
On Saturday, my wife and I participated in two No Kings rallies in Chicago — Lincoln Park and downtown, both of which were peaceful protests against authoritarianism in America under President Donald Trump.
While Americans cannot yet vote for a change, at least we can still voice our opposition to current government policies and actions and, as seen at these two rallies on Saturday, in very large numbers. The rallies also served as a reminder not to acquiesce silently to perceived wrongs done by the government, which enables their normalization.
There were many positive vibes felt during the speeches and subsequent marches at both rallies. Repeated chants of “USA! USA!,” “This is what democracy looks like!” and “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!” stood out. Each rally had a mix of young and old (the oldest was 106 years of age), workers and retirees alike, as well as groups of families and friends.
During the downtown Chicago march, my deceased immigrant grandparents came to mind. With humble beginnings, each worked very hard over decades to build a life in a new country, self-educate and raise families, all before becoming naturalized citizens, which was perfectly legal in those days. They were no different as human beings than the honest, hardworking immigrants who today are the object of the Trump administration’s unjust wrath and who deserve to be respected and treated humanely, not vilified and treated inhumanely.
— Mark Grenchik, Chicago
What has changed
Since my partner, Anne, and I made our presence known at both the June 14 and Oct. 18 No Kings rallies, I want to share my unscientific observations. In June, we participated in the rallies in downtown Chicago and suburban La Grange, where we live. However, on Saturday, we chose to steer clear of Chicago’s masked bandits and only participated in La Grange.
The Chicago scene in June was very different from that in La Grange. Since the streets in Chicago were apparently closed to traffic where we were standing, there were no signs of Trump supporters pushing back at the No Kings supporters. In La Grange, where traffic was not stopped on La Grange Road (two lanes in each direction), it seemed like at least 1 in 8 to 10 cars contained one or more people supporting the current administration in D.C. Their most frequent response was the single-finger salute.
Saturday in La Grange was quite different. Attendance of No Kings participants was probably five-plus times as many as we remember in June. But most remarkably, in the nearly two hours we participated, we noticed just one counterprotester driving by and sharing the single finger. If there were more, they were silent.
What has changed? Most likely, white women have become more energized — there seemed to be many more of them. Perhaps previously silent citizens had a change of heart — clearly a positive sign! However, one can also hope that some of the previous counterprotesters have found sufficient cause (over these four months) to reexamine their earlier stance.
I’ve no proof, but I believe that at least some of the previous counterprotesters joined Anne and me on Saturday.
— Roy Frack, La Grange
FDR’s kinglike actions
We’ve already had a president who was far more serious about being our king than the current No Kings claims that Donald Trump aspires to be our king. That president was Franklin D. Roosevelt. Not content with solid majorities in both houses of Congress after the 1936 election, yet nonetheless thwarted in much of his New Deal legislation by a conservative Supreme Court, he proposed in 1937 the Judicial Procedures Reform Bill, which would have allowed for the addition of up to six justices to the court, all appointed by Roosevelt. That would have secured a Democratic majority on the court or, as it was then described, packed the court (more aptly perhaps stacked the court), leaving Roosevelt in firm control of all three branches of government.
The bill never gained the support of a majority of Americans in the polls. And in the end, it died the proverbial slow death in Congress.
Had Roosevelt’s bill become law, how many justices do you think we might have on the Supreme Court by now? And how many kings? And whatever Trump’s aspirations may or may not be, he would be a footnote.
— Neil Gaffney, Chicago
One powerful message
I attended the wake and funeral of Sister Jean on Wednesday and Thursday, and although they were sad days, they were days filled with love and warm feelings. Everyone left the services reflecting on the impact Sister Jean had made on so many lives. This was followed by a determination to increase our efforts to make our world a kinder place.
On Saturday, I went to a No Kings rally, and it was a wonderful experience. Thousands of diverse people came together in a united effort to improve and protect our democracy and protect the rights of everyone in our country.
I couldn’t help but compare the togetherness at Sister Jean’s funeral with the unity of purpose of the people at the rally. One was a religious unity, and the other was political. But both had the powerful message that we are one people and have the responsibility to better the lives of everyone around us.
— Mary Kehl, Wilmette
Chicago’s status quo
At the anti-Donald Trump No Kings rally, Mayor Brandon Johnson said, “We do not want troops in our city. We will not allow our city to be occupied.”
But is the mayor instead OK with crime in the city, with it being occupied by criminals and immigrants in the country illegally? Would he rather the status quo continue in Chicago?
— Mike Winthrop, Evanston
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