No Kings was a “nationwide day of defiance” held on June 14th, organized by a combination of social justice groups, including the 50501 Movement, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), Indivisible, and more.
The protest took place on Flag Day, a holiday that coincided with the 79th birthday of President Donald Trump. Trump planned a massive, $45 million parade in Washington, D.C. to honor the 250th anniversary of the Army and celebrate his birth, where over 6,000 uniformed troops participated. Artillery vehicles, armored tanks, and animals accompanied them. The last time the military had a celebration as big as this was after the Gulf War victory in 1991.
More than 2,000 rallies were executed across the country with an estimated total of 5 million attendees. Organizers stated on their official website about the event, “In America, we don’t do kings. They’ve defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed our services. The corruption has gone too far. No thrones. No crowns. No kings.”
In Atlanta, the rally took place at Liberty Plaza, directly outside the state’s Capitol building, where approximately 8,000 people gathered to exercise their First Amendment rights. This gathering was one of many held in Georgia, including cities such as Marietta, McDonough, Tucker, and many more. Protesters held an array of signs, most of them mocking the President, reading: “Without due process it’s kidnapping,” or “the most dangerous immigrants arrived in 1492,” or simply “no kings.”
Various smaller activist groups joined in on the protest, including the Party for Socialism and Liberation Atlanta (PSL). 27-year-old Jacob is a member of the group, which he describes as “an organization that is fighting for the working class all over this country.” The party focuses on educating “normal” citizens to rise against “capitalist exploitation and imperialist domination” in the United States. “I hope people find a way to plug in, show out, educate themselves, [and] build their communities, so we can turn this mass mobilization into a movement that is actually transformative,” Jacob concluded.
Speakers at the downtown protest consisted of, but were not limited to, veteran Ed Anderson and Marisa Pyle, a member of Jewish Voices for Peace. Dr. Jasmine Clark is a Georgia state representative and a candidate for Georgia’s 13th Congressional District. She is also a professor at Emory University and gave a powerful speech at the rally.
“Since I teach microbiology, I’m gonna give Trump a little science lesson,” Dr. Clark began in her speech. “In biology, we would consider Trump a parasite. Parasites cling to their host and literally suck the life out of it. Trump is a parasite to our Constitution; a parasite to our economy, and a parasite to our health and our safety. But we, the people, are the immune response. We are the remedy.”
Citizens, young and old, were present on Saturday, like 67-year-old Richard and his 65-year-old wife Lydia. Richard explained that he and his wife attended the rally because they were “protesting what we believe is the assumption that President Trump can do everything and anything that he wants to do, regardless of the law.”
This wasn’t the first protest for high school journalists, Audrey Lyons, 16, and Fairlie Mercer, 17. They had visited six rallies since February and felt very passionate about this particular cause.
Lyons, the Editor-in-Chief of her school’s paper, The Southerner, said this about her experiences, “Honestly, before I started writing stories, I didn’t understand how much these national and global events really impacted people near me.” Lyons suggested introspection to Donald Trump. She explained how his policies are not beneficial to anyone but highlighted the unity within the American people. “Whether we voted for him [Trump] or not,” she added, “it’s his job to protect us, look out for us, and be the best president he can be for our whole country.”
