By Kaylee Alvarez
Thousands gathered at back-to-back protests in downtown Grand Rapids on Saturday, June 14.
Taking place in the morning, huge crowds gathered at Ah-Nab-Awen Park for the “No Kings” protest, a national day of action hosted by Indivisible Greater Grand Rapids, greater Grand Rapids
residents, community leaders and partner organizations. The event was organized partially in opposition to a military parade that President Trump organized to commemorate the U.S. military’s 250th anniversary on his 79th birthday. After this event came close to ending, thousands overflowed Rosa Parks Circle for the second protest that was in walking range, that started immediately after the protest at Ah-Nab-Awen.
As members in the crowd waited with signs for the first guest speaker to start, they shared their reasons for attending the peaceful protest in the park.
“I am afraid the rule of law is sort of eroding,” said Pat, a protester declining to give his last name. “People are getting picked up, not being charged, taken to foreign gulags, the courts are being ignored, the Republican congress is completely c
ompliant—they’re not doing their jobs, they’re submitting their authority to a unitarian executive and that’s contrary to the Constitution. I am just trying to remind people what America is about, what we stand for, what the majority of the public wants and what we don’t want”
When asked what “No Kings” meant to her, Gale Zemmol—who has been living in Grand Rapids for the last 16 years— voiced her opinion.
“It means that the Constitution is what the United States was founded on and has no ‘kings’ in it. It is ‘we the people’.
At the No Kings event, Rich Jennings, a United States Army Veteran, led off a series of speeches.
“I’m a veteran and I had a sworn oath when I enlisted to the constitution,” he said. “We obey lawful orders, but what’s going on right now is not lawful.”
As he concluded his speech, Jennings took a nearby American flag and hung it upside down— a symbol of “dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property,” according to the U.S. Flag Code.
Later, Marshall Kilgore, Grand Rapids City Third Ward Commissioner, addressed the crowd.
“There’s a lot of attacks on the LGBTQ+ community and as Grand Rapids’ first openly LGBTQ+ individual to sit on the Grand Rapids commission, I want to highlight how our freedoms to marry and simply saying ‘love is love’ is so important. If we attack one community, I always ask people, ‘who’s next?’”
Two speakers who asked to remain anonymous from Movimiento Cosecha, a national non-violent movement fighting for the rights of immigrants, shared a story about the laws being put on immigrants and the unfair treatment they get.
“To put a face to what’s happening in our community, that our families are being separated from us,” said one speaker, before the second added, “Everyone has to know they are destroying our families.”
Nathan Dannison, an ordained minister in the United Church of Christ, spoke about how his church provided shelter for Saheeda Nadeem, a refugee running from ICE, and successfully protected her from ICE deporting her back to her country. By the end of his address, the crowd was roaring.
“I’m pretty sick of what is happening inside of the whole office and inside of our country,” said Hanah, a 16-year-old speaker after giving a speech.
One of the final speakers was Phil Skaggs, a Michigan State Representative, who yelled out into the crowd, “It can be done, you can win, you can beat Trump.”
Following this, Lisa Knight— a community leader, change agent, disrupter of systems and the first Black female Second Ward City of Grand Rapids Commissioner— gave her remarks.
“When everyday citizens are harassed for speaking the truth or by the color of their skin or their religious beliefs, that is not democracy. That is fear in disguise. That is tyranny knocking at our door. That is an example of the we, and not the ‘us,’” she said.
In response to these speeches, attendees had words of their own. Among the thousands of protestors was Linda Lafontsee who commented in her crown, “I feel like I really need to be a part of this and be one of the many numbers across the country that are standing (against) the horrible things that are being done in D.C.”
Another protester, Marcia Goch, arrived with a tall flagpole with two flags with writing on them representing “the melting pot,” a metaphor for society and different cultures blending together.
“I don’t want to see racism in this country anymore,” Goch said. “My entire family is from Mexico and I owe them for everything that I have in this life— and I have a very good life. So, I want to see equality through and through in this country.”
Under her creative hand-made crown-umbrella stood Dawn Schav who said, “(I) heard a good saying the other day — ‘People over paper.’ I work with the immigrant population and my heart is just breaking.”
As the demonstration at Ah-Nab-Awen Park wrapped up, many in the crowd made their way down to Rosa Park Circle, where the second protest was being held.
Ivan Diaz, former Kent County commissioner, spoke to this crowd, saying,“we cannot keep electing the same politicians who come to ask for our votes when it’s time to vote, but who then turn around and do nothing to help us.”
Diaz plans to run for the Michigan State Senate District 29 and wanted to use the opportunity to educate the public about who he is.
Resting in the shade away from the blazing sun, David and Amber, of Grand Rapids, who declined to share their last names, shared what brought them to the demonstration.
“We’re squatting on stolen land, essentially, and so we’re taking a lot of liberties, as is, with Native American lands that we were invited onto and did not obey the treaties that we agreed to, to be here,” David said.
The final speaker was Commissioner Robert S. Womack, of Kent County.
“I feel immigrants without their due process is something we need to fight for,” Womack said after his speech. “I think that women’s rights is still something to be fought for, and I think we need to unite our voices, our voice, and uplift these communities to stand in solidarity.”
Cars and motorcycles honked and revved their engines as they passed the hundreds of protesters flooding the streets of Downtown Grand Rapids.
Collegiate Editor-in-Chief Marc Stoufer III and Managing Editor Mackenzie Davis contributed to this article.
