Michigan lawmakers and community leaders announced that No Kings protests are going to be held across the state and country on October 18th. Organizers said during a press conference Monday the goal is to support democracy and defend freedom of speech.
No Kings protests held in June were attended by millions of people across the country. Michigan leaders hope these protests will result in similar, if not larger, turnouts.
Rep. Carrie Rheingans (D-Ann Arbor) and Rep. Laurie Pohutsky (D-Livonia) warned against authoritarianism and urged people to take action. “We are watching a president claim unchecked power, punish critics, and deploy troops against our citizens,” Pohutsky said.
Tarun Patel is a member of Indivisible Ironwood, a chapter of the national organization with the goal of mobilizing against government overreach. Patel, an immigrant who obtained citizenship after years of paperwork, background checks, and interviews, said he had to prove he understood what this country stands for. “That’s why the first amendment means something to me. I didn’t inherit it. I earned it," he said.
Patel said that President Trump is using his authority to silence critics, citing pressures the administration placed on The Washington Post, Paramount, Jimmy Kimmel, and universities across the country. Patel added that teachers and public workers are being fired for social media posts.
“Dissent is patriotic,” Patel said. “That’s why we’re rallying here, because this country has no kings.”
“No political leader should be using our soldiers or the National Guard as political pawns against other Americans,” said Jay Gibbs, a member of the Lansing No Kings Coordinating Committee.
Isa Azaria is a member of We the People Dissent Indivisible Detroit coalition. “Our liberation is bound together,” Azaria said. “None of us are free until all of us are.”
She voiced concern over ICE operations. “Masked men have been pulling people into unmarked vans…we have seen immigrants being detained at courthouses while doing things legally,” she said.
“These incidents have become policy, which have become acts of terror,” Azaria continued. One night in late September, hundreds of ICE agents raided an apartment complex in Chicago, arresting 37 people.
“A militarized police force storming homes, detaining people without warrants, and brutalizing families is not law enforcement, it’s state violence,” Azaria said. “Authoritarianism always starts with those deemed 'the other.' Even if you’ve never had a fear of deportation, even if you think this doesn’t touch your life, it will.”
Christy McGillivray is the director of Voters Not Politicians, a non-partisan, pro-Democracy organization in Michigan. “We call ourselves Americans because we are fundamentally grounding ourselves in our right to disagree with our own government,” she said. “Our right to criticize our government is what is under attack right now.”
“What we’re experiencing is Trump’s attempt to turn anyone who disagrees with him into a criminal,” McGillivray added. The President has ordered criminal investigations into his opponents, including James B. Comey, the former Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Letitia James, the Attorney General of New York, and Lisa Cook, a Member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.
“This is a significantly worse version of what shamed Nixon from office,” McGillivray said.
Shanay Watson-Whittaker is a director of Michigan campaigns with Reproductive Freedom for All. She said that President Trump is breaking down the connection between public opinion and political consequences.
“They’re redefining who counts as an American,” Watson-Whittaker said. “President Trump and Vice President Vance have been frank that the only legitimate Americans are those that agree with them and look like them.”
Local protest events can be found at www.nokings.org.
