No Kings - Better and Worse
If you've felt invigorated by NoKings, don't let me yuck your yum. And if you've used the opportunity to meet new people and get out in the community and engage in a way that you weren't before, I would love to hear about it. Honestly, I think I need to hear about it, because I feel demoralized by what I saw at NoKings. The turnout was more than ever. Seeing pictures of the crowds in large cities was stunning. But my exposure was much less impressive. Here's what I experienced, followed by what I think about the event as a whole:
I live in a rural smallish-town area. It's a pretty MAGA place. We had between 350 and 500 people show up to the closest NoKings rally to me, which for the area was an incredible turnout. There were amazing signs, handmaids, people with OnePiece flags and garb, and a guy on a mic singing the likes of Bob Dylan. We stood on a sidewalk (actually, on the side of the sidewalk farthest from the road) and held signs up, cheering when people honked and either not responding or shouting a bit when people gave us a thumbs down or waved their MAGA hats as they drove by. There were people walking up and down the sidewalk with bubble machines. But in an odd contrast to their whimsical output, they wore scowls. One woman walked up and down the sidewalk having everyone recite an alternative pledge that began with "I pledge allegiance to the children all across the globe..." It was a very nice pledge, and she had us recite it in groups at least three times. Most people appeared to interact mostly just with people they knew. There was an err of being "cliqued up" and there were a couple moments when I tried to include myself in a neighboring conversation and was not well received. I'm an awkward gal, so maybe that was on me.
I did meet a few new people, and I did enjoy those interactions for the most part. One lady I found myself in conversation with, however, spoke about how the local homeless population ruins things and how it seems like they just can't be helped. I was able to voice my opposition and try to paint a more empathetic picture, and maybe that made an impact. I don't know. She didn't shut down the conversation completely, so it might've been quite productive. I suppose the fact that she and I were standing side-by-side at this event is evidence that the ideological reach of the day was quite broad. But it didn't invigorate me the way this event was supposed to have done.
There were no calls to action. There were no stated demands. The only organization I saw that was promoting itself or recruiting by any standard was one I engaged with last year with a chronically toxic leader. She thinks because she's burning herself out for the cause, everyone else should do the same. Instead of tempering her expectations to meet the threshold of the group's bandwidth, she repeatedly overpromised and guilt tripped anyone who wasn't able to do as much as she was doing. I can't organize with people like that. I don't know if that makes me sound problematic as well. But as someone who has a hard time saying "no" to begin with, I need leadership that shows compassion for the bandwidth limitations of its members.
It was disappointing not to see any new orgs popping up. But I intend to pop into the local shelter and food pantries to find out when and where they need volunteers. I hope to begin cultivating or participating in some kind of mutual aid campaigns in my community and I think I'm most likely to come into contact with people doing that type of work by showing up to do it with them.
"NoKings is a chance for people to get out and network with like-minded individuals in their community!"
Yes. And that matters. But the majority of people who go aren't using that opportunity. They're showing up, carrying a sign and marching or standing on a sidewalk, maybe singing or chanting with the crowd, and then going home and continuing their regularly scheduled programming. If the networking isn't resulting in active participation in more tangible resistance, it's not serving its purpose.
"NoKings is a much needed place to blow off steam and help people feel less alone!"
Yes. And that's important! If someone feels less alone they're more likely to have hope that their position can make a difference. But that hope will only be temporary if tangible organizing and pushes for positive change in our communities don't materialize. We have to do that work collectively, and too many people are sitting back waiting for someone else to do it.
"NoKings shows the administration that they're not popular, and that their days are numbered!"
This is one I have to outright disagree with, unfortunately. The administration isn't afraid of NoKings. We've seen how they act when they're afraid; they crack down, they saber rattle. They feel no threat in these rallies. NoKings is a permission-structure protest. It explicitly follows the rules of the system; the rules dictated by the very system it proposes to protest. Where is the disruption? Is that not the entire point of a protest? To disrupt the status quo? Julius Lester was a prominent Civil Rights activist in the sixties. His most famous book is called Look Out Whitey! Black Power's Gon' Get Your Mama! But I've recently been reading an anthology of essays he wrote and published. He wrote this in 1967:
"There is no protest if permission must be sought and rules abided by. We have allowed the form that our protest takes to be defined for us by those whom we protest against. Thus, our protest is drained of its power because we do not have the power to make our protest effective."
"NoKings is a chance to bring attention to the issues and how many people stand against the administration."
This goes along with helping people to not feel so alone, and again I agree that's important. But it's not enough. We can feel warm and cozy knowing our neighbors agree with us about the devastation happening in our country, but we must then link arms with our neighbor to put a stop to those things, or to support those in our communities suffering as a result of those things. Maybe this is happening on a wider scale than I recognize. Like I said, I live in a rural area in the Midwest so I admit that I could be looking through a clouded lens, but I'm just not seeing that happen.
"If not NoKings, then what? What do you propose?"
I'm not proposing that we shouldn't have NoKings. I'm proposing that we should have NoKings and so, so, so much more. If half of the people who attended NoKings turned around and started doing community work gathering and disbursing mutual aid, organizing to protect their neighbors against the atrocities, and standing up for education, healthcare, and science it could make a huge difference. I just don't know that they will. It's easier to show up, scream into the void, and go home carrying on like usual. And that's what I fear most NoKings attendees are doing. Is it more than the rest of the population is doing? Sure! Is it significantly more? I dunno. Is it enough? Absolutely not.