Local ‘No Kings’ protests held across the suburbs Saturday
Thousands rallied Saturday at suburban “No Kings” events protesting the policies of President Donald Trump on the same day the president held a military parade in Washington, D.C., marking the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary on his 79th birthday.
The estimated 3,000 people who lined the perimeter of Schaumburg’s Town Square were both passionate and peaceful — so much so that a village resident wearing a red “Make America Great Again” cap said he felt comfortable at the two-hour gathering.
“We’re a nation that was for the people and by the people,” co-organizer Julee Mortensen of Rally Together Indivisible-Elk Grove said. “Now we have someone in the White House who wants to be a king, and we don’t do kings in the United States.”
She added that her experience protesting the Vietnam War tells her that public demonstrations can bring change.
“I protested in the ‘70s,” Mortensen said. “I didn’t think I’d be protesting in my 70s.”
Bob Royce, a Vietnam veteran from Schaumburg, walked the rally holding a sign reading, “Veterans Against Trump.”
“I can’t stand him,” Royce said of the president. “I’m a Vietnam veteran. He dodged the draft. I’m afraid of what he’s going to do to the VA and the benefits for veterans. It’s just beyond words for me. I just say, enjoy your freedom while you have it.”
Holding a sign reading, “When Injustice Becomes Law, Resistance Becomes Duty,” Jeff Burger of Elk Grove Village said he believed it essential to let his two very young children witness the demonstration and his and his wife’s participation.
“I think it’s an important lesson for them to learn at a young age,” he said.
But wearing his sun-weathered MAGA cap, John Horstman of Schaumburg said the demonstration was something he wanted to see, too. Apart from a few harmless jeers and finger-pointing, he’d been largely left to himself throughout the rally, spotting only one like-minded couple he knew but who had chosen not to self-identify as he had.
“I’ve never seen so many willing pawns,” he said. “This ‘No Kings’ thing seems to have come out of the blue. It seems like a manufactured thing. By the way, Donald Trump is not a king. He’d be impeached if he were.”
Asked how he’d address the crowd if given the chance, Horstman responded, “I’d say, Hail ‘King’ Trump for securing the border,” suggesting the quotation marks himself. “They’re mostly sore losers because they lost the election.”
J.C. Meister of Elk Grove Village, who runs the pro-Independent organization, “We the People Reuniting,” said that while he agrees with the rally’s “No Kings” theme, he doesn’t see an equally radicalized opposition party as the answer.
“If we vote everyone out, we can only do better,” he said.
Other suburbs that held rallies Saturday included Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, Elgin, Geneva, Gurnee, Highland Park, Lisle, McHenry, Mount Prospect, Naperville, Palatine and Warrenville.
J.C. Meister of Elk Grove Village runs the pro-Independent organization, “We the People Reuniting.” He said that while he agreed with the rally’s “No Kings” theme, he doesn’t see an equally radicalized opposition party as the answer — claiming that polls show 70% of Americans don’t want to identify as a member of a political party.
“If we vote everyone out, we can only do better,” he said.
Other suburbs that experienced such rallies Saturday included Arlington Heights, Bartlett, Buffalo Grove, Des Plaines, Elgin, Geneva, Gurnee, Highland Park, Lisle, McHenry, Mount Prospect, Naperville, Palatine and Warrenville.