No Kings Day Chicago

Evanston, Ill.—The No Kings Day 2 rallies and marches on Oct. 18 saw an outpouring of five to seven million people in over 2,500 locations in the U.S., fed up with the Trump regime’s oppression, violence, and corruption. Along with seething anger about the regime’s brutality and fascism, there was a spirit of camaraderie. The march of an estimated 225,000+ in downtown Chicago stretched over two miles at its height.

Chicagoans march on No Kings Day rally on Oct. 18, 2025, through downtown, proving that plenty of youth and people of color are part of the resistance. Video via News & Letters.

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There were several smaller ones in various Chicago neighborhoods, and several more in the suburbs. Our metropolis under siege defeated the forecast! It rained in the early morning and at night, but not during the march. You can smell the desperation and fear from the racists who are running things, when they hysterically cry that these are “hate America” protests by “terrorists” and, of course, we all got paid by George Soros, who is the current stand-in for the mythical globalist Jewish conspiracy.

PARAMILITARY OCCUPATION OF CHICAGO

While there was a certain amount of joy at being together in opposition to Trump, the paramilitary occupation of Chicago and its suburbs weighed on everyone’s minds. Our local independent nonprofit online news organization, Block Club Chicago, has provided excellent coverage of the abuses and the resistance.

Hardly a day goes by without a new report of masked agents in Chicagoland brutally grabbing people and throwing them in unmarked cars—changing license plates daily, which is a crime that the Illinois Secretary of State announced he will prosecute—and attacking journalists, observers, and peaceful protesters with tear gas and pepper balls, even after a court order prohibited Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) unprovoked criminal assaults.

Over and over, federal agents have charged people with assault or impeding their operations, and almost all of these charges have been dropped or dismissed by judges, indicating that ICE is lying. They have even rammed people’s cars and shot people, killing one man, Silverio Villegas-Gonzalez. They truly are trying to impose a police state, if we let them.

And hardly a day goes by without new episodes of the tremendous self-organized neighborhood by neighborhood resistance that has sprung up here. Many, many Chicagoans truly view ICE and Customs and Border Patrol as an occupying army. Watch some of the hundreds (thousands?) of videos residents take, and you can see the red-hot anger toward these thugs that pervades the city.

Many have taken steps to hinder their assaults, by observing and recording them, and warning others with whistles (so many whistles have been bought that some stores ran out) as well as online communications. Meta obeyed Pam Bondi’s demand to eliminate a Facebook group that informed people of ICE sightings in Chicago. The Orwellian Bondi and Facebook labeled informing the populace “coordinated harm” when that is actually what ICE is perpetrating. People often yell at the thugs that they are not welcome here, and sometimes physically block them.

NEIGHBORHOOD BY NEIGHBORHOOD RESISTANCE

Hundreds of workshops in “Know Your Rights” and “ICE Watch” have been held. At least half a dozen Rapid Response Teams in the city and suburbs, initiated by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, “verify, record and alert the community of immigration enforcement activity.” Neighbors organized to make sure kids get to school safely and groceries are brought to families afraid to leave their homes. A group of bicyclists called Cycling x Solidarity organized group rides in neighborhoods like Pilsen to buy out the tamales, elotes, and tortas from street vendors so that they can get off the street, and then distribute the food to people in need.

It is true that many of the No Kings protests across the country were organized by groups connected with the Democratic Party, which tries to limit radical ideas and co-opt the passion into their own reformist electoral campaigns. For example, Indivisible Evanston, which organized the Evanston protest, managed to keep the words “Palestine” and “genocide” from being uttered from the stage and has rejected all requests from local activists to include Gaza as an issue. Naturally, there were protesters calling attention to the genocide anyway, as there were at many other events across the country.

–Franklin Dmitryev

Chicago marchers express their anger at Trump’s policies, chanting “Shame! Shame!” during No Kings march, Oct. 18, 2025. Video from News & Letters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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News and Letters Committees members passed out a flyer with this text:

Beyond Anti-Trump to New Beginnings

Trump’s militarized incursion into Chicago is meant to terrorize and criminalize immigrant workers and to provoke a reaction to justify martial law. The brutal ICE raids and detentions of individuals and families evoked massive protests and resistance. In the absence of an actual insurrection, Trump simply declared an emergency that did not exist. His claim that Chicago is a war zone is not just a lie. It is an order to be carried out. His henchmen Stephen Miller and Vice President J.D. Vance have been tossing around the word “insurrection,” since their whole gang wants to invoke the Insurrection Act of 1807 to impose martial law.

Trump’s gang speaks of upholding the law when every day they break laws and the Constitution and violate fundamental rights, and the convicted felon himself pardoned the rioters who tried to end democracy on Jan. 6, 2021. They call protests an invasion, when they ordered an armed invasion of Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland, and Memphis. They scream about violence while unleashing violence against people defending those fundamental rights.

Every step toward dictatorship is a test, and depends on the population to surrender. While many politicians and business leaders—including the businesses of universities and media—have folded, the fightback from ordinary working people outside Trump’s base is widespread and intense. Already, powerful expressions of solidarity with brutally detained immigrants, and their supporters who braved tear gas and rubber bullets, broke out in Chicago, Los Angeles, and across the country. Millions came out for the first No Kings Day to demonstrate their opposition to this drive for authoritarianism.

TRUMP’S ATTACK ON FREEDOM IDEAS

Trump’s drive is not only an attack on people’s bodies—immigrants, women, workers, Trans people, people with disabilities, Black and Brown people, and supporters of Palestine. It is at the same time an attack on minds, with a barrage of propaganda and the suppression of teaching and discussion about all the freedom movements and their ideas, past and present. So let us not disarm ourselves of the powerful weapon of freedom ideas. Part of our struggle is to develop and discuss ideas of liberation, including questioning how we can go beyond fighting against Trump to what we are for. Can we transform the resistance to authoritarianism into a drive for new human beginnings? Not just to restore the institutions that gave such a monster a path to the very top, but to transform society from the bottom up? To set the stage for a society based on new human relations, where that monstrosity would be halted, not encouraged?

For more information on who we are, see other side of leaflet and our website, https://newsandletters.org, and sign up there for our email list.

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No Kings Day Evanston: A protesting couple speaks

Evanston, Ill.—We are new parents. We’ve been protesting since we met, also against deportations. This has been a big part of our lives. With the baby, we had to figure out how to do it. Normally we would have gone to the big protest in Chicago. Today, we want to teach our child what it means to live a life of resistance, to care for each other, to be a community, to live our values. So we came to the Evanston demonstration. You could see also, other people and kids, in a smaller space. This issue is close to home, because we have family members who are undocumented. I was formerly undocumented. It’s not an abstract concept, we’re talking about our family, people we care about.

My sign says, “Can we build Earthseed now? #OctaviaTriedToTellUs.” I am inspired by the work of Octavia Butler, especially Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents. In those novels, when we’re resisting the tyrant, there’s a lot of oppression. And through it all, there’s this young girl who begins a kind of resistance movement, building something called Earthseed based on empathy and compassion and connection to the land. This world that she built, I think, is really what we’re aspiring towards, and shows how one person can do it.

During the pandemic, Tananarive Due and Monica A. Coleman started the webinar and podcast series “Octavia Tried to Tell Us.” With a president whose tagline is Make America Great Again, I feel like this is what Octavia Butler was writing about decades ago.

We would want to build a world more like Earthseed, and not the world of the president in the novels or the world that we’re seeing right now, where there’s a lot of rampant capitalism, oligarchy, that doesn’t respect the sanctity of human life and views some lives as disposable. I think the way we’re trying to live our lives is where we recognize the sacred worth of every individual, the power of community. To me, that is Earthseed’s guiding light.

There’s a part of the organizing and resisting that feels a little bit demoralizing, because this is what we were fighting for back in 2009. I was here when I was in college, helping build out a family support network hotline in the areas hardest hit by a lot of ICE raids. There’s a little part of it that’s like, wow, if anything, it’s gotten worse. The other part of it is the importance of really envisioning the future. Indigenous traditions teach that you have to look seven generations back, seven generations forward. I think of my son, my friends’ kids and the future that their great-grandparents envisioned for them. I think of my mom, who was resisting state violence under the guise of fighting terrorism in Peru. Organizing now feels like we’re honoring the legacy and the efforts of our ancestors and also building a world we want to see for our child.

–Woman protesting

I’m wearing a monarch butterfly badge to represent the idea of migration, because the monarch butterfly is transnational. It goes from Canada, all through North America, and they go back to their home in the state of Michoacan, Mexico, which is where my mother is from. For me, it’s really relevant and impactful, and speaks to the story of my family, respecting the idea that we move.

That’s a very natural human thing. Humans move like nature moves. That dynamic itself is not a bad thing, and so to respect people’s desire to move, and to respect all immigrants, that’s essentially what the butterfly, especially the monarch butterfly, represents.

I’m a teacher, so the cuts in education have directly impacted our ability to serve students. We are stretched beyond thin. There are students who need services and don’t get them and they’re being hurt. I work in a very diverse school in a diverse area of the city, and there have been ICE actions nearby. My school hasn’t been directly impacted yet, but it has happened in the neighborhood, and it’s causing stress among parents and students.

Students shouldn’t have to be focusing on that right now. They should be focusing on learning and developing themselves, being interested in what they’re learning about, figuring out who they are and growing up. Instead, they are stressed and anxious about what is going on around them and what that means for them. We’re part of our local rapid response team. One of the verifiers from the group, a tall white dude on a bike, got thrown to the ground. Even the people who are providing this level of just witnessing and recording are being targeted.

–Man protesting

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No Kings Day Evanston: more voices

Evanston, Ill.—I’m here because of frustration in what’s happening in our country, overreach and illegal activities by our current government. I’m very dismayed about ICE in Chicago and Evanston and surrounding suburbs. And because of lack of funding for important things, overfunding $170 billion for border security and such. I wanted to show my eight-year-old daughter that there are a lot of people that feel we’re in kindred spirits here. We’re not the only ones that are frustrated. This is unusual what’s happening in our government, and it’s our right to speak up against it. Even an eight-year-old has morals. There’s just a lot that is crazy in the world right now, a lack of empathy. My husband and I are waiting like any second we’re going to lose our jobs. My mom wasn’t born here. Do I have to start worrying about that? Look at the way politicians are speaking about humans in need, humans with less privilege, especially people of color. We’re living with the feeling of democracy being stolen and human kindness going away.

–Asian-American woman

I wanted to protest for No Kings Day, but I’m not physically able to go to downtown Chicago. So I came to Evanston, because I work here and care about this community. I am wearing an inflatable rubber chicken costume, because the Portland frog is a brilliant idea. It’s impossible to sell a narrative that there is chaos and war and anarchy in the streets and then turn around and your video roll looks like it came off Sesame Street. Nobody looks badass handcuffing a panda, and you can’t sell us as violent terrorists when we’re dressed in chicken suits. I think what’s going on in the country is horrible. I did not grow up saying “with liberty and justice for all” in school every day to stand by. We literally had a war about this, that we are a country of laws, that it’s not just somebody making things up on the fly. That’s exactly what’s happening now. Every person in this country is eligible for due process. You can’t just randomly grab people off the street. Keep smiling, keep laughing, because joy is how we resist.

–Woman in a chicken costume

I’m here because of the lack of courage in Congress and the terrible things that are happening to the marginalized in society. The immigrant population has brought America so much, has created things here and shared them with others. My sweetheart’s been in Environmental Protection Agency for 40 years, looking after other people’s safety. I’m a proud son of a Navy family. My father was a commander in the U.S. Navy. As a 15-year-old, he joined the Lincoln Brigade in Spain to fight the fascists during the Spanish Civil War. He was a proud antifa. They lived in difficult times and politicians have not really carefully thought about anything but themselves. I’ve had enough of that. My sign says, “Stop the treason now! Congress must act now!” I think there will be something of a Nuremberg Trials. People in ICE who have hurt people need to be fully prosecuted and go to jail. They should be sat in cells having to look at a picture of the person they killed, and maybe a picture of their children or grandchildren, saying: What will you say to them? When all this went down, where were you?

–Navy veteran

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Detroit and Dearborn No Kings

Detroit—Five thousand rallied at Roosevelt Park in Detroit on No Kings Day. We represented both the city and metro area, with a crowd of young people and a good turnout of people of color. There were many signs for Palestine, and people wearing the Palestinian keffiyeh. The Michigan Coalition Against Genocide brought its message: “No Troops, No ICE, No profiling, No genocide,” building on summer-long weekly protest marches through Detroit’s busy Eastern Market. Press & Guide Michigan News reported on Sharon Jeter, who stood in the crowd with an American flag. She spoke of how she marched with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. when he visited Detroit in the 1960s. She said she came “to save America. I’ve seen so much happen, and so many things that were really bad, improve. And now we’re supposed to go back? We’re supposed to go in our corners and be quiet? I don’t think so.”

As at other rallies, there were also American flags, first-time protesters and veterans. Some people wore costumes; everyone was high-spirited and helpful to this elder revolutionary with her walker. I had a wonderful time talking to many like-minded people who were not fooled by the convicted criminal in the White House and are standing up for what is right.

The rally in Dearborn, with a theme of “joy,” drew over 1,000 mostly older white men and women, carrying signs denouncing the Trump administration on immigrant rights: “I Like My Ice Crushed,” “History Teachers Against Fascism.” “Kings Fall, People Rise.” “Who You Gonna Call? ICE-BUSTERS,” “At No Point in History Have the Good Guys Built Concentration Camps—No Fascist Regime.”

PALESTINIAN SPEAKER DEFENDED

In this city with a large Arab-American population, only two signs mentioned Palestine. But when a heckler with a bullhorn tried to drown out the speaker from the Arab-American progressive organization, protesters sang “God Bless America” as they rushed to surround him and his “Jesus is King” sign.

The speaker was undaunted. “Arab-Americans in Dearborn come from all over the world, and we know an authoritarian regime when we see it!” He reminded the crowd that he was inspired by “our siblings” from the Black Lives Matter movement and hopeful, although he led a chant: “No one is on their way to save us…it’s us!” he continued: “Ain’t no power like the power of the people ’cause the power of the people don’t stop.”

A Dearborn City Councilwoman reported that the ACLU and Arab-American Civil Rights League had taken the case of a 14-year-old girl who refused to stand for the pledge of allegiance because the U.S. is complicit in genocide. “Her teacher berated her! She was brave enough to do it again; this time the teacher humiliated her…imagine the courage it took for her to do that, not once, but twice.” The speaker concluded with a quote from James Baldwin in which he states that his love of America is the reason “I insist on the right to criticize her, perpetually.”

Indivisible, an organizer of No Kings Day, continues to request feedback and announce further activities. Although they are unlikely to look for deep revolutionary transformation, protesters know that we need to keep thinking and making some hard choices to stop fascism in America.

—Long-time Protester

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No Kings Battle Creek

Battle Creek, Mich.–Once again, the people of Battle Creek are marching against little Donnie. The last time, in June, there were about 1,000. This time, there were at least twice as many—2,000 plus.

People were lined up on both sides of Beckley Road, the main commercial corridor. There were many different signs people had self-made. Many American flags. People chanted from time to time.

I didn’t notice as many people flipping the bird as the last time as they drove by. One idiot in a big ol’ Ford pickup kept on buzzing the crowd, loudly accelerating as he went back and forth. The cops pulled him over and he stopped.

I went to the east end of the picket line and, just like last time, found one Trump supporter there all by his lonesome. I talked to him for a few minutes. He was about my age, not unfriendly, even admitting he didn’t like Trump personally.

Later, I walked to the west end of the protest line and found one other Trumper. He got into some sort of verbal confrontation with an anti-little lord donnie roy trump, and then walked away.

All in all, people were well-behaved. I didn’t see anybody doing a wheelie on their motorcycle halfway down Beckley like the last time. It was a festive affair about a serious subject.

In addition to this, there were a number of rallies in small towns north, south, east, and west of Battle Creek. If this many people are marching here in Battle Creek and surrounding conservative communities, TACO is in trouble.

And then there is Epstein.

–Little Brother

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No Kings Los Angeles photos

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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No Kings Memphis photos