See also Police attack Memphis No Kings march

Chicago

Around 200,000 people came out for the third No Kings march and rally in downtown Chicago on March 28. Not quite as many as the last one in October, but that is because there were so many more localized events in dozens of Chicago neighborhoods and suburbs. Those were not only easier for people to get to, they were also more conducive to getting to know your neighbors as a basis for future organizing, discussion, and activity.

MULTIPLE CHICAGO AREA DEMONSTRATIONS

At the demonstration in Evanston, 13 miles north, I saw thousands of people passionately engaged. The police gave a lowball estimate of 2,500-3,000, but one demonstrator told me that the march took 20 minutes to pass by where she was sitting. It was timed so that participants could hop on the el afterwards and still make it to downtown Chicago in time for that march. As at many events nationwide, a self-organized Singing Resistance group helped lift our spirits. All generations and all races were there, although it skewed older. The youth presence has consistently been much bigger at the downtown Chicago protests, as have the calls to end the genocide in Palestine and the war on Iran.

In addition to the welter of handmade signs, many with striking artwork, one element that hit you hard was the row of dozens of headshot portraits of people who were either killed directly by immigration agents or died in their custody, mostly in their notoriously brutal concentration camps. The number of deaths in those camps already broke the previous record. It is climbing weekly but by the day of the protest it was 46 since Trump was reinstalled.

A very different record was broken, according to organizers: the events were held on the same day in 3,300 locations in the U.S., plus several more in other countries. They were held on every continent—yes, even Antarctica, where scientists wrote “NO KINGS” in the snow. The tariffed penguins on Heard and McDonald Islands could not be reached for comment. Organizers estimated that eight million people joined the events, the biggest single-day turnout since Earth Day 1970.

The No Kings events are deliberately decentralized and not focused on specific demands, so that anyone could quickly set up local protests. That approach was seen as vindicated by the size and spread of events, and their continuing growth since the first ones in February 2025. It allowed space for many, many different issues and ideas to be raised. For example, in Evanston two Palestinian flags and a large sign reading “Not my tax dollars to criminal Israel” were prominently placed near the stage, even though the main sponsoring group, Indivisible Evanston, has not been open to people who wanted No Kings events to express opposition to the Israeli genocide in Gaza.

MANY QUESTIONS

At the same time, there has been a lot of discussion about inadequacies of the basic approach. The only universal agreement here is on the true statement that Trump is a monster who wants to be the richest dictator at the cost of countless lives. But what about all the institutions, organizations, and social structures that enabled him to rise to the position that put him on that path? How do we get from a welter of seemingly unrelated issues to a unifying idea of what we are up against—and not only on what we need to fight against but what are we for? What kind of new situation do we need in order to have a free and truly human society? What kind of social transformation and new society do we need? These discussions are crucial to have, and these events can be a catalyst through which ideas and individuals can develop.

There is another current of discussion from jaded leftists who dismiss No Kings altogether because even a huge demonstration of 10 million is not going to bring down Trump and abolish capitalism. Or they dismiss No Kings because many of the organizing groups are tied to the Democratic Party, which has been less than impressive in resisting Trump and has participated in many of the atrocities he has expanded—from anti-immigration politics to building the prison-industrial complex, to supporting wars abroad. The truth is that no one event and no one tactic is going to be the revolution. But it is through various kinds of struggles and other events that people activate themselves, get involved, learn about new ideas, develop themselves, and organize with others. Movements do not start out of a pure idea but rather start out of a first negation, a refusal, and then they must be built, not only through organizing bodies but through the battle of ideas.

No Kings at the very least brings out for everyone to see the tremendous breadth of opposition to Trump and Trumpism, and the passion that is brewing from big cities to rural areas, even where the pundits paint them red. It can also be a step toward building a much deeper, much more radical movement. Let’s work on that together.

–Franklin Dmitryev

Evanston, Ill.

I came to No Kings because I just care too much about people and I hate everything I’m seeing. It started when ICE came to Evanston. It hit home long before that, though. In 2016 I watched half my family go to the bad side and it’s been personally difficult. I’ve been fighting this since the Bush years, with my father and everybody, and it’s all become very real now. It’s affecting my neighbors. I’m doing whatever I can, showing up wherever I can.

You’ve got moms and kids afraid to get groceries, afraid to go to school. Kids in my kids’ classes, so it’s literally neighbors affected and afraid. I got involved pretty quickly in Sanctuary Evanston, in all the rapid response, in the community cares groups. It’s everybody. Neighbors helping neighbors, 100%. When you dig below the surface of everyday life and smiles, it’s kind of everybody is doing something, and that’s awesome in a town like this. I just love this town too much. It’s been my home where I never really felt like I had a home. 

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This is my second time at No Kings. I don’t like kings. I don’t like monarchies. I love democracy. And that’s what brought me to No Kings. And to express my solidarity as well, with people like you, like all these people around here. I think that the demonstration itself is a clear indication that the government is going in the wrong direction. That wannabe king doesn’t know anything about politics or American history. He shouldn’t be there.

The war on Iran is just disgusting. When are we going to stop war? Every other year there is another war. People don’t understand the full impact of war on the economy and on the psyche of the American people. Roads are falling apart, farmers don’t have food to feed people, no healthcare for a lot of people. And yet, we are spending billions on war and are also spreading hate towards American people. I just came back from Spain and Portugal. People are disgusted there with what we are doing, especially when there is no clear indication that Iran is an imminent danger to America. That’s why I’m here to express my disgust. It’s not just no king, it’s no racist king.

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Every day, I see the laws and the constitutional rights of all of us citizens trampled without any hesitation or regard. As an attorney, I have to be here to make my presence known. I believe in due process. That may not be the case with the administration. It doesn’t mean it’s not the case with those of us who practice the law. It needs to be adhered to, and every day it’s not. Warrantless arrest and apprehension of people on the street is just a blatant violation of the fourth amendment. So that’s why I’m here.

San Francisco Bay Area

Oakland, Calif.—The March 28 No Kings rally in Oakland drew more than 20,000 people! It was only one of more than 60 demonstrations in the San Francisco Bay Area, with the crowds in San Francisco and San Jose estimated at 100,000 and 10,000 respectively. Even places which Trump carried in the election saw people coming out to protest in their neighborhoods, though I spoke with several who came from those areas to Oakland’s rally.

There were many, many families with small, medium and almost grown-up children. But there were also a large number of much older people, marching with canes or in wheelchairs. The youth participation was very spirited, with not just shouted slogans, horns and other noisemakers, but several performing bands and singing choirs either marching with us, or standing along the route and singing for/with those who stopped for a minute. Others used their soap bubble makers in profusion to lift the spirits (as well as perhaps help cool down the marchers, as it was an unusually hot day in Oakland).

Most of the signs were handmade. People were not just opposing Trump and his various wars at home and abroad, they were actively reaching for an alternative. “Regime change begins at home,” and “Be the change you want to see” were some of the themes in the march. Labor and LGBTQ+ issues were raised by many, as were the diverse nationalities in Oakland uniting against this nightmare we’re living.

Just before heading out to the rally, I spoke with one of my family members who had never to my knowledge participated in any rally. He wanted to know why people go to them. I told him that they go for many reasons, but I go because I want to talk to people about not stopping at opposing what is, that’s it’s not just a question of de-throning Trump, but thinking deeper about how we got into this mess and what would it really take to make a difference. A demonstration will not accomplish that, but if it’s a dialogue with others, that can be a beginning. To my surprise, he responded with “I wish all people thought like you.”

–Urszula Wislanka

Detroit

There were probably 500-700 at Clark Park, where I was. Thousands more came to the one in downtown Detroit, and there were several others around the city and suburbs, and about 120 protests in Michigan overall.

One of the photos shows my sign—last-minute; my idea was to emphasize how many we represent (wider and deeper than the march itself). It says: “We march for those who cannot: immigrants; Iran dissidents, ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’; school children; unemployed; those here in spirit and imprisoned; Mother Nature; farmers.”

A man who is active in the Michigan Coalition Against Genocide reacted to “Iranian dissidents,” saying it’s hard right now—“we’re bombing Iran but we support the protesters there.” Some Lefties don’t understand “two worlds in every country,” but he was happy I put that and “Woman, Life, Freedom” on my sign.

–Susan Van Gelder

Washington, D.C.

I went by myself to a No Kings protest on the north side of Washington bordering Maryland. It seemed small compared to the ones I have attended in downtown Los Angeles, and the massive one in D.C. that started at Arlington Cemetery and ended up at the Mall. But ours stretched out for a number of blocks, where it was allowed on sidewalks only, on both sides of the street.

I chose a corner that needed more people. To my left was a white woman, probably late 70s, a retired pediatrician. Her husband had been a lawyer for the department formerly known as HEW. To my right was a Black woman, probably late 60s, retired from administrative work for an Episcopal church. The three of us acknowledged our non-stop exhaustion, and agreed that, although over the years we have seen some terrible things, the horrors we’re seeing now are above and beyond.

We also understood why some groups were barely represented among the protesters, and worried about so much gray hair and so few youth. Maybe the majority of younger protesters were at the bigger rally/march. It was a beautiful, crisp day to be outside, and it was heartening to see so many passionate and thoughtful people there. About one out of three vehicles passing us honked enthusiastically, in solidarity.

–Anna Maillon