No Kings, Today or Ever

I went to the No Kings demonstration in Atlanta today. I was hoping to go there with my son but he worked late last night closing his restaurant and needed more sleep in the morning. Instead, he went to the second anti-immigration policy rally.

I don’t want to call those rallies "anti-ICE" even thought that’s what they are in essence. I think it just adds to the unnecessary antagonism, fueling the ICE retaliation.

I would have gone there too but one can stand only so much of Atlanta humid heat. Besides, I read enough warnings that if you wear a musk or get too loud and close to cops they may arrest you and/or use force against you. That type of adventure is not for a 55-yo me.

So I went to the No Kings protest alone. I arrived there when it already started, around 10:30 am and saw lots of people around the Capitol. Its adjacent Liberty Plaza, the designated spot for the demonstration, is quite small and was already filled to capacity, so I just hung around on the fringes.

People were coming in and out all the time so eventually I ran into someone who was leaving and willing to give me their blue bracelet allowing access into the Liberty Plaza. I slowly moved inside, navigating my way toward the stage. There were so many people at some point I just couldn’t get closer.

Standing there, chanting "No Kings!" and "Equal Voting Rights!" and "This IS What Democracy Looks Like!" and many other slogans the speakers led gave me an incredible sense of community and belonging. There was one organizer who had all of us turning to our neighbors on the left and asking "How Are You?" and "Nice to Meet You," and the pleasantries that made people feel closer.

Standing there in an 80F heat and 80% humidity was a test on its own. Some older people felt exhausted, someone nearly fainted and was taken into the shade. People did look after each other.

I stood my one-hour shift until my water bottle was almost empty. As I was leaving the square, I gave my blue bracelet to someone else who wanted to get inside. I stood outside for a little while longer and as a large group of people with a marching band started to move to the MARTA station I joined them. I caught myself thinking I wanted to be a bird, to see this sea of humanity from above. After about 10 minutes, the marching band went inside the metro station and I went to my parked car, which was about a 10-min walk.

As I was walking toward the car, I texted back and forth with my son. He'd been at the other rally for some time and then the cops threw the tear gas grenades at the protesters, trying to force them off the street. The dispersal orders were pronounced over the megaphone and the protesters were given an order to leave immediately.

When they refused to leave, the cops started to push them physically and arrest those who resisted and those who were wearing the masks. My son managed to escape but some people were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct and resisting police. It was all over the local news, too.

According to my son, who goes to a lot of these rallies to document the "forest dwellers" movement against building a training facility dubbed "the Cop City" in Atlanta, the cops feel empowered because the majority of the Atlanta population doesn't like protesters in the streets, especially when they block the traffic. This gives the cops a reason to disperse even the peaceful non-violent protests. Here's one of the reports from today:

When I got home, I was happy to see that No Kings protests were truly national and global and millions of people came out to the streets today. That must have put at least some damper on TACO's birthday parade even though I'm sure he will try to spin it in a positive way.

And there will be more protests against the anti-immigration policies in Atlanta tomorrow.