No Kings Mental Health Monday!
Millions of Americans are feeling a glimmer of hope after the worldwide No Kings Protests over the weekend
Happy Mental Health Monday, friends! Today, we actually have some great things to take in. With the endless “breaking news” headlines and events so trashy they’re difficult to believe are real (like Trump’s AI video of him dumping shit on the American people while wearing a crown), this weekend brought light back into the lives of many Americans.
The No Kings protests on Saturday, October 18th brought in an estimated 7 MILLION people nationwide—and it’s expected that the actual numbers are much higher. Over 2,700 U.S. cities participated, along with several other countries showing their support. Some notable cities with the highest turnout are New York, Boston, and Chicago—all of which surpassed 100,000 attendees. Many smaller cities and towns in rural, majority-Republican states also had great turnout. I attended No Kings in Atlanta, Georgia, where approximately 12,000 people showed up to protest the Trump Administration and the many actions taken over the past 10 months.
From the signs and interviews with protesters, the most common issues were mass deportations, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights, constitutional violations, Palestine, and a general distaste for the President and his goon squad.
I spoke with several individuals who marched for the first time on Saturday, along with protest veterans. Throughout the U.S., participants ranged in age from young children to elderly—as old as 102! Contrary to what Republicans wanted, the protests were very peaceful with zero arrests for violence. As of today, there has only been one notable arrest of a No Kings protestor—a woman from Fairhope, Alabama who was wearing an inflatable penis suit with a sign that read “No Dick-taters.” The official reason for her arrest was “lewd conduct.” It’s almost as if they couldn’t find anything better to do. On the flip side, there were several arrests of MAGA agitators, some of whom pulled guns on peaceful protesters or threatened to run them over with their vehicles.
After a history-making turnout, millions of Americans are feeling that fire that had slowly been burning out. Being surrounded by so many loving, peaceful protesters standing up for their country and the people in it definitely revived my hope in humanity. We danced, we sang, we chanted, we listened, we marched, and we made our stance clear—this administration is destroying our democracy more and more every day, and we’re not backing down. And to Mike Johnson—we don’t hate America. We’re protesting because we LOVE America and know we’re better than what Trump is trying to make us. We believe in humanity, we believe in equality, due process, checks and balances, the constitution, and access to affordable healthcare. We believe these things apply to ALL humans, even the ones fighting against us.
To everyone who showed up, let’s keep up the work, keep speaking up for what we believe in, and keep amplifying the voices of those who are under attack. To those who couldn’t make it but wanted to, we see you. Keep doing what you can to speak up—share anything and everything on social media, have conversations with friends and family, donate to organizations. And to those who want to see us fail, we won’t. Despite Trump’s [rigged] victory last November, there are more of us than there are of you. Someday, Trump’s power will come to an end, and we will continue fighting to take America back and make it truly great for ALL.
All photos in this article were taken by yours truly <3 I hope you enjoy them as much I do.
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