No Kings! Des Moines
Thousands march against fascism...
I attended two No Kings! events yesterday, first in Indianola, then in Des Moines. We were among an estimated eight million people who participated in protests against the Trump administration in thousands of communities across the country.
Here in Iowa, there were an estimated 55 events planned. Indivisible Iowa posted this map of protest locations:
I wish I could have been at them all.
I did a couple of TikTok videos in Des Moines. As of about 8:00 am Sunday morning, this one has recieved nearly 6,800 views:
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This one has recieved over 5,500 views:
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The sign on the left really got to me for some reason. I started talking with the person holding the sign about it, but realized he didn’t know me, and that I am probably wound too tight and upset about it, and when his eyes widened a bit when I was talking, I just thanked him and the others and backed off, realizing that I must look a little like Rasputin without so much hair.
I took this photo of State Representative and Pastor Rob Johnson.
Des Moines City Councilman Rob Barron was there, and here is a link to his speech. So was Representaive Aime Wichtendahl, and here is a link to her speech.
This photo means a lot to me. This is my friend Ralph Young, a retired union ironworker, welding instructor, and former school board member in Johnston, who was at the rally. We were on the same wrestling team in college, and were housemates long ago.
Ralph told me that he recieved a call/text from a friend, a retired plumber who said something like, “Ralph, I can’t go to the rally because I can’t walk anymore, but I made some signs. Come get them…”
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I’m a proud member of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out our work here. I also publish Cedar Creek Nature Notes, about Violet the Dog and my adventures on our morning walks at Cedar Bluffs Natural Area in Mahaska County, Iowa.
And I’m now on TikTok, believe it or not. Here you go…I’m publishing videos and stories that you might not see here.
Thanks to the Iowans who showed up! We love you!
I find a lot of signs quite colorful and look so professionally made. It is great to see so many people out and so fortunatel not have to be working that day. We are so fortunate in America. My first thought about the signs about no war. In countries like N. Korea, China, Russia having a sign like that in those countries a person would have no days off from labor camps.