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AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman.
An estimated 7 million people took part in “No Kings” rallies Saturday across the United States to protest President Trump’s embrace of authoritarianism. Organizers say protests were held in 2,600 villages, hamlets, towns, cities across all 50 states, in what was one of the largest days of protest in U.S. history, surpassing the 5 million in the first No Kings day of action in June.
In Chicago, the protest stretched for two miles as about a quarter of a million people took to the street. Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson called for a general strike in his address.
An estimated 200,000 people rallied in Washington, D.C. The metro area of Washington, D.C., has the highest concentration of federal workers furloughed and fired. An estimated 200,000 people were in the nation’s capital.
ANTHONY LEE: My name is Anthony Lee. I’m from Woodlawn, Maryland. I’m a member of National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 22 that represents employees at the Food and Drug Administration. I’m here today because we shouldn’t have kings in America and to stand up for our democracy, to get our services back, to make sure that what’s been happening in this country, that someone stands up to it, stops it and makes a change.
I’m currently furloughed. I’m a federal employee at the FDA. Myself and hundreds of our employees there are furloughed. We want to work. We want to get back to work, to getting back to doing the job that we were hired to do, to protect and promote the health and safety of the American public. And so, employees are now going without a paycheck, struggling to figure out how they’re going to make ends meet, how they’re going to pay for their bills, and uncertain about their future in the federal government.
KATHLEEN ROMIG: My name is Kathleen Romig, and I formerly worked at the Social Security Administration. … Well, we’re asking Congress to stand up. They have the power of the purse. They have oversight control over all of these important federal programs, including Social Security. And we’re asking them to be the coequal branch of government that they really should be and to push back against something that all their constituents and voters rely upon.
KATHLEEN: I’m Kathleen. I’m from Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. And I’m here because we got to get ICE out of the streets.
SOPHIA: I’m Sophia. I’m from Massachusetts. I’m here from UNC-Chapel Hill visiting my friend. And I’m here because I am a big supporter of women’s rights, women’s reproductive freedom, abortion, etc.
KATHLEEN: There’s a really big Latin community back home. And it’s really affected our city, because, honestly, the immigrants run our city. Like, the only reason everything works, the restaurants, like everything, is because of the immigrants, and we need them in America.
PAUL OSADEBE: I’m Paul Osadebe. I’m a resident of D.C. And I’m here because I’m a federal worker who’s furloughed, who’s been fired under this administration, and whose agency had been shut down way before the current shutdown. So, I’m here to make sure that we make our voices heard, because federal workers want to work. We want to serve the people. That’s what I came here to do. We were already not being allowed to do that. So, we need to change things up. We need to make it clear that we can’t have an authoritarian government, a government that’s turned into nothing but a weapon, because that’s what it seems like is happening right now.
PROTESTER: I’m from the U.S. I’m a U.S. citizen, originally from India. And I’m here today because I think that governing by fear is a really bad idea. I think that we’re not getting our voices out there. And if you think about how social change actually happens, it happens through collective action. And I really believe in this. And though I was scared to come here because of the threats, the quite overt threats coming from the other side, I’m very happy to be here, and I really felt it was important to be here.
I mean, if you look at the actual polls, we are not divided the way they’re trying to present at all. We care about the same things. We care about affordable healthcare. We care about affordable education. We care about a living wage. We care about fair housing and affordable housing. And those are things that unite us, not divide us. So I think it’s super important for us to be out here and to demand a government that represents us and not the billionaires.
CAROLINE: I’m Caroline. I’m from Reston, Virginia. And when I hear the Republicans start calling protesters “terrorists,” it got my blood boiling. I cannot believe that they are trying to squash our First Amendment, along with everything else that they’re doing to America.
And my other sign is “I want my democracy back.” We’re all looking for a little bit of hope, because we’re all very distressed at what’s happening to our democracy. They’re stripping away our rights, left and right, and the rule of law is just disappearing, like the pardon he gave to George Santos last night. As long as you’re Republican, he’ll let you go. If you’re not, then he puts you in jail.
So, I’m very terrified about what’s happening to the U.S. right now. And being here, it’s with like-minded people, and it’s hopefully together we can make our thoughts known and to put up some protest to what’s happening. We’re losing our democracy.
AMY GOODMAN: Voices from the streets of the No Kings protest in Washington, D.C., that has the highest concentration, the D.C. metro area, of furloughed and fired federal workers. This was one of some 2,600 rallies nationwide. Special thanks to Jaisal Noor.
