Guest Commentary | No Kings rally – I was there
In the days leading up to the No Kings protest rallies, I was not sure what to expect. Social media comment threads were rife with disparaging comments ranging from calling protesters rioters to some not-so-veiled statements of desire to run them over.
Given that this is sleepy Southwest Florida, I did not expect any riots or vehicle strikes, or even much of a turnout. I figured that it would be few dozen people holding signs on the corner, which is what typically passes for protest in this area.
As I drove south on U.S. 41 and approached the entrance to Bell Tower, at first it looked like just that, just some people with signs. I pulled into the parking lot and drove around, seeing that there were more people than I expected. But it was not until after I parked and walked over that I started to get a sense of how big this was.
I walked the length of the protest, which was mostly on the east side of U.S. 41, though a number of people had crossed to the west side. It ran from Bell Tower Road across Daniels Parkway to Electronics Road, next to the Barnes & Noble, more than half a mile.
Though it was anger at the policies and actions of Donald Trump that brought people there, there was a lot of positive energy at the site. People had different reasons to be there. Some carried flags of Mexico, Honduras, El Salvador, the Dominican Republic, and Cuba in protest of immigration policy. Some flew rainbow flags in support of the LGBTQ community. There was support for Ukraine. Some had signs and other visuals directed at Trump himself, with images of him as a king, in keeping with the protest’s theme. But the unity of purpose produced the energy among the diverse crowd.
This was bolstered by the support from passing motorists, which was for me the biggest surprise of the day. At nearly every moment of the rally, motorists honked their horns, waved, and gave thumbs-up gestures to the crowds.
There was also very little opposition, another surprise. One man in a red “Make America Great Again” hat walked around the crowd holding his phone out and trying to start debates with people. Another had a megaphone and large sign calling for people to come to Jesus, implying that the crowd was not Christian — though I should add that I passed a priest participating in the rally at one point.
It also bears mentioning the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Highway Patrol comported themselves professionally and with courtesy. Deputies were handing out water and ice in the hot sun. The only thing close to a police action was deputies and troopers clearing a space for paramedics to treat an elderly protester who was overheated.
This is an important point because in other parts of the country, there were some law enforcement leaders making escalatory statements that included threats to shoot rioters. But there was no conflict with law enforcement at this rally, which is a credit to Sheriff Carmine Marceno and his deputies as well as the rally participants themselves.
In all, the rally was a success in that the participants got their message out peacefully and visibly. It was a demonstration that Lee County is not a monolith, and that local politicians should pay attention.
Editor’s note: The Breeze reached out to several No Kings participants for a “we were there” perspective. We asked that the contributions be from a “journalist type” viewpoint. We received one response which we are sharing on this week’s opinion pages along with unsolicited letters to the editor on the nationwide event. Dave Montrose reported for The Breeze from April 2005-April 2007.