Ever wonder what 10 percent of Seattle’s population looks like?
If you came out to the No Kings rally on Saturday, you found out. An estimated 70,000 protesters gathered at Cal Anderson for a rally, where Rep. Pramila Jayapal, labor leaders, immigrant rights advocates, and federal workers all spoke. “This is gonna require a lot of us. We have to adjust ourselves. We have to dig even more deeply,” Jayapal said. “I’m not ashamed to say I’ve got moments of fear. Of course I do, and so do you. But you and I are more than afraid. We are furious.”
After the speeches, the rally snaked down Pine St., spanning almost two miles from end-to-end. The “No Kings” branding was strong, but less memorable than Seattle’s handmade signs: “I hate big crowds up I hate fascism more;” “ICE=Gestapo (btw that’s bad);” “Aspire to live like a Tsar, plan to go out like one.” One woman carried a head on a bloody pike wearing a rubber pig mask, crown and blonde wig.
It’s true that the Hands Off and No Kings marches are easy and accessible. They’re not radical whatsoever. At the same time, they’re undeniable evidence at least 5 million Americans find Trump’s policies intolerable: Americans head-to-toe in black, with keffiyehs around their necks, in yoga pants, or with children on their hips, all acting as a single counterpoint to Trump’s failed show of authoritarian military power in Washington DC. Crowds were so sparse and quiet the squeak of tank wheels could be heard on livestreams of the parade.
Now, if the marches really are just a pretext to raise funds for a toothless Democratic party, or these signs are left to collect dust like all the pink hats from the record-breaking Women’s March, they very well may be meaningless. But they can also act as an invitation for people to do more than show up once, post on their Instagram story, and call it a day. Marches like this are nice, but they’re the beginning of resistance, not the end.
From a stage at Cal Anderson, King Youngblood’s Cameron Lavi-Jones told the crowd voting in local elections could help protect their neighbors, but their “presence cannot just stop at the polls.”
“For those that are able—we need you to show up and disrupt the spaces where injustices are taking place in front of our eyes. Including the rallies and protests that are not as comfortable as this one,” the 26-year-old rock musician said.
One of those protests was happening 10 miles south of the park: In Tukwila, protesters made a blockade across the facility’s exits out of homemade shields, no parking signs and their own bodies, hoping to keep two immigrants from being taken into detention in Tacoma. Around 3 pm, Tukwila police and the ICE SWAT team used at least two different types of chemical weapons on the small crowd in order to break through.
As the march made its way from Cal Anderson to Seattle Center, Marsha, 78, told The Stranger she was visiting family in Seattle from Tuscon, and joined the march. Before No Kings, the last two protests she’d been to were the 2017 Women’s March, and Selma. “What’s happening is appalling,” she said, “that you arrest and trample on the rights of the poorest people, the people that have the least resources, and that you demonize them.”
Daniel, a chef, showed up because he isn’t able to keep his employees safe. He says he feels powerless, but “I feel like if we unite as people we could do more.”
Hibi, a Somali immigrant who came to the US as a young child, and has lived in Seattle for more than a decade. “Once he left office, we felt like things were going to get better,” she says. But she wasn’t too surprised when he was reelected. She and her immediate family are documented, and have been for years, but she says two family friends were detained at the Tukwila ICE office less than two weeks earlier. They came to the US seeking asylum, she says. “I’m not really hopeful a lot will change,” she says. “But I’m hoping.”
Nationwide, the ACLU estimated that some 5 million people marched in all 50 states. Most were lowkey and peaceful, but there was still a backdrop of violence across the country.
Earlier that morning, a gunman approached two state lawmakers’ homes wearing a latex mask and a police uniform. He shot and killed former Democratic State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark; He also shot Democratic State Senator John A. Hoffman and his wife, Yvette, who both survived. When Boelter was arrested, authorities found a list of about 70 potential targets, including politicians, civic and business leaders, and Planned Parenthood centers. In Utah, a man entered the crowd with what appeared to be an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle, and when armed “peacekeepers” fired at him, they shot and killed a bystander, 39-year-old fashion designer Arthur Folasa Ah Loo. And in Texas, law enforcement arrested one person connected with a credible threat of violence against local politicians that planned to attend the No Kings march in Austin, the state capitol.
Meanwhile, federal law enforcement cracked down on anti-ICE protests. In Los Angeles, police fired flash bangs and tear gas into protesting crowds, and at federal buildings in the city, US Marines guarded federal buildings with rifles, and ICE SWAT teams reportedly tackled at least one protester to the ground.
Stranger Staff Writer Vivian McCall contributed reporting.
