Dearborn No Kings rally held at Henry Ford Centennial Library

 

By SUE SUCHYTA

Times-Herald Newspapers

DEARBORN – Protestors gathered outside Henry Ford Centennial Library for a No Kings rally the afternoon of March 28, displaying signs along Michigan Avenue and hearing speakers at the Veterans Park and War Memorial.

Signs bore messages criticizing President Donald Trump and his policies, Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions, and encouraged evoking the 25th Amendment, which addresses presidential succession and disability, with both angry and clever slogans.

Signs read, “ICE melts under heat – spring is coming,” “No crown for a clown,” “Hitler 2.0 has got to go,” “No war,” “No faux king way,” “Hate won’t make us great,” and “When injustice becomes law resistance becomes duty.”

Detroit City Councilmember Denzel McCampell said communities need federal funding for things that they need, like health care, and they don’t need “a rogue force terrorizing people.”

“We don’t want our free speech and civil rights trampled on, but we actually want equity, equality and inclusion for everyone,” he said. “We want no kings, no ICE, no war, and we want our communities to be funded.”

Dearborn Democratic Club member Laura Dudgeon said all parties, not just Democrats, are welcome to fight “the fascist pedophile.”

“Let the public know we are united against fascism,” she said.

The Rev. Rachel Kain of Good Shepherd United Methodist Church of Dearborn said people at the rally are showing up for the right reasons.

“Showing up for love of neighbor, showing up because they care about how people are being treated in this country, showing up because they believe in the promise we were all taught when we were little kids, about what this country is actually supposed to look like,” she said. “Showing up because they won’t stand for war, and they won’t stand for neighbors being harmed.”

Kain said there are many things that she as a pastor and a Christian feel are wrong.

“Everywhere you can think of in the Bible, God asks us to ‘do justice, to walk humbly,’ and that’s it,” she said. “And to love God and love our neighbor.”

Former City Councilmember Leslie Herrick said it is exciting to know that there are people across the country, not just in Dearborn, sharing the same messages of peace, love and welcoming, and against tyranny and kings, rulers who don’t take into consideration the will of the people, as written into the U.S. Constitution.

“We are standing up for social justice, human rights, immigrant rights, and women’s rights,” she said. “I think the main thing is just making sure that the democracy that was laid out in our U.S. Constitution 250 years ago, that the Founding Fathers had the vision to lay a foundation where they didn’t believe we should have a king, and they had good reason for it, and we are fighting to protect that.” 

Herrick said people have come to the United States from around the world for 250 years looking for a place they could call home and where they could feel welcome and safe, and where they had a voice.

“Collectively our voices are stronger than any one of us alone, but any one of our voices should be heard, and I don’t think they are being heard,” she said.

Herrick said that the voices of the attendees were as important as the elected officials who spoke to the crowd.

“It’s the people out there, the people in wheelchairs and with canes, and people with their children that all have this shared concern for our country,” she said. “They might have different reasons for being here, but everyone here is concerned about leadership in our country right now, and we need to speak up and say we can’t tolerate having one voice – no kings – and being overshadowed by that one voice.”

Dearborn Democratic Club President Sami Khaldi said it was good to see so many people attending the rally and sending the message that they are all concerned about what is happening to the country and its democracy.

“We want to send this clear message that we are all united, and whatever they are doing and making decisions on their own without going back to the people who are elected by the people, this is a message that we want to send clearly, that the democracy and the power should be in the hands of the people,” he said.

Roberta Kennedy, a member of the Michigan Democratic Party, said she can’t wait for the elections in November for change to occur and to help ensure a brighter future and “be free again.”

“Right now, it feels like we are not the free country we are meant to be,” she said. “But seeing everyone here it is always uniting, and it feels great to be with everyone, and the sense of community.”

Kennedy said that in addition to the abuses of ICE, people fear losing the right to vote, and having a president who is going to protest our free and fair elections.

“I feel like we need to keep fighting for our free elections and our right to vote,” she said.

Protestor Paul Bruce said he was really happy with the turnout at the rally.

“It’s so good to know so many people are on the same page, and that all of these people have come out because they believe that diversity and equality and inclusion are important American values, and that we can create a better world, a better society with that,” he said. “Everybody seems to be so supportive of the idea of getting big money out of politics, because a few billionaires should not be able to rule the world or a country, and that is a really big theme.”

Bruce said he was also pleased to see how many people are tired of the antics of a president who likes to bully people with ICE agents, and that has to end.