Protesters at a “No Kings” rally Saturday in downtown Naperville brought with them a long list of reasons they oppose President Donald Trump’s administration as they pushed for a country governed with due process and democracy, not what they see as fear, hatred and authoritarianism.
Carrying their concerns on their signs, many cited opposition to Trump’s actions and policies on such issues such as health care, immigration, diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, and mobilization of federal forces in U.S. cities.
Lynne Rowe, a Lisle resident, carried a posterboard reading, “All of my outrage can’t fit on this sign.” She stood next to Tamara Kinn, of Downers Grove, whose sign read “Yes! Peace. Yes, love. No kings.”
“I’m here because I feel like it’s my duty,” Kinn said.
With a crowd that appeared to number in the thousands, organizers conducted a half-hour program of speeches about the need for due process, a lawful government and a public willing to speak out.
“When regular people show up … we become something extraordinary. We become a community that refuses to be ruled by fear or by ego,” protest co-organizer Emily Cummings said. “This is not about politics. It is about social justice, it is about fairness, it is about accountability and the simple idea that no one — no one — is above the law.”
After speaking at his first No Kings rally of the day earlier in Geneva, 11th District U.S. Rep. Bill Foster, a Naperville Democrat, took the microphone and attempted to summarize the crowd’s varied concerns.
“Donald Trump has done a lot of things to our democracy that many people are pretty pissed about,” Foster said, drawing a round of cheers. “So tell me, are you pissed?”
Foster described protesters’ concerns as “thousands of outrages” forming a “wonderful panoply of messages” and said by raising them in the public square, participants were “keeping the true spirit of America alive.”
As he and like-minded legislators work “to strengthen our democracy,” Foster said, all of the issues on protesters’ signs — things like protecting the rule of law, believing in scientific research and improving public health — are “on our to-do list,” he said.
Meanwhile, DuPage County Republicans were largely paying the No Kings protests no mind, party Chairman Kevin Coyne, of Naperville, said.
“It’s a yawn. I don’t think anyone in the Republican party takes (the rallies) very seriously. It seems to us that they just protest to protest — to insult communities and insult the police. It has no effect. It’s just noise.”
As protesters began a march from the Naperville Municipal Center to the Washington Street bridge about 12:45 p.m., organizers advised participants to stay on the sidewalk and not engage with agitators or counterprotesters. By 1:10 p.m., organizers asked anyone who had not marched yet to remain at the Municipal Center, but participants kept walking, chanting and drumming, sometimes drawing beeps of support from passing drivers.
At least seven police officers in protective attire, some with large backpacks of gear, and one whose pack read K9 unit, stood on the Municipal Center plaza and began to walk with some of the protesters along their route.
Naperville police said they prepared in advance to have an adequate presence to keep participants and the public safe. Protest organizers also employed safety marshals in orange or yellow vests to help keep things orderly.
The crowd at the Naperville protest — one of eight planned for Saturday in Foster’s legislative district alone and one of thousands scheduled across the nation — also included some children, including one boy with a sign reading, “I didn’t grow up listening to punk rock to bow down to a dictator.”
Many protesters brought with them a historical perspective, comparing current events to troubling times in the past. Donna Sack, who is retired from the Naper Settlement historical museum, was one of them, carrying a sign with a red-and-blue painted heart and the words, “Protest is Patriotic.”
“I think down the road, people are going to think these protests were extremely significant to holding democracy in place,” Sack said. “This is how we protect democracy, and I’m all in.”
Marie Wilson is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
