This post was originally published on Medium, on June 20th.
On June 14, “No Kings” protests happened around the country on the same day as a military parade was scheduled to occur in Washington DC with the stated purpose of celebrating the US Army’s 250 birthday. It was also President Donald Trump’s birthday.
Which led many to believe that the military parade was actually happening because Trump wanted a military parade; And, the coinciding of his birthday with the US Army’s was a good pretense for Trump to use to get the military parade he had previously wanted but had been unable to make materialize. The events were planned by a broad coalition of organizations including 50501 and Indivisible.
The “No Kings” protest in Gresham started with a rally outside Gresham City Hall at 10:00 and after opening speeches, marched up the sidewalks around 10:30 on Eastman Parkway, turned left to walk alongside Burnside Rd, crossed the street at Civic Dr and walked back up to Eastman Parkway to return to the plaza next to Gresham City Hall for closing speeches before the event wrapped up after 12:00 PM. Organizers estimate that at least a thousand people showed up for the Gresham protest.
There were speeches delivered by a variety of politicians and individuals connected to various Democratic organizations including: Oregon State Representative, Zach Hudson; the chairperson of the Multnomah County Democrats, Salome Chimuku; and Heather Coleman Cox, who founded Multnomah East Indivisible (which organized the event) after the previous April 5th “Hands Off” event and was recently elected to the Gresham Barlow School Board.
In her opening statements, Heather Coleman Cox described the protest as being about rejecting “the idea that one man can rule unchecked.” They continued, “we will not stand by while the foundations of our sacred democracy our torn down.” They argued that after recent overreaches of executive power by Donald Trump (including the Federalizing of the California National Guard in response to clashes between federal officials and protesters that followed from immigration related raids of local businesses and the detainment of, David Huerta, President of the California SEIU) a federalized national guard might eventually come to Oregon. Coleman told the crowd that the current protest was following in the footsteps of the civil rights movement and that American principles of democracy, justice and equality were being eroded. To address this, she said that the people would be the moral compass that would address injustice when elected officials fail to uphold them. She told protesters they were there “protesting to reclaim the soul of our democracy.” She concluded her opening statement by emphasizing that the protests were intended to be a “peaceful, nonviolent, rally.”
Catherine Caruso, a former US Forest Service employee and former US Army National Guard veteran, led demonstrators in the pledge of allegiance.
Rep. Zach Hudson performed a decently long limerick styled poem about Donald Trump. And then rolled off a list of characteristics of fascism he argued demonstrated the ways Trump has embraced fascism. He then referenced the “this machine kills fascists” sticker that was on Woody Guthrie’s Guitar before he performed a cover of his song “All You Fascists Bound to Lose” in which he referenced JD Vance and Donald Trump.
The march up Burnside began shortly after.
When they returned to the plaza next to Gresham City Hall after the march, Salome Chimuku, the chairperson of the Multnomah County Democrats, gave an impassioned speech where she said that people should be uncomfortable with recent actions taken by the federal government against immigrant and refugee communities: “No, we should not be comfortable as they are kidnapping our community members and taking them up to Tacoma without due process,” she said. Which seems to be a reference to an asylum seeker who was detained by ICE officials outside an immigration court in Portland and almost 1,500 others detained inside an ICE detainment facility in Tacoma, Wa. She urged the protesters to continue to resist attacks against marginalized communities and progressive leaders because, she said “The moment you are silent is the day that they come for the person who was going to protect you,” she said.
She also criticized the media for not covering the Gresham “No Kings” event which she described as an attempt to create a narrative that people in Gresham where not opposed to the actions of the Trump administration. She said that those in attendance “should be proud to let people know that there are people here [in Gresham] who say no, who continue to say, ‘this is not good enough.’”
KGW listed the Gresham rally as a part of their coverage of the “No Kings” protests happening across Oregon. The local newspaper The Gresham Outlook’s only reporter, Christopher Keizur, was attending Mt. Hood Community College’s graduation ceremony during the protest and has since published a short article on the event.
The next speaker was Juliette Kudrick, who recently finished working for State Rep. Zach Hudson as part of a program with Portland State University. She said that Donald Trump wanted to make the county one for “wealthy elites while the rest of us can go hungry and homeless.” And that, “Donald Trump [is wasting] our money on a birthday parade for himself, all while he slashes funding for Medicaid and food stamps.” (also called SNAP: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)
Kudrick says that autocracy is fundamentally opposed to principles of American democracy: “we do not believe in monarchs or tyrants we believe in democracy.”
Kudrick said she felt hopeful during the rally and that, “it is hope that inspires us to demonstrate, to fight against the status quo and to take a stand against wannabe dictators!”
The last speaker, KC Hansen, (a former chair of The Democratic Party of Oregon) celebrated the birthday of the US Army and the American flag, and mocked Trump’s. She said that the President was weaponizing the American flag to divide people from one another. She described the American flag as a symbol embodying “aspiration hope and [a] coming together of many people for a greater cause,” which she says aligns with the goals of the “No Kings” protest. And that to her, “love of country means loving our neighbors.”
Note: I canvassed for Rep. Zach Hudson in the lead up to the 2024 November election.