Dear Editor,
Recently, Joe Schaller wrote a Letter to the editor, painting the March 28 “No Kings” demonstrators as Communist and Socialist. As one of the demonstrators there, I feel qualified to set the record straight. I saw no signs espousing either a communist or a socialist point of view.
Typical sign messages displayed by the demonstrators included:
NO KINGS since 1776
Mom & Dad, did you vote?
It’s a Pretty Day to say F*** ICE
Trump Regime is like the KKK
Signs of Fascism
Using the Military against Civilians is Fascism.
No Kings, No Nazis, No Racist Beliefs
My own sign read: “War is the Greatest of All Crimes, yet there is no Aggressor who does not color his Crime with the pretext of Justice.”
The organizer, using a megaphone at one point, said, “It’s not the love of power, it’s the power of love” and “Freedom not Fascism.”
I asked the organizer to explain the demonstration’s purpose. This was her response:
“I’m here today because of the Trump Administration. Every day it’s something new. Today, it’s his starting this War in Iran. But the list goes on and on. And all these people are here to make use of their First Amendment Right to demonstrate peacefully, and that’s what we’re doing. They are protesting peacefully, and they are protesting joyfully, and we are so proud that they all turned up and they are all here.”
She pointed to a demonstrator from Boston who, while traveling, said she had heard of the demonstration and had delayed her trip long enough to join it. And the organizer then said there were people here from Wisconsin, Utah, and Iowa. “We hope somebody is listening.”
The demonstrator next to me said he is from Iowa and was just passing through on his way to visit friends in Phoenix. He said he “thought that we would spend a few hours in Gallup to express our opinion.”
Sincerely,
Mike Daly
Gallup citizen
