No Kings Day March on Bainbridge Draws an Enthusiastic Crowd. Resistance is “Not” Futile, At Least For This One Day! Eight Million Protested Nationally!

Back in the 1970s, original Saturday Night Live cast members Dan Ackroyd, Jane Curtin and Laraine Newman donned flashy capes and pointy-head gear and performed a hysterical sketch – over several seasons – playing the now endearing “Coneheads”.  They were essentially Extraterrestrial beings who crashed landed on Earth after a failed attempt to take it over.

One of the sketches, or maybe more than one – you can find them on You Tube – used the rather famous throwaway line, “Resistance is Futile” when they came across humans who were a bit put off by their appearance. Most normal folks might look at trying to resist a sticky situation as too futile to fight back. But that attitude doesn’t play well on Bainbridge Island, where the word “resistance” – in many forms – is becoming part of the everyday lexicon. Apparently, Islanders are not afraid of Coneheads.

On a beautiful spring morning – that one might call a Blue Bird Day – this past Saturday, March 28, thousands of islanders gathered together on the walking and biking path that connects Grow Avenue to lower Shepard Way in Downtown Winslow. The crowd was enthusiastic; the signs being carried were poignant; and the noise level, music and chatter was almost palpable. Organizers estimated the crowd to be more than 2,500 people, but it looked larger to the naked eye.

The local event joined thousands of similar happenings across the country in what was being anticipated as” the largest non-violent protest in America’s history,” according to Stephen Hubbard, one the organizers of Indivisible Bainbridge. “To make it clear: In America, we don’t do Kings.”

The gathering dubbed “Bainbridge Island Says NO KINGS & we will WALK OUR TALK” included a peaceful sidewalk procession, and live music, “as families, friends, and neighbors, connected,” Hubbard said. Some neighborhood and community groups organized themselves and walked together. The procession wended its way up Grow Avenue to Wyatt Way, where it turned right and marched to Madison Avenue by the small roundabout. Marchers then walked down to Winslow Way and converged at the busy intersection of Highway 305 and our main drag.

No formal program was held, just friends, neighbors and acquaintances sharing their stories and, in many cases their frustration with how the Trump Administration is handling a whole host of issues, ranging from the economy, immigration, and inflation to the Epstein files and United States’ aggression abroad.

In bigger cities across the country, celebrities like Bruce Springsteen, Jane Fonda, Sen. Bernie Sanders, Robert DeNiro, Jimmy Kimmel and Jamie Lee Curtis were involved directly at events, or via social media.

Addressing crowds of protesters in Minneapolis, Springsteen said, via Vanity Fair Magazine, “The power and the solidarity of the people of Minneapolis, Minnesota was an inspiration to the entire country. Your strength and commitment told us that this is still America, and this reactionary nightmare and these invasions of American cities will not stand.”

For its part, the Trump administration has downplayed the political relevance of this movement, added Vanity Fair.  In a statement, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson wrote “The only people who care about these Trump derangement therapy sessions are the reporters, who are paid to cover them.” The National Republican Congressional Committee was equally dismissive, with spokesperson Maureen O’Toole saying, “These Hate America Rallies are where the far-left’s most violent, deranged fantasies get a microphone.”

While admittedly Bainbridge Island is somewhat of a Democratic Party stronghold, The Island Wanderer was not able to find a single sign in favor of Trump policies at Saturday’s local No Kings rally.

“Our work continues in big cities and small towns around this country, and we will not back down to President Trump’s continued abuse of power,” said Ezra Levin and Leah Greenberg, co-founders of Indivisible, the organizing group behind the nationwide No Kings rallies.  “There will be regular opportunities in the coming days and weeks to take action with No Kings and we will be regularly sharing community rights resources.”

“Authoritarians want us to believe resistance is futile, but every person who turned out (on Saturday) proved the opposite,” Levin and Greenberg added. “This movement isn’t about a single protest; it’s about a growing chorus of Americans who refuse to be ruled. Trump may want a crown, but in this country, there are no kings.” Nevertheless, according to national media reports, at least 8 million people demonstrated at some 3,300 events nationally, making Saturday’s event the largest protest in American history.

Indivisible began in late 2016 after the former congressional staffers came together to write The Indivisible Guide, a practical guide for newly engaged civic activists to take action in defending their progressive values within their local communities. The first step was to start a group — an informal local community of people dedicated to taking action together.

The Guide quickly sparked a nationwide progressive grassroots movement, with more than 5,000 local Indivisible groups registering across the country in 2017. In order to support this emerging movement, the authors of the Guide formed Indivisible Civics, a registered 501(c)(3) organization committed to providing civic education, policy resources, strategic guidance, and targeted trainings for groups across the country. With this support, Indivisible groups were empowered with the resources and tools they needed to hold their elected officials accountable and ignite change within their communities. Indivisible groups have held tens of thousands of actions in their local communities, from district office visits to marches and voter registration drives.

Read more about Indivisible’s impact in our 2019 Annual Report.

Indivisible Project, a 501(c)(4), was established to lift up that grassroots movement of local groups to defeat the Trump agenda, elect progressive leaders, and realize bold progressive policies. It supports local Indivisible groups by offering legislative advocacy and political expertise and by building political power everywhere. Learn more about Indivisible Project here.

For more details about what’s happening on Bainbridge visit:  www.indivisiblebainbridgeisland.org,  For other perspectives, visit:  https://www.foxnews.com/ and Right Wing Media Guide – theRighting

Photos by Kevin Dwyer

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