On June 14th more than 2000 protests under the banner of “No Kings” took place around the United States, with crowd estimates of five million to more than double that number.
The murder of a Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband early that morning loomed
over the day’s proceedings. Demonstrators were protesting the spending bill now before
Congress that cuts assistance for the poor while granting a tax cut to the wealthiest
Americans. The US Army's 250th anniversary, recast as a military show of might in
honor of Trump's birthday, was another reason to protest. For KVNF news Marty Durlin reports.
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The No Kings protest in Paonia began at noon in Town Park, where a crowd estimated at 250 heard community leaders and activists speak about how the Trump administration is harming or threatening local residents in a variety of ways. The event was organized by the Delta County Democrats and North Fork Indivisible, a group begun in 2017 during Trump's first term. The loosely organized network has become a vehicle for coordinating monthly political marches of resistance nationwide. Ellie Goldstein helped to form the local Indivisible group eight years ago and said she feels the situation has now taken a turn for the worse.
"We who understand what's being taken away from us in this country need to stand firm and proud and even take some chances to be proactive. And part of me is totally terrified, and another part of me feels that if we can rally enough good people to understand what's in danger and we stand to lose, that's the only way we can prevail," said Goldstein.
This is Christy Larson's sixth time this year to lead Peña's event. Dressed as the Statue of Liberty and escorted by Uncle Sam, she has emerged as a compelling speaker.
"This mad king thinks he deserves a birthday party today on our dime. How do you folks feel about that? You don't think he deserves a party? Yeah, hell no. And the proposed cost of his wannabe dictator military parade? 45 million of our tax dollars. Do you think this is money well spent? I don't either. In fact, it sure sounds like waste, fraud, and abuse to me. This is America. We don't do military parades here. Shows of military strength like that are what dictators do. And it comes after we deployed the military against our own citizens in L.A.," blared Larson from the main stage.
Physician and former Delta Health Board President Doug Speedie spoke about how Trump's bill, if passed by the Senate, will affect the local health care situation.
"For those of you who are not aware, Delta Health is not a hospital, but a medical system. Outside of River Valley Clinic, there are only three physicians in the county who are not employed by Delta Health. How will this budget reconciliation bill affect things?" asked Speedie.
"In Delta County it is one person out of three, just under that, who have Medicaid. We would lose 1,200 to 1,600 people on Medicaid. Currently pregnant women who are undocumented can use utilize Medicaid as well as their newborn child who fortunately still will be a US citizen. Now here's a scary number, the loss of Medicaid patients to Delta Health will be 4.8 to 5.2 million dollars conservatively. We could also potentially lose family doctors because many of them came here with the opportunity of doing obstetrics. If losses continue, further services could be reduced or discontinued. We must stop this abomination of a bill," said the former physician.
Musicians and poets including Ben Bentele offered inspiration from the stage. Other speakers and members of the crowd expressed a range of concerns.
"I have been a citizen since 2021. And so this is actually the first time I've ever attended a protest, a peaceful protest. And it's just nice. This is actually a really nice community gathering. It's just nice for everyone to come together and share our thoughts and beliefs on the rights that we have here in the country that are being violated right now. So let's all stand up for them," said a lady named Julie.
"The Constitution is being ripped apart in front of our face, and we've reached the point now, just today, where political rivals are being assassinated. So it's worse than Germany in 1936. It seems like an untenable situation, because you feel powerless, but it's nice to come to a thing like this and look around and see what, 200 people," offered one man in the crowd.
Paul said, " I’m here just because it's time for the country to get together. I mean, it's way beyond time. And with the violence popping up, including this morning in Minnesota and other places, it's like, no, we've got to show that we can stand strong and defend democracy and believe in this country, which we all love."
Kandi was more candid, " I’m here because I really hate Donald Trump, period. He needs to go."
Yvonne touched on a personal issue, " I started when he first said Mexicans are rapists, criminals, and drug dealers."
"You took that personally because? asked Dulin.
"I am from a Mexican family. My descendants, yes, yes. It's kind of important, I think, to just keep showing up whenever there's something going on," answered Yvonne.
Members of the Delta County Democrats also attended the event.
"I’m Dea Jacobson. I'm the chair of the Delta County Democratic Party. And I am here to say a few words about what the party is doing and to encourage the people in the good trouble that we need to do for this country to save democracy."
One lady offered thanks to local law enforcement.
"Well, first I want to thank the police, the Paonia Police Department, for making sure that we had protection here today. Big hand for the Paonia Police and the reinforcements they called in to make sure after we got a threat online for this event. Hold in your hearts the victims of the assassinations in Minnesota this morning. The former House Speaker of Minnesota, Melissa Hartman, and her spouse were murdered. State Senator John Hoffman and his wife were shot multiple times. We are peaceful. We are here for everyone. We are here to protect the rights that we have all come to take for granted."
The temperature had risen past 90 degrees when participants marched from the sheltering trees and soft grass of Town Park to the full sun and hard asphalt of Grand Avenue. Rita Murphy took a break under a shady overhang.
"I think the country is in real trouble and if we don't all individually stand up and do something, it's just going to go down the tubes," she lamented.
