Opposition to the U.S. war with Iran was a top issue motivating many people to turn out for the No Kings III rally and march at Railroad Park in Birmingham Saturday.
“There is a wall in Washington with names all over it; we don’t need another wall,” said Ralph Hare, an 80-year-old independent voter and Marine Corps veteran who lives in Trussville, a Birmingham suburb.
Hare didn’t attend the first two No Kings protests, held in June and October of last year.
“If I had had my head screwed on a little tighter, I’d have been here at the first one,” he said.
The crowd at the park covered the brick-paved plaza and spilled onto the hillside beyond. Participants gathered to hear speakers and musicians before peacefully marching around the 19-acre park, displaying signs and chanting.
Attendees of the No Kings protest marched around Railroad Park in Birmingham.
The event was one of more than 3,100 across the country organized by No Kings, a coalition of more than 200 organizations that mobilizes protests against what they describe as the Trump administration’s authoritarian policies and abuses of power. Birmingham Indivisible and the ACLU of Alabama hosted the event at Railroad Park. A second No Kings event was held by Bham 50501 at Five Points South in Birmingham Saturday evening, and 21 other rallies were held across Alabama.
Speaking to the crowd, Rev. Carolyn Foster of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham said growing up in the city where children faced fire hoses and police dogs during the Civil Rights Movement taught her that democracy must be protected and practiced.
Rev. Carolyn Foster of St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Birmingham told the crowd democracy must be protected and practiced and Birmingham knows the cost of injustice and the power of people who refuse to bow down to it.
“We gather here in the city of Birmingham that knows the cost of injustice and the power of people who refuse to bow down to it,” Foster said. “Birmingham’s story reminds me that change didn’t come from a Bull Connor. Change won’t come from a wannabe king. Change will come from courageous ordinary people marching, praying, organizing and standing together like we are doing here today.”
The war in Iran is a symptom of unchecked power, Foster said. The war is costing the United States billions she said, naming other causes that money could fund such as food assistance\, VA medical care, Head Start education and pay for elementary school teachers.
Her words echoed those of protesters who gathered in the park before the event began.
Elementary school teacher Cooper Chunn said funding cuts are hurting people who need food aid and health care while federal dollars go to fighting the war.
Elementary school teacher Cooper Chunn said attending No Kings protests makes her feel connected to other people with shared values and like she’s doing something to create change. She says some of her students are afraid of being deported and are worried about the U.S. war with Iran.
“All kinds of social services are getting cut, and they’re spending money on a pointless war, not to mention destabilizing the Middle East,” she said. “If this continues, if it escalates, it could cause problems for decades.”
Birmingham resident Nick Murray said the Trump administration’s involvement in other governments and wars while not improving the livelihoods of Americans is one reason he came to the event. He said he hasn’t personally been affected by federal policies, with the exception of paying higher gas prices due to the war with Iran, but he feels a duty to speak out for others.
Nick and Shannon Murray attend the No Kings rally with their 19-month-old son. Nick said issues that brought him to the event include attacks on First Amendment rights and the Trump administration’s military actions.
“I have family that’s in the Army,” he said. “That affects them, and so therefore I lend my voice.”
Rebecca Gallogly, an Army veteran who lives in Gadsden, said she’s worried about the country getting into unnecessary wars.
“The authoritarian direction that the country is taking under this administration is my primary concern,” she said. “My concern over the war is number one, that Congress was not consulted beforehand. There’s too much abdication by Congress of their responsibility to oversee the executive branch. It seems like they think that the Constitution is optional, and it’s not.”
Immigration enforcement, First Amendment rights, the environment
Other issues protestors cited for attending the No Kings event include the Trump administration’s immigration-enforcement actions, attacks on rights to free speech and expression, the rollback of environmental regulations and division among Americans.
Speaker Luis Robledo, an organizer with Jobs to Move America whose work focuses on the intersection of labor and immigration, said the situation in Alabama today mirrors the past. Black, brown and Indigenous families have faced separation throughout the state’s history, through genocide, slavery and mass incarceration, he said.
Luis Robledo, an organizer with Jobs to Move America, said immigration enforcement officers under the Trump administration are targeting people because of how they look and the language they speak.
“People are being targeted for speaking Spanish, for looking Latino or driving certain work vehicles,” Robledo said. “Recent reporting shows that immigrants detained in Alabama were the most likely to be removed from the country, out of any state in the nation.”
Chunn said some of her students are afraid due to the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration-enforcement tactics and because of military actions in the Middle East.
“I have had kids literally ask me, ‘Am I going to get deported?’” she said. “And they’re U.S. citizens. And I’ve had kids ask me, ‘Are we headed into World War III.’ They deserve the truth, and they can handle it, but the fact that’s even a worry for an elementary school kid, a 10-year-old – they shouldn’t have to worry about that.”
Issa Sanz with the Alabama Coalition for Immigrant Justice attended the event and said there weren’t many Latino or Hispanic people there because they’re scared. She said she knows many families with small children who have been separated.
Issa Sanz said many Latino and Hispanic people were afraid to attend the event.
“It’s very bad,” she said. “We come here to say: No kings. No more deportation. No ICE. They don’t respect the civil rights, the human rights. We are immigrants, but we make America. We work here. We pay taxes. We pay insurance. We pay rent.”
Protestors’ goals
Other attendees said they hoped to send messages to politicians and to the rest of the country and world.
“I feel like with Trump’s administration, they will tell a different story, that this is what the American people want and that everything that they’re doing yields great results,” Murray said. “But I think it’s important that the voices of people every day in the community, their voices are heard. It’s important that we share a message that we do not approve – we don’t approve of the war. We don’t approve of the changes that they’re making.”
Gallogly said she wants to communicate that Democrats and independents who don’t support the Trump administration are not the enemy.
“We’re patriots,” she said. “We love our country. We’re frightened by what we see our government turning into. I think that division is what’s causing most of the problem – the belief that my next-door neighbor, who I’ve known all my life, is now, all of a sudden, the enemy. It’s not good for our country, and it’s not honest.”
Hare said his message is for the Democratic Party, which he called the “only possible group of people who can get us out of this mess.”
Ralph Hare (with wife Carrie Ann Hare) of Trussville had not attended a No Kings event before Saturday and said the U.S. war with Iran was the primary issue that drove him to show up.
“I have my issues with them, as I do with any party, but they have to get it together,” he said. “And the more crowd you can put in front of a politician, the better your odds.”
Speaker’s call to action
The final speaker at the event was JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama. She told the crowd that spectating at a rally isn’t enough to create change. She encouraged attendees to fund or volunteer with local organizations represented at tables set up in the park, to vote and to take care of one another.
JaTaune Bosby Gilchrist, executive director of the ACLU of Alabama, encouraged protestors to contribute to local organizations represented at the event and to vote.
“You have heard here that the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice,” Gilchrist said. “But the question today is, do we have the will to bend it?”
Chunn said she has attended all three No Kings events and thinks they continue to be effective.
“At the very least it shows the rest of the country and the world that we do care,” she said. “And if this many people can show up in Alabama, then the country is angry and the country is unhappy, and things need to change – immediately.”