Here’s what people attending “No Kings” protests across Southern California on Saturday, March 28 had on their minds:
“The harm we are fighting did not begin with one administration, and it will certainly not end with one. For hundreds of years, our nation has partaken in state-sanctioned violence. Time and time again, each time wearing a new face. You are a slave to a system that does not want you to prosper, does not believe you are worthy and does not care whether you live or die. This is a system that was not created by Trump, yet it is the system that brought him to power.”
— Maya Singh Barrett, a 16-year-old student from Palos Verdes Peninsula High School, Rolling Hills Estates
“What’s evolved is not just the size of the gatherings, but the clarity of purpose. There’s a growing recognition that this is not simply political. It’s deeply spiritual. People are coming together not just to protest, but to embody a different way of being in community. Strangers handing out water and snacks. Checking on each other. A sense of neighborliness that feels almost countercultural right now.”
— Rev. Jonathan Stoner from All Saints Church, Los Angeles
“We are not on the verge of an authoritarian takeover. We are in the middle of an authoritarian takeover. We will be able to tell our children and our grandchildren that when American democracy, the greatest experiment in governance in the history of the world, was under threat; maybe the gravest threat in our 250-year history, we stood up and saved it.”
— Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, who was in the Los Angeles area and attended South Bay’s protest
“I am concerned that America has lost itself and we have struggled to recall and hold on to our common humanity. Let’s reflect on what binds us together. “
— Victor Gordo, Mayor of Pasadena
“You need to show up. You need to let people know that you care. There’s more of us than them. Now, I really think the tide is turning.”
— Suzane Pyburn, Long Beach resident
“I mean, if you’re reading anything about what, how this unfolds, they’re using Putin’s playbook. The fact (that) these things are manifesting, it frightens me. We have to be hopeful. We can’t let go of that.”
— Mark Galloway, 75, retired Long Beach Unified School District teacher