Saturday morning, the No Kings protest in Kingwood was all cognitive dissonance, like a song with sad lyrics but a bouncy tune. Almost everyone I interviewed said they were distraught about the state of our country — and at the same time, here they were, in one of the reddest parts of Harris County, in one of the reddest states of the union, surrounded by people who felt as anti-Trump as they did. The mood was buoyant. The world, and Kingwood, seemed like it might be changing.
Here’s some of what they told me.
Mikel: I remember the 80s and how hard it was to come out of the closet. We can’t go back to that.
Jason: I’m here for the Constitution!
Mikel: We’ve been together for 29 years and married for 14. We have a 15-year-old daughter.
The first time I showed up to a Kingwood No Kings protest, it floored me: So many people believed in this! In Kingwood!
We go to Strawbridge United Methodist Church. Two of our pastors are here today and a lot of our church family. It made me realize that we definitely picked the right church.
Lindsey: My 13-year-old daughter and I are here because she has fewer rights than I did growing up. We’re losing women’s rights.
And immigrants’ rights! And then there’s the war!
Lily: I’m so scared of how the world is. It shouldn’t be like that at my age.
Christal: I came to support our right to free speech. I hope the Trump era ends soon.
Terry: I do too. I’m a Vietnam vet. This is the first time I’ve been here to protest — it’s hard because of my wheelchair.
Sharon: I remember not being able to get a credit card in my name. And having to get my husband to sign off on my getting my tubes tied. And when getting a divorce was a financial disaster for women. I lost a friend to a back-alley abortion.
It feels like we’re heading back to all that, and I don’t want that. I need to get a protest T-shirt for Mitzi.