“Show me what democracy looks like!” A crowd member screams.
“This is what democracy looks like!” The crowd roared back.
Thousands filled Market Street in downtown St. Louis on Oct. 19, as the St. Louis ‘No Kings’ march pressed forward, despite the downpour, to protest against the nation’s leaders. ‘No Kings’ echoed through the streets, written across dripping banners, and painted on signs.
“No kings means that we are a free nation,” Sharon Hoffman, an 80-year-old protester, attending her third ‘No Kings’ protest, said. “We should be voting on issues. Our legislature should be brave enough to take these issues into its hands and say no when it realizes that the power is being usurped by the presidency.”
2,600 protests were registered on that Saturday, with a turnout across the country of over 5 million people, to show their disdain for the administration. Donald Trump, the current president, has proceeded with actions that many of the protesters deem unconstitutional, thus sparking the ‘No Kings’ protests and the rise in demand for the return of checks and balances within the presidency.
“I want an actually democratically elected government,” Richelle Craig, a protester, said.
Since the inauguration of Trump in January, the 5051 movement was born and created to uphold the Constitution and stop Trump’s influence. The PSL movement, made in 2004, also stepped up using its local branches to garner support. Combined, they provide a space where anyone can join and support, and leaders who can rally participants.
“To be honest, I’ve been kind of burnt out,” Sasha Zemmel, a leader in the march, said. “But when I saw this gaining so much traction, it inspired me to come back out. I feel with everything going on, what else is Trump going to do? I just had to get out there.”
The march on Saturday was designed to include people from all backgrounds and families, thus allowing communities to band together in this peaceful form of protest. However, some argue that this isn’t successful and largely goes unnoticed. According to the ‘3.5% rule’ for tangible change to occur, 3.5% of the population has to engage in continuous disorderly protest.
“An effective protest has to be disruptive, and it has to be sustained,” Craig explains. “When you get a permit and you march on the weekend and you stay exactly where you’re supposed to be, you don’t have any sort of actual disruption, it’s not effective. It’s a good way to talk to people about effective protests, but an effective protest has to be disruptive. It doesn’t mean violent. It doesn’t mean closing down businesses or breaking things, but it has to be disruptive.”
The march ended around 3 p.m., but people still held their signs up high even as the crowd dispersed, drenched from the rain. Leaders from the organizations passed pamphlets, and certain individuals made their way around to hand out their own leaflets, warning people of what would happen if policies and laws didn’t change now.
“It’s gonna affect you if it hasn’t already,” Sasha Zemmel, a leader in the march, said. “It will affect your friends, someone you love, and then you’ll care.”
