Butte County groups are planning a day of peaceful protesting Oct. 18 on what will be the second national No Kings day. Protests are planned across the country to oppose assaults on free speech, civil rights and democratic norms in general.
A No Kings march will begin at 10 a.m. in downtown Chico, organized by the Defenders of Democracy Coalition. Those interested in marching should meet at the Our Hands sculpture at 160 East Fourth St. The march will also end at this location at 11:30 a.m.
A noon festival with community activities and a vigil at Veterans Memorial Park (formerly Wildwood Park) will follow. That event is organized by Indivisible Chico, and Chico State’s Gender & Sexuality Equity Coalition (GSEC) will participate.
Between 12 p.m. and 4 p.m., the festival will offer family-friendly activities, local food options and music, as well as a time to convene with community organizations. A press release said the festival will include a standing protest at 2:30 p.m. with a flash mob at 3:30 p.m.
Organizers said there will also be face painting and a scavenger hunt.
“There’s no question about the level of activism in Chico and beyond,” said the Chico Peace Alliance, which is part of the Coalition. “We’ve seen impressive turnouts at No Kings Day, the Overpass Signs, the Billionaire’s Protest, and most recently, last Saturday’s rally, ‘Rise Up for Gaza.’
“People have registered their concerns with protests at Congressman LaMalfa’s office and at his once-in-a-whenever town hall. Workshops on nonviolent protests have been well attended.”
Chico’s June 14 No Kings protest drew more than 4,000 people and was one of the city’s largest-ever demonstrations. Nationwide, organizers are calling the upcoming protests “No Kings 2” and predicting even more turnout in opposition to the “authoritarian actions and policies of the Trump administration.”
Kate McCracken, a spokesperson for Defenders of Democracy Coalition, said the events “are intended to be nonviolent. They have committed to nonviolent action and are training volunteers in de-escalation tactics to ensure the safety of participants.”
Chico’s Susan Tchudi said that she knows some people feel that their singular voice is not enough to matter or change things.
“What I do know is that the horrors in our world cannot go on without resistance,” Tchudi wrote in a Peace Alliance newsletter. “One small voice, and another, and another, and another can raise a storm.”
Ezra Levin, co-executive director of Indivisible nationwide, said on the Rachel Maddow Show that “fundamentally what this is about is everybody coming together and demonstrating, we don’t do kings in America.”
Maddow pointed out that Republicans have called the upcoming protests a “Hate America rally.”
“We’ve got an authoritarian regime that wants to crack down on free speech,” Levin responded. “If your First Amendment rights are under attack and you decline to show up because of those threats, you don’t have First Amendment rights.”
Natalie Hanson is a contributing editor to ChicoSol. Leslie Layton is editor.