BY MATT KITE for WEEKLY VOLCANO 4/3/26 |
Every No Kings rally has been bigger than the one before it. That was true once again last Saturday, when more than 4,000 people gathered at Wright Park in Tacoma for No Kings III, the third and largest rally since the movement began last June.
On a rare sunny day in late March, rallygoers gathered on the lush green grass and beneath towering trees to bask in the warmth generated by civil protest. The diverse group contributed a variety of viewpoints, many of them as brash as they were clever. The event was one among more than 3,000 organized by the Indivisible Project, a grassroots network run by volunteers in all fifty states.
Some rallygoers carried American flags. Others hoisted signs protesting the Trump administration’s immigration policies and the war in Iran while advocating for accountability and constitutionality. The festive atmosphere reflected diversity, humanity, and humor.
“This is more than a protest,” said Indivisible Tacoma’s Barb Church, the program lead for the event. “This is a rally, but it’s also a way of transforming people’s anger and anxiety into action. It’s a way of transforming fear into courage to take that action. We have to work in coalition together if we’re going to make any change.”
Change, both positive and negative, seemed to be on the minds of many of the rallygoers. Brandy Johnson, a Tacoma resident, served in the military for twenty years and deployed a dozen times before retiring in 2024.
“When I was in the military,” Johnson said, “I loved my job because I was fighting for something that I believed in, and I believed in what America represented. And it almost makes me tear up to say that I don’t think we’re the same America anymore. We still are, but they’re trying to change it into something that we aren’t at all, that we don’t represent at all, and it makes me terrified.”
Added Johnson, “It makes me happy to come out to these rallies and know that we’re not alone. To stand up and fight, it matters, and all of these people here believe in the America that I believed in and fought for for twenty years.”
Eric Paulsen, another Tacoma resident and military veteran, carried an American flag and wore a navy-blue hoodie that read “Community” on the front.
“I’m a veteran,” Paulsen said. “My father was a veteran. My grandfathers were both veterans. My uncle is a veteran. My nephew is a veteran. We’ve all served this country. My wife and I both work in state service. I spent a lot of years in the military during the first Gulf interdiction. I was in basic training six days after Iraq invaded Kuwait. I’m here because this administration, this president, has basically taken a giant shit on our democracy and our country and our people. I was one of those kids in U.S. history in high school who actually paid attention and read. This is all the stuff that happened in the thirties in Nazi Germany, step by step by step by step. It’s getting scarier every day.”
Paulsen gestured toward the crowd. “I love this. I love the peaceful aspect of it. My big fear is that we are rapidly approaching the point where that’s not going to be enough.”
In particular, Paulsen expressed his concern that President Trump and Republicans in Congress will undermine the 2026 midterms by disenfranchising voters and suppressing voter turnout.
Other widely held concerns among rallygoers included the Trump administration’s historic levels of corruption, self-dealing, and criminality. Several signs accused the president of being a rapist and pedophile.
A wide range of speakers, including a Puyallup tribal elder, a state representative, and a University of Washington student, took to a makeshift stage to address such fears. They also spoke of positive reforms like universal health care, a more just immigration policy, and the preservation of voting rights. One common refrain resonated with the crowd: you’re not alone.
Dawn Kelly, a recent Tacoma transplant who fled Austin, Texas, with her husband after that state passed laws restricting women’s reproductive rights, held a sign encouraging people to watch a short film on YouTube entitled “Don’t Be a Sucker.” The film, produced by the Department of Defense during the World War II era, warns of the dangers of fascism and explains how it germinates.
While living in Texas, Kelly served as a volunteer observer for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). Now she is focused on the Trump administration’s steady assault on the Constitution.
“I’ve always been very active,” Kelly said. “If I don’t do this, what will I do? I actually have been down to the Tacoma ICE detention place four times. I’ve been by myself, with my bullhorn, screaming at the employees, ‘This is a bad job. You’re on the wrong side of history.’”
Despite the fear and anger expressed by many in attendance, the rally unfolded peacefully, even joyfully, as people of all ages mingled, took photos of each other’s signs and costumes, and learned about unions and immigration rights at information booths.
Phen Pelletier, a volunteer with Indivisible Tacoma and the Grit City Community Collective, ran de-escalation near the stage. The rally, which he said had been in the planning stages for two months, ran so smoothly he never had to assert his authority.
“We have a lot of people doing a lot of different things that they’re all very good at and that they have volunteered very graciously their time to do what they know how to do,” he said. “I know how to do de-escalation. I also know how to do some graphic stuff and some audio stuff, so I’ve been contributing that. We have lots of other very artistic and talented people to organize and actually keep things running.”
Indeed, volunteers contributed to programming, safety, and even props. Not surprisingly, No Kings has outgrown People’s Park, the site of its first rally in June, and Stewart Heights Park, where it staged the second rally in October.
“I don’t know that we could have put something this big together the first time around,” Pelletier said, “so the first two rallies were excellent ways to cut our teeth and really just let people know who we are, where we are, what we’re about. I think the word has spread far enough now that Wright Park has definitely been the right choice.”
