Six months after the first “No Kings” protest, another nationwide protest took place on Oct. 18. Multiple cities and towns hosted smaller protests of their own, including Homewood, Orland and Naperville.
Homewood citizens gathered around Halsted and Aurelio’s, where they protested from 1p.m. to 3p.m.. About 200 people were at the protest in Homewood.
The first protest was about President Donald Trump allegedly wanting to become a king going into a dictator state of control which is going against democracy. According to Britannica, “The protests were called No Kings’ rallies in reference to Trump’s allegedly antidemocratic policies, especially in light of tensions surrounding his administration’s crackdown on immigration and the president’s own statements about being a king.”
On June 14, there was a nationwide “No Kings” protest against Trump’s policies and actions during his second presidency. These protests were held at 2,500 sites across the world internationally and domestically.
Most of the protesters were outside the office building on Harwood Avenue and Olive Road. Protesters handed out posters, markers and crayons to the children and other adults at the event who didn’t have a sign to create one.
A few residents of Homewood stepped up to give their voices for the community. Homewood resident Kisha Jones said, “As an Army veteran, I fought for this country and I signed up to fight for this country. I feel this is a chance for me to use my voice.”
She continued to talk about what she wanted to see changed in the country: “Policies and procedures and how we treat one another, there was a [republican that held a] Trump sign that passed and this is what free democracy looks like. Everyone should be able to respect each other’s opinions. We should be able to state our cause and they should be able to state theirs as well.”
She followed up by explaining how everyone with different political beliefs is allowed to express themselves; that’s what democracy looks like. But when someone stops a different group from expressing themselves, that is when it becomes an issue.
Another Homewood protester who wants to stay anonymous, stated his opinion on how he believes that in the current state that we are living in, everyone besides the wealthy are being oppressed. He stated, “[People such as] uncles that are farmers, old people in my life, my kids with the department of education. I hope we can get our country back in a generation or two.”
Trump is also being protested against due to ICE going after immigrants all over America, documented and undocumented. According to Propublica, “We found that more than 170 U.S. citizens have been held by immigration agents. They’ve been kicked, dragged and detained for days.”
According to WEBZ Chicago, “Federal immigration raids are getting more and more common across the country. On Monday, the Supreme Court cleared the way for federal immigration enforcement agents in Los Angeles to use race and other profiling factors in deciding who to stop and potentially detain.”
Homewood resident Bianca Delgado stated, “[I went to the protest] to support the community and also show the children [how] they can support their community. I wanted immigration laws and ICE to be abolished for the children. This is a common fear for them.”
She continued to go on with how she thinks this will affect the history books. “This is definitely going to affect us. I don’t know if it will be a positive or a negative thing, just because it is so new. We’re here to see change and I hope this is something that will be in the history books and I want our [grandchildren] s to learn about this,” Delgado said.
After the protest took place, Trump’s reaction was an AI video of him flying over the protesters pooping on them.
