No Kings Day in Milwaukee

Tell me what democracy looks like!
This is what democracy looks like!

Tell me what democracy sounds like!
This is what democracy sounds like!

No Kings! No Kings! No Kings!

What do we want?
Justice!

When do we want it?
Now!

There were 10,000 of us in downtown Milwaukee.

There were people in wheelchairs and walkers. People with huge signs on sticks and people who’d ripped the lid off an Amazon box and wrote “No Kings” with magic marker. The speeches ran long but each speech was good, solid, loud in the way of old-time oratory, and richer for the crowd’s thundering responses. The speakers made themselves hoarse with their certitude. There was no timidity for miles around.

The crowd was fired up and fierce but so kind to each other. You go first, no, you go ahead.

I didn’t see a single police officer, but I was told later they were there on bicycles. There was no trouble, no threat of trouble. The sun was shining, there was a breeze, and a drone crisscrossed the bluest sky along with a dozen seagulls. We waved to the drone. We are here!

One of the speakers said this: I could no more stop being an American than a star could be plucked from the night sky.

He didn’t know it but he was speaking for all of us.

We are in it for the duration. There is no quit in us.

I am so glad to be alive in this moment.