“I call this hope,” said Mary Wilson Jennett of Paducah. “Our president leads with hate and fear. We lead with hope.”
As many as 2,000 protestors turned up for Saturday afternoon’s “No Kings” rally in Paducah. The gathering in Bob Noble Park was one of more 3,300 such rallies in the U.S. and worldwide, according to CBS News. As many as 8 million people participated globally in the events, many of which included marches.
In Kentucky, protests were held in Louisville, Lexington, and about three dozen other cities and towns.
The Paducah rally drew between 1,800 and 2,000, according to Karla Johnston, co-leader of Four Rivers Indivisible, the group that sponsored the Paducah protest. Four Rivers is a local branch of the National Indivisible organization.
Also sponsored by Four Rivers, an Oct. 18 “No Kings” rally in far western Kentucky’s largest town drew 1,500, according to Leslie McColgin, Johnston’s co-leader.
Four Rivers is also partnering with the newly formed Murray Indivisible group, some of whose members participated in a Murray No Kings rally sponsored by Calloway County Human Rights Advocacy. That protest drew a reported 75 people.
While Jennett drove in from across town, Mark and Rebecca Metea of Hollis, N.H., stopped on their roundabout trip home from Key West, Florida, in the family RV. “On the way back, we realized there would be a ‘No Kings’ on Saturday the 28th,” Mark said. “In Key West, we started planning where we were going to be on the 28th and it turned out to be Paducah.”
Rebecca also wanted to visit the city’s National Quilt Museum. “I can’t believe what a great town this is,” she said, adding that Paducah was their third “No Kings” protest.
“Living in New England we think everybody in this area is Red,” she added. “We thought we wouldn’t find anybody here. But this opened our eyes.”
Mark said the couple had planned to go to a “No Kings” somewhere on their journey back to the Granite State. “Have freedom, will travel,” he grinned.
“This is so warm and welcoming,” said Rebecca.
The couple brought two-sided signs. One side of hers asked, “ARE WE GREAT YET? CAUSE I JUST FEEL EMBARRASSED.” It showed the Statue of Liberty, hands hiding her eyes, superimposed over the Stars and Stripes. The other said, “I HAVE A DREAM” and depicted a police officer marching away a handcuffed President Donald Trump.
One side of Mark’s sign showed a soldier kneeling at a battlefield grave with the caption “All gave some. Some gave all. Donald Trump gave nothing.” The flip side advised, “In case you Trump supporters are confused” and pictured a military cemetery with the U.S. flag at half mast and captioned “HEROES.” That image was next to a frowning photo of Trump with “LOSER” printed underneath.
Ray and Jan Schorr came from Mayfield. “We are here to protest the corrupt administration in Washington, DC,” he said. She continued, “I just want to be part of ‘we the people.’”
A number of other families joined the rally, including Paducahans Ricardo Harding and his 17-year-old son, Thomas. “It is very important that we teach our youngsters the importance of ‘we,’ not ‘I,’ and I brought him to show him that a community of people can make a difference.”
Thomas, a 17-year-old senior at Paducah Tilghman High School, seemed to have learned his father’s lesson. “I am here supporting the No Kings protest because they are supporting my community.”
While Ricardo and Thomas Harding carried pre-printed signs, other protestors brought homemade signs.
Paducah resident Greg Holtgrewe’s placard spoofed the Heisman Trophy, given annually to the top college football player. “Lies-man Trophy” it said, showing Trump posed like the iconic bronze Heisman statue, a gridder running with a football tucked under his right arm. Instead of a pigskin, the blonde pated Trump, his red tie flapping, is holding a paper marked “TRUMP-EPSTEIN.” “BIGGEST LOSER” with the No Kings logo printed on the base.
Holtgrewe said the sign was appropriate for expressing his opinion of “the Trump administration ignoring the Constitution.”
“We’ve got a president thinking he’s a king and using our troops as toys – It’s not just him, it’s his whole party,” said Tie Jones of Paducah.
“No king, no crown,” said Bea Jones, who is also from Paducah
“We’ve got too many people in harm’s way right now for no good reason,” said the Rev. Bill Williams. Also from Paducah, he’s a Navy veteran.
Jerry Sykes, a United Auto Workers retiree who lives in Marshall County, is a mainstay at Four Rivers-sponsored protests. “What brought me out here today? The same thing that brought me out here for the last two No Kings Days.
“We’re in a terrible situation. I’m going to be out here every chance I get to voice my opinion.”
Other union retirees in the crowd included Stephen Sikes and Larry Sanderson from Paducah Plumbers and Steamfitters Local 184. “I’m in distress,” said Sikes, adding that his electric bill was $600 last month. “I couldn’t survive if I didn’t have a good union pension. I don’t know what people do without a pension and a living wage.”
Sanderson didn’t pull punches. “I believe in democracy and not dictators. I think the man we’ve got in the White House right now is an evil, heartless criminal who doesn’t care about anybody but himself.”
In 2017, Sanderson, a statewide union activist, was in the thick of Kentucky labor’s uphill and unsuccessful fight to stop Republican Matt Bevin and the GOP supermajority General Assembly from repealing the state prevailing wage and passing a “right to work law.”
Recalled Sanderson, “Our motto was ‘Stand Up, Fight Back.’ It applies as much today as it did then. We have to stand up and fight back against Donald J. Trump and these evil people.”
The rally’s keynote speaker was the Rev. Jamie Lee of Mayfield, who pastors two United Methodist churches in Calloway County. Other speakers included Four Rivers members Karen Selstad, and the Rev. Amanda Groves, a Disciples of Christ pastor from Marshall County.
Four Rivers member Henry Brazzell of Murray brought his guitar and sang old-time protest and union songs and a special song with lyrics by Ballard countian Jana Hannah. McColgin said Hannah explained that she “wrote the lyrics because she just felt in her heart things that must be said and wanted to contribute in some way.” It was set to Neil Young’s song, “Ohio.”
The protest also featured its usual assortment of whimsically costumed rally-goers who dressed as unicorns, a yellow chicken, and other creatures, real and imaginary. Also on hand was a character from a fantasy cartoon series about a despotic government that rules the world. “The allegory is right there,” said Brandon Hummel of Mayfield, who sported a red bandana, nose protector, blue dress-like suit and a wooden shield.
First District Democratic candidate for Congress Drew Williams of Benton and Charles Booker of Louisville, one of seven Democrats vying for their party’s Senate nomination in the May primary, attended the rally but obeyed the no campaigning rule. Willams has no primary opposition.
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