Billed as a "nationwide day of defiance," the local "No Kings" protest brought hundreds to Denton’s historic courthouse on Saturday for a peaceful protest to decry President Donald Trump and his use of force to silence dissent.
The "No Kings" protests, which were planned for more than 1,800 locations around the U.S., were a direct response “rejecting authoritarianism, billionaire-first politics and the militarization of our democracy,” according to a news release issued last week.
Several organizations helped to organize the protests, including Indivisible — locally known as Indivisible Denton — the American Civil Liberties Union, American Federation of Teachers, Human Rights Campaign, League of Conservation Voters, 50501 and Stand Up America.
A diverse crowd of all ages, from children to older folks, appeared in downtown Denton late Saturday morning. They held signs and cheered at speakers and passersby who circled the Courthouse on the Square and honked in support. Some gathered around a drum circle. Others jammed with guitars, a ukulele, violins and a cello while people walked around the Square with their signs, offering reminders such as “Free Palestine.”
People fell into several chants that included: “We're here. We're queer. We won't be ruled by fear.” “‘The Constitution is under attack!" "Stand up, fight back!’”
Dozens of signs captured the thoughts and feelings of the crowd: “Make America Think Again,” “No Kings since 1776,” “Resist Fascism. Don’t let the bastards grind you down!” and “Unpaid protestor. I hate Nazi tyrants for free.”
Messages also appeared in chalk on the pavement surrounding the county's veterans memorial on the courthouse lawn: "No human is illegal," "Hands off my country" and "Hatsune Miku does not approve of Nazis," for example.
Denton City Council members Brandon Chase McGee and Brian Beck were in attendance. McGee said the turnout for Saturday's protest rivaled the turnout for the protest that happened shortly after Trump was inaugurated in 2017.
“Everybody is out here because many people and the city of Denton are disappointed with the direction of our country, given the way the federal government has been operating and the way that they are leading us,” McGee said. “Protesting is a guaranteed constitutional right. Everybody is out here having a good time. We are using our voices to speak up and affirm the things which we feel are important and which we feel should be important. I’m happy to be here not just representing the 164,000 of the greatest people in Texas but also in my personal capacity.”
Shaun Treat, administrator of the Denton Downtowners Facebook group and a former UNT professor, was pleased with the turnout at the demonstration.
“The No. 1 comment I keep getting is that this is an affirmation that they’re not alone,” Treat said. “They’re seeing protests of this happening everywhere, and that is what it is about, about us encouraging each other, lifting each other up, being here for each other and just saying no, we’ve had enough.”
Law enforcement presence wasn't as heavy as it was at some previous protests over the years. Several Denton County sheriff's deputies and Denton police officers were in attendance.
At least two counter-protesters were in the area Saturday — one of them blasting Christian hip-hop — but there didn't appear to be a significant presence.
Several speakers spoke from the courthouse steps, including Sue Newhouse, a local farmer from the Progressive Leaders Toastmasters Club, who spoke on "Trust, Commitment and Honor." She stressed that the Trump administration's cuts to the U.S. Agency for International Development have hurt the local farmer up the road, one who had a financial commitment from the government to be reimbursed for growing products for USAID to send “to people in the most desperate places on earth.”
“For farmers, that might be their only crop this year, and if they don't get paid for it, then there goes the farm,” Newhouse said.
Honor, Newhouse said, relates to the hardworking people in the military, and the government sending them to places unprepared. That recently occurred when Trump sent National Guard members and Marines to Los Angeles for protests against immigration raids, she said.
That military deployment reminded protester Jocelyn Allgood, also known as “Jojee,”of her youth in the Philippines under the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos and the People Power Revolution, a nonviolent uprising in the 1980s. Allgood said one of her brothers was arrested for his advocacy against Marcos, and another brother was killed fighting against Marcos' forces in the mountains. His body was never recovered.
“Because I grew up in martial law during the Marcos [administration], I know what it feels like to live in fear,” said Allgood, who's been in the U.S. for 45 years. “And this is the first time I have felt fear in this country.”
She said Marcos wanted to be "president for life," so he declared martial law and incarcerated members of the opposition, leading to mass protests.
“What Marcos did is like what Trump is doing in LA — creating a crisis to tell the whole world, ‘Look this is what is happening to America,’” Allgood said. “That is what Marcos did. He suspended habeas corpus so that he could arrest anybody."
"Trump wants power for himself and his family," she added. "… That is why I have to be here.”
Another protester, who asked to be identified as Teresa, became an American citizen 27 years ago and said she “always believed in this country, the freedom and the right you have to be anything you want.”
But then Trump was elected and suddenly, she said, things started changing.
“Since he became president the first time, I told my friends that he is going to be a dictator, and they wouldn’t believe it,” she recalled. "Now I see my friends, and they say, ‘Remember eight years ago when you told us that? You are right.’
