Local Groups Sponsor ‘No Kings Day’ Rally

ONEONTA—Last Saturday, June 14, Cooperstown/Oneonta Indivisible, Butternut Valley Indivisible, Cherry Valley Indivisible, Indivisible for Schoharie County, Otsego Residents for Democracy and the Otsego County Democratic Committee sponsored a No Kings Day Rally in Oneonta in the field adjacent to Foothills Performing Arts and Civic Center.

According to a press release, the Oneonta rally joined more than 2,000 No Kings Day events held across the country in opposition to what protestors believe are the authoritarian policies of the Trump administration, including the $45 million taxpayer-funded military parade held in Washington, D.C. the same day.

Organizers for the peaceful Oneonta rally put the attendance count at more than 1,200 people. Rally speakers spoke on issues including how they believe Trump administration policies are harming vets, threatening programs for the aging including Medicaid, and illegally harassing immigrants. Speakers drew a contrast between organizations like unions representing and protecting workers and policies that support working families and the Trump administration’s policies they contend would cut essential services to America’s communities while providing tax breaks to the wealthy, organizers said.

RaIly organizer and leader of Indivisible for Schoharie County, Tina Dawson, praised the success of the event in the press release.

“I was so heartened by the turnout on Saturday. People from all backgrounds came out to defend liberty and due process. We are a nation of laws, not kings. The energy in the crowd was uplifting and stayed peaceful. I am so grateful to everyone who showed up and spoke out, each in their own way. This rally, and the ones to come, are about taking back our flag and protecting our constitutional freedoms.”

Oneonta Mayor Mark Drnek kicked off the rally with a statement on the values of America’s Democracy. Drnek asserted that, “The resistance is growing in small towns and big cities—Oneonta, very much included. He explained, “Few would argue with the administration’s promise to identify and deport criminals, gang and cartel members, drug dealers, and others who pose a threat to our communities. But this is not that. Being the author of the ‘the largest mass deportation operation of illegal aliens in history’ is nothing to be proud of and history will judge it harshly.”

Drnek made clear that, “the inscription on the Statue of Liberty is not meant to be ironic. We are a nation of immigrants, many of whom fled persecution and worse. Sadly, that need for asylum has not abated. People who’ve fled their homes, often leaving family and possessions behind, made that decision confident that America still offered safe haven and hope to the hopeless. The mass deportation of millions, many employed and engaged in their communities, is a blunt cudgel in a transparent campaign of punishment and retribution aimed at those who still subscribe to the ideals that this country was founded upon. This evil will not prevail.”

Protestors with colorful signs sang, chanted, engaged with speakers, and then marched from Market Street up to Main Street and back around to the rally field. At one point, the length of the march line wrapped around the entire block.

Caitlin Ogden, chair of the Otsego County Democratic Committee, stated, “As a community member in the broader county area, I was encouraged and heartened to see such a tremendous turnout of our community members who are willing to stand up and say there are no kings in America; that we will not allow fascism to take over our country. We stand against allowing law enforcement and military tactics that harass immigrants coming to America trying to escape physical harm, and pursuing what America should offer to all, a chance to pursue the dream of America.”

Ogden encouraged people to “grow this movement to protect democracy,” because she “loves Otsego County and America” and “will fight to make sure our democratic America perseveres.”

CooperstownOneonta member Debra Marcus drew connections between immigration and reproductive issues. Marcus stated that women make up more than half of Medicaid recipients, and Medicaid covers almost 50 percent of all births.

“When millions of people are kicked off of Medicaid, women can lose access to affordable contraception, as well as vital prenatal and obstetrical care,” Marcus said. “We are all born of women and almost all of us (those without Native American ancestry) are immigrants or the children or grandchildren of immigrants.”

Marcus continued, “We have all benefited from living in a country that, up until now, mostly cherished families and welcomed newcomers. We have, until very recently, lived in a country that recognized that our strength came from our diversity, that understood that providing a hand up to marginalized people allowed them to become independent, tax paying citizens. A hand up, not a hand out.”

The rally concluded after the march, but many rallygoers, encouraged by the energy and turnout remained at the site talking about growing the democracy movement.

“We understand that in a democracy the idea is to debate a diversity of ideas and try to arrive at policies that will best support the wellbeing of all Americans. Of course, people have different ideas on how to do that,” rally organizer and leader of CooperstownOneonta Indivisible Virginia Kennedy stated.

“In a democracy, we debate ideas, passionately at times, but we don’t put the military on the street against other Americans, and we don’t spend our hard-earned taxpayer dollars on an extravagant parade while cutting programs and funding essential to veterans and communities large and small in defiance of the law, the courts, and the separation of powers. Our movement is about supporting democratic institutions for all Americans, and our movement in resistance to authoritarian takeover is growing with peace and strength,” Kennedy said.