Locals, students, and faculty turn out to demonstrate against the federal government
Hundreds of people gathered in Houghton on Saturday, Mar. 28, joining 8 million nationwide in the third “No Kings” protest, opposing the Donald Trump administration. This week’s was the largest national protest in U.S. history. Demonstrators lined both sides of the Portage Lake Lift Bridge holding signs and voicing concerns over U.S. involvement in the Iran war, immigration enforcement actions, and authoritarian leadership. Some signs read “Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for All”, “Help prevent truth decay,” “Why are we repeating Vietnam,” and “Keep ICE off our streets!” The local rally, organized by Keweenaw Indivisible, was scheduled from noon to 2 p.m., with a motor rally running from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Temperatures in the 20s and high winds on the bridge led to many demonstrators leaving early.
The opening speech, given by Richard Canevez, a Humanities Assistant Professor at Michigan Tech and member of Keweenaw Indivisible, summarized the reasons why people are upset. Canevez said, “Some of us have been here for generations. Some of us are new. Some Yoopers by birth, some by choice, and some hope to be Yoopers some day. Some of us are religious, some not. Some with children, some without. In fact, there is even a Republican or two. Wherever you come from, however you identify, wherever your politics lie, you’re here to make some noise. We are here to remind our leaders in DC that you are watching and you are not happy, and that in the Copper Country, We. Don’t. Do. Kings. “
Following the opening speech, Safety Lead Maria Horner addressed the crowd, stressing that the demonstration would remain peaceful and not interfere with traffic. Protesters then split across both sides of the bridge. Throughout the event, pins, posters, handwarmers, bubble wands, cookies, chant charts, and community schedules were exchanged and distributed.
Bill Fink, a member of the Keweenaw Indivisible leadership team and former First Superintendent of the Keweenaw National Historical Park, said in a pre-rally interview that the organization hoped to set a record. Fink said, “Last October, when we had what we call the No Kings 2.0 Day, there were about seven million people that turned out to protest against the [Trump] administration and support constitutional rights. We are hoping, this time, to have even more nationwide – maybe we will [get] to ten million – which would make it the largest peaceful demonstration in American history.”
Many attendees cited different reasons for participating. Alan Salmi, a student at Tech on the “old geezer plan” as he put it, came out because “My family has generally been politically active for over a hundred years and I watch what is going on. I have various sources that I check out and people that I talk to and because I am trained in looking at social forces and social reality, and knowing how we are being manipulated. We are clearly being manipulated.” Alex and Scott, who did not give their last names, have lived in this community for 14 years and moved from Canada. Scott said, “We came out here because we care about justice.” Alex was holding a flag that honored Scott’s uncle. Alex said, “This is a flag of a fallen soldier who is Canadian. He was an immigrant and lost his life in Vietnam.”
In a post-speech interview, Canevez explained, “Part of [my motivation] is just being able to see people realize that we have shared values again. I think when you look at these elections, we oftentimes tend to think in these four-year cycles. After the 2024 election, I started thinking that we were shattered and that I couldn’t figure out what we stood for anymore as a country. We have these kinds of events, at the very minimum for me, are chances to feel like we stand for something even if our highest leadership isn’t standing up for our rights. I responded very differently from 2024 from 2016 because I had a young kid at home who is under a year old, and for me, I wanted her to grow up in a country that I had played as much a role as possible and making as good a world for her, but I also wanted to normalize for her the reality that for us to have a democracy, that we have to fight for it every day. It became both this need to be a part of shaping the world a certain way, having an impact that I was always trying to have as a professor, but also just being able to be an example for another generation that will hopefully be better than me.”
For more information or to RSVP to future events, visit the No Kings website at nokings.org/. [The Michigan Tech Lode is a non-partisan student newspaper with the goal of informing the Michigan Tech community on current events.]
