OCTOBER 24, 2025 | OPINION | By Nalani Wood
On Saturday, Oct. 18, millions of people across the nation gathered to protest the Trump administration’s alarmingly autocratic patterns for the second-ever No Kings protest. The causes for the protest are numerous: censorship of news organizations, inhumane immigration tactics, military takeovers of American cities, pressure on liberal institutions and financial backing of war crimes abroad. While the reasons to be on the streets are diverse, protesters’ passion and concern for their country represent a united front.
Over Block Break, I traveled to Bellingham, Wash., and marched downtown to Maritime Heritage Park with the No Kings protest. It was drizzling slightly, and the gathering crowd packed tightly into the center square and above on the park’s elevated terraces. Robin Thomas, a member of progressive political organization Indivisible Washington, began the rally by welcoming everyone and thanking them for showing up to protect their First Amendment rights.
In her land acknowledgment to Bellingham’s Lummi Nation and Nooksack Tribe, Thomas emphasized that we cannot understand our country if we do not recognize that it was founded upon theft. She then introduced Representative Alex Rammel, a member of the Washington State House Democrats. Listening to Representative Rammel reminded me how much I missed seeing articulate, poised and intelligent politicians speak.
His speech felt like a conversation and a call to action without fear. He began by saying that Trump and his administration have a plan, and that every authoritarian government follows a similar playbook. They provoke fear, spread misinformation, censor honest and accurate reporting and use violence against their citizens.
Rather than letting this fact discourage us, Rammel rallied the crowds by saying we know their plan. It is uncreative and unoriginal, and we are more than capable of stopping it in its tracks. By being there for our communities and standing up to the mockery that the administration is making of our country, we can promote change. Critically, Rammel urged the crowd to practice nonviolence and noncooperation.
I took a class with Professor Evan Weissman about nonviolence in political movements. My class was not unanimously in agreement about the superiority of nonviolent protests over more confrontational tactics, but what I did learn was that nonviolence can be a deciding factor as to whether we backslide into authoritarianism.
Unified citizens who raise their voices but not their fists in a high enough number have been proven to be unignorable. Organizing gives us power; as Robin Thomas had us chant in unison, power is both organized people and organized money.
No Kings is a relatively new name, but organizing against Trump is not. Indivisible groups across the country organized the No Kings movement, but had been advocating against the danger the Trump administration posed since Trump’s first presidential victory.
The organization began as a simple Google Doc that they called the Indivisible Guide. This document was a simple manual on how to organize locally and put pressure on our local representatives to resist Trump’s agenda.
Now, autonomous Indivisible groups exist all over the country, with thousands of groups scattered across every state. A national team of Indivisibles work with local Indivisible groups to run media campaigns, develop advocacy strategies and support local leaders with what they need to be successful. The Indivisible mission is to scale up local action, empowering the people to protect themselves and their democracy.
Seven million people showed up nationally last Saturday. Being in Bellingham and attending their No Kings protest was an incredible opportunity to see the spirit of Bellingham and be reminded of the hopeful, passionate, intelligent and driven people of this country.
It was emotionally and politically rejuvenating to hear the thunder of voices shouting into the rain. We danced on wet pavement with strangers in blow-up frog suits, fighting for democracy. Around the park, Indivisible Bellingham had set up tents with pamphlets guiding people through different ways to exert individual power, putting pressure on our elected officials, boycotting companies that bend to the whims of this administration and voting in elections both national and local.
I often feel incredibly inconsequential with my singular voice and thoughts. It both exhausts and enrages me to think and talk about all the blatantly immoral, illegal and undemocratic actions of so many names in politics today. I’m truly embarrassed for my country when I discuss politics with my Dutch cousins on the phone.
America is at a crossroads right now, both in the public and political spheres. Engaging with the political and ideological detriments is a choice for some people and absolutely unavoidable for others. We all need to choose to resist intentionally, in whatever ways that might be.
We need to encourage and be kind to one another, not evoke shame or anger. Whether it be apathy, fear or political pressure that keeps a person from waking up and caring just a little bit more, we need to work as local communities to come together as a nation.