My youngest grandson, Zeke, age 13, and I attended the October 18, 2025 Minneapolis No Kings rally. I took the time to write my reasons for attending in an earlier blog post. This blog post has my impressions.
It was big. Speakers addressed the crowd for about an hour, and then the crowd marched around a few blocks and back to the starting point on 4th Street and Portland Avenue, near US Bank Stadium. My biggest complaint was, those downtown buildings got in the way and the crowd could not see or hear the speakers. That’s how big it was. Streets were elbow to elbow with people.
On the Light Rail line coming in, Zeke and I offered our seats to some elderly ladies. One accepted our offer and took a seat. I sat again next to her and struck up a conversation. We asked each other why were were coming to the rally. I told her some of my reasons and that I had written them down because there are too many to keep in my head. Naturally, I gave her a business card and encouraged her to read my blog post. The train got more crowded and I gave up my seat again to another elderly lady.
After we arrived at the rally site, Zeke and I walked around and struck up conversations with people. Since I wrote my reasons for attending, we started with, “Why are you here?” The theme of everyone’s answer was, they needed to be here because they love their country and want to stop the United States from degrading into fascism. I asked a group if they hated America. Some laughed. They all said no.
People offered different stories. One lady said she knows there are conservatives who don’t like Trump. Yep, I’m one of ’em. Zeke spotted a Ukrainian flag, approached the group, and they told us they were helping sponsor a Ukrainian family. Another young person played a musical instrument. Zeke told me it was an ocarina. Zeke is a musician and plays multiple instruments. They compared musical notes, kind of like the way I compare technology notes with other IT people.
Everyone we met seemed eager for conversation. Zeke told people that his ethnic background includes Mexican heritage, but his mother now lists him as White because they’re afraid Zeke could become a target for a misguided ICE raid. I had never considered Zeke’s fear until I heard him tell that story a few times. Some of his schoolmates have used racial slurs against him, but they’ve never talked about immigration and racial issues in any school classes.
I wanted a view from above the crowd, and so we maneuvered to the tallest open building I could find. I snapped this picture from the seventh floor of the Jerry Haaf parking ramp, looking Southeast toward US Bank Stadium along 4th Street. We saw a helicopter and a couple of drones above us. Did I mention it was big?
After the speakers finished their speeches, the march around the blocks started. We snapped pictures from the top of a different parking ramp on 3rd Street. As the crowd passed, Zeke shouted, “No Kings!” down to them. They responded and, for a while, they kept up a good chant. Then Zeke’s voice got hoarse.
Zeke and I came down from the parking ramp and joined the crowd on the street. That was when we ran across a group singing. They encouraged Zeke to join in, somebody handed him a paper with the lyrics, and he stepped right in.
Too bad guys like Minnesota Representative Tom Emmer, Speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, and other MAGA faithful didn’t attend the Minneapolis No Kings rally. MAGA people called it a hate America rally. When I saw this group singing and dancing, I broke down and cried because I saw the opposite of hate.
They were getting ready to sing Joe Hesla’s version of “America the Beautiful.” I offered to record it and upload to Youtube. Enjoy.
And then, signs. Lots of signs. Here are a few.
When the President of the United States
- puts personal revenge above leading the country he was elected to lead,
- tries to use the United States military as his own private army,
- embraces sadism against immigrants and citizens he doesn’t like,
- makes multi $billion graft schemes part of normal operations,
- tries to control the banking industry,
- censors speech he doesn’t like,
- guts public health,
- and engages in numerous other outrages,
why would anyone be surprised that millions of Americans engage in dissent?
There was a time when Republicans stood for small government, individual responsibility, integrity, and hard work to achieve the American dream. Today’s Republicans abandoned those ideals to grovel for table scraps from a master hellbent on enriching himself. Today’s Republicans should be ashamed of themselves for spewing lies claiming the Minneapolis No Kings rally and others are hate America rallies. When they ridicule dissent, they ridicule America. Be grateful that our founding fathers did not share that attitude.
Dissent is every bit as American as voting. I am proud I attended the Minneapolis No Kings rally, and I am proud of my grandson for attending with me. I will attend more. And I will wear whatever names today’s Republicans want to call me as a badge of honor.
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