Thousands march against Trump administration in Durham No Kings protest
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- Thousands gathered in Durham to protest the Trump administration and Iran war.
- Speakers from unions, Veterans for Peace and socialist groups addressed the crowd.
- Protesters linked past movements to present actions to demand policy and justice changes.
The slow rhythm of beating drums and shaking tambourines provided the percussion needed for the many gathered in downtown Durham to sing protest chants like, “I am not afraid, I am not afraid, I will live for liberation, 'cause I know why I was made.”
Thousands encircled Durham’s CCB Plaza Saturday morning to protest President Donald Trump’s administration, one of many “No Kings” protests across the Triangle and the country.
As the United States’ war with Iran caused a spike in gas prices, Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 36%, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll for the week of March 16 to 22. A Pew Research poll conducted the same week found that more than 6 in 10 Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the war.
Protesters marched down West Chapel Hill Street to the beat of drums and tamborines and chanting “no more war” and “lock him up” and singing “everybody deserves to be free.” They then gathered at Durham Central Park to hear from speakers from the Party of Socialism and Liberation, the Union of Southern Service Workers, the Triangle Amazon union CAUSE and Veterans for Peace Triangle.
Mac Kendall, of Durham, carried a Minnesota state flag and said he was inspired by the example Minneapolis residents set by protesting the ICE operation there in January. He left the North Star State in 1980 but still has family there.
“It’s a small community, Durham, but here we are representing ourselves and trying to fight against what’s going on,” Kendall said.
Dan Read, 72, of Durham, sees parallels between the Vietnam War he protested in the 1970s and the Iran war today. Read said he sees similarly vague goals and no idea when the war will end. Read, who served in the U.S. Army from 1974 to 1976, said bombing Iran won’t change the hearts of the Iranian people and will make peace harder to achieve. “I’m sad that my grandchildren, especially, are gonna inherit this [expletive],” Read said.
Read was joined by his old law school classmate and Durham lawyer Alex Charns. The day before, Charns, 69, was in Washington, D.C., celebrating another friend’s 70th birthday by getting arrested inside the Pentagon for protesting. Charns was with a group of 70 people, mostly from North Carolina and 27 of whom were arrested.
“Took them about 15 minutes to realize we weren’t in the tour group, and we started singing and chanting,” Charns said.
Charns’ mother grew up in Nazi-occupied Poland. As part of the Polish underground, she helped her Jewish neighbors escape Nazi capture. She went into hiding after her father was convicted of treason by the Third Reich for “smuggling” Jews into Lithuania.
What Charns is seeing under a second Trump administration is not quite Nazi Germany, but seeing the killings of two U.S. citizens by ICE agents in Minneapolis makes him fear the United States is trending in that direction.
“The way that ICE [acts] — I mean, they act more and more like Storm Troopers,” Charns said. “They come in —without warrants, sometimes — and break into homes. They take people from their schools.”
Charns said he was tired coming back from Washington, but coming out to the No Kings protest and seeing others upset about the country’s direction gave him hope.
Hope is something that, with a guitar in her hands and a microphone to her lips, Kathleen Hannan sought to give to fellow protesters. Hannan led members of her singing group, Bodies, Voices & Spirit, and others drawn to the melody in various protest songs, like, “We are here, in our city, our love for each other will carry us through.” Hannan said she’s old enough to remember the Civil Rights movement and how its many songs united protesters spiritually and politically. And song gives the group something more than being against Trump. “None of us like Trump’s policies,” Hannan said. “But we’re finding something with each other, with our neighbors. And song is the absolute, in my opinion, best way to feel that. You really feel it.”
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