Raleigh seniors stage their own ‘No Kings’ rally, saying, ‘We’re old, we’re bold.’
Were she maybe a decade younger, Peggy Naylor would march straight into the thickest crowds on No Kings Day, raise a fist and proudly shout her truth all the way to the White House.
But being 77, she rolled her wheelchair to the sidewalk, just outside her retirement community, and joined a group of silver-haired protesters on walkers and canes — adding her voice to a venerable chorus.
“I’ve lived a long time,” she said. “I’ve lived through many presidents. He’s crude. He’s a narcissist. He’s a bigot. If he has his way, he’ll kill Social Security and privatize it, and that’s kind of scary, because I’ve paid into it my whole life since I’m 14.”
President Donald Trump would be hard-pressed to find a more sincere indictment of his policies, out of 3,000 No Kings demonstrations Saturday, than the dressing-down delivered by roughly 70 senior citizens on T.W. Alexander Drive.
For more than two hours, they occupied a corner and a median strip outside The Cambridge at Brier Creek and waved defiant signs at the passing cars: “We’re Old! We’re Bold! We vote!” While smaller in number than the thousands packed into downtown Raleigh, Durham or even Louisburg, they brought a condemnation seasoned with hard-earned wisdom.
“While we can no longer stand in protest, we can certainly sit,” said JoAnne Smart Drane. “Energetically sit.”
‘Close to home’
Seventy years ago, Smart Drane and a classmate integrated Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina — now UNC-Greensboro — opening the door for two generations of Black students there.
And on Saturday, she had only to walk outside her apartment, open a folding chair and perch herself with a hand-drawn sign: “Women are Nation Builders.” Her husband, Hal, a retired veteran, waved another that read “Good Trouble.”
“The whole idea of the insults piled upon us by putting Pete Hegseth in charge of this Department of War,” he said, “who is completely unqualified, who has talked about gutting the ranks of senior vets.”
“My wife and I are a bit disabled,” he added, as a passing car honked its approval. “So we try to stick close to home.”
They caught a few middle fingers. They inspired a few passers-by to stop and argue in the middle of a busy street. They noted that Trump supporters live alongside them in The Cambridge, and likely down the street at Carolina Arbors, the senior community that joined their protest in solidarity.
But they wanted to join the fray. They needed to elbow their way into the shoving match of American democracy, even if their elbows required extra padding.
“I have an 18-year-old grandson,” said Pete Nehlsen, 80, a Vietnam veteran. “They’re talking about reinstating the draft. I was drafted into the Marine Corps, and I don’t him to go through that. It’s for a war that shouldn’t be happening. It’s a money grab. They want the right for oil.”
‘So proud of me’
Next to him, in a folding chair parked next to her walker, Christine Frasca sat under a blanket with a shawl wrapped around her head, eager to be heard.
“Other than the fact that I’m very cold,” said Frasca, 77, “I felt, ‘Don’t just complain.’ If you don’t like Trump, do something about it. Just because you’re old doesn’t mean you don’t have the right kind of values.”
As Frasca spoke, she recalled that her late husband, Jay McIntosh, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1981 along with the staff of the Longview Daily News in Washington for their coverage of Mount St. Helens’ eruption.
It felt a bit uncomfortable Saturday just to make the trip to the sidewalk, to sit there for two hours on a 45-degree day with the traffic whizzing by and the horns honking. But Frasca felt close company in the memories of a long, purposeful life.
“My husband, if he lived, would have been so proud of me,” she said, smiling. “You have to stand somewhere.”
This story was originally published March 29, 2026 at 10:55 AM.