In a dozen protests across Long Island, one rallying cry resonated throughout crowds of thousands:
“No kings! No crowns! No fascism!”
The No Kings rallies across Nassau and Suffolk counties in protest of President Donald Trump were part of a wave of demonstrations that swept the nation on June 14. Rallygoers voiced passionate opposition to ICE activity and what they say is rising authoritarianism, political corruption and misuse of taxpayer funds.
The protests coincide with Flag Day — also Trump’s 79th birthday — for which the president has a $40 million military parade planned.
“The current person in charge is a draft dodger, there’s no question about that in my mind, and that’s why I’m here,” said Matt Cody, whose father fought on Omaha Beach on D-Day during World War II.
Trump’s parade is a “complete waste of taxes,” he added. “There’s cuts being taken in this government that are affecting people who are on Medicaid. I know people who are on Medicaid. I know people who are suffering. So this is a complete waste of money.”
Cody was among the nearly 3,000 who joined the No Kings rally in Mineola, during which protesters marched from the Nassau County Courthouse to the legislature building. At the same time, 11 other rallies took place across Long Island, including in Hampton Bays, Huntington, Patchogue, Port Jefferson, Port Washington, Sag Harbor and Southampton.
“What I’m going to ask of you all today and going forward is to have those difficult conversations,” Skyler Johnson of the Suffolk County Democrats said at the Port Jefferson Station protest. “When I say that this must be brought into the light, I mean that it must be dragged into the light. What that means is that when you have people saying that ‘Immigrants do not get due process,’ make sure that they are corrected, because if one person does not have due process, none of us have due process. What I am saying is, do not sacrifice the LGBTQ, the trans community, in order to appease a dictator.”
Opposition to escalating ICE activity across the country — including on Long Island, where recently a 23-year-old Brentwood man was allegedly wrongfully detained by ICE; a Port Washington bagel store owner was taken when he arrived to work; and ICE agents swept through Glen Cove in pursuit of four individuals — took center stage at the No Kings rallies.
“My wife didn’t want me to come. She was scared because I don’t look American, I don’t look white,” said David, who asked to be identified by first name only. “People might think I’m from Mexico — I’m not from Mexico. People might think I’m from Central America — I’m not from Central America. But these raids are targeting people who look like me.”
David emigrated from Peru 32 years ago to escape guerrilla militants who terrorized his home and killed those who did not comply. He was eventually able to obtain citizenship and has made a safer life for himself on Long Island.
David’s wife made him take his passport and documentation to the No Kings rally, in case he had to prove his citizenship. But the risk of being racially profiled or detained by law enforcement was not enough to stop him — he needed to fight for the future of his 24-year-old son, who recently graduated college.
“I want to show support to those kinds of kids out there,” David said. “First-generation Americans. There’s this dream in America that if you can do it, you can fight for it, and you’re able to describe your goals, then you can be something. And you can do something for other people.”
It gave him chills, David said, to see people of all colors come together for a cause. The crowd was also comprised of people of all ages, from senior citizens to young children.
Declan Borzell, 10, came to the No Kings rally with his family. It was his first protest.
“It’s very patriotic and very fun,” he said. “It feels great to exert my feelings about Trump and the bad things he’s doing.”
“We think it’s very important that he learns what our country is built on,” said Declan’s father, Paul Borzell. “He has a strong idea of what is right and wrong, and he has a very strong idea of what democracy is. So we just wanted to show him what it was, locally.”
Long after the No Kings protest had officially ended, one man still stood on the side of Old Country Road, holding the American flag as high as he could. He emigrated from Bangladesh at 16, and then spent years serving the U.S. military.
“As long as we have them, we have to exercise our rights,” he said. “If you don’t exercise them, they fall apart.
“We have to be out there and letting everybody know what it means to us,” he said. Here, he got choked up. “What America means to us.”
Others spoke of a need to address more than just the actions of the White House.
“I want to be real clear: today is a No Kings Day, but at the end of the day, this is not about Donald Trump,” Shoshanna Hershkowitz said in Port Jefferson Station. “It didn’t start with him, and it doesn’t end with him, because the racism, the xenophobia, the income inequality that drove us to this place. It started before Trump. He’s a symptom.”
–Additional reporting by Michael Malaszczyk
