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Local News from around Mendocino County produced by local radio stations in collaboration with other local media. This podcast is available for redistribution under CC BY 4.0, or the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.
Is Liam O'Carroll from Willett's Hometown Radio. This is the Mendocino News Network update for Wednesday, 06/18/2025. Our story today is by Damian Savoyan.
Speaker 2:Reporting for the Mendocino News Network, I'm Damian Sebuchian. On Saturday, June 14, as president Trump celebrated his 70 birthday with a massive military parade featuring 6,700 soldiers, 28 able tanks, and 34 horses at an estimated cost of between 25,000,000 and 45,000,000 in taxpayer funds, a starkly different demonstration of American democracy played out across the nation. The No Kings protest organized to counter what demonstrators called authoritarianism and the militarization of democracy drew massive crowds that dwarfed the military parade attendance. No Kings organizers estimated that more than 5,000,000 people participate in more than 2,000 cities and towns with over 80,000 people marching through Philadelphia alone and over 200,000 people gathering in Los Angeles. The juxtaposition was striking.
Speaker 2:While Trump's military display celebrated presidential power with tanks rolling through Washington, millions of Americans simultaneously took to the streets nationwide to protest what they viewed as an imperial presidency, creating what some observers called the largest single day protest in U. S. History. Closer to home in Willits California according to the most recent counts more than five fifty concerned citizens gathered to add their voices to the No Kings protest. According to one will its organizer the approximate number of five fifty in a town with population of 4,752 means that nearly 12% of the population of Will its showed up to the peaceful protest and march that ended at City Park on Commercial Street across from Willett City Hall.
Speaker 2:According to the No Kings organization's website nokings.org quote they've defied our courts, deported Americans, disappeared people off the streets, attacked our civil rights, and slashed our services. The corruption has gone too far. No thrones, no crowns, no kings. Furthermore, it turns out that the June 14 event is just the beginning for the organization that is composed of 208 nonprofit partners, including the ACLU, Americans for Financial Reform, and Black Votes Matter. From the website, on June 14, we told our government and communities, No Kings.
Speaker 2:Join us on Monday night after the big day for a debrief call for everyone across the movement who attended a No Kings event. We'll talk about what we accomplished and what's next in the fight. For general inquiries about the organization, it can be emailed at info@nokings.org. Members of the media can use the email address media@nokings.org. Now here are some sound bites from various protesters from the Willits March.
Speaker 3:How the vulnerable the most vulnerable in our society or in our country are being are being more marginalized and in fact castigated, left behind, saying, oh, well, people die. The way that undocumented people are being treated, families uprooted, children even just deported. And people deported without even habeas corpus, without even finding out if they, you know, are citizens or what. Yes. Do you what do you say to those who say, well, he was voted into office and he this is
Speaker 2:a mandate and he's doing exactly what they elected him to do?
Speaker 3:Well, you still we still have a constitution of The United States and that's the supreme law of the land. I don't care who's president. See people I have never seen at protests before and, people that I thought would never think about speaking up against the government, and it just that encourages me a lot.
Speaker 4:We have we are sliding into an authoritarian government rapidly. We have jackbooted thugs kidnapping people off the street, and, we don't have any power other than to stand up and be counted, by showing up to rallies like these.
Speaker 3:How effective is that message?
Speaker 4:The main message is that we want want our democracy back, that we are Americans. We believe in kindness. We believe in courtesy, and we believe in caring. And all of that has been erased by this administration.
Speaker 3:Alright. Can you give me an example of how that's been happening?
Speaker 4:Well, a good example is kidnapping people and taking them to gulags in El Salvador or and without any trial, without any hapias, court press. Another example is that this president never makes any speech where he doesn't malign or denigrate somebody. Health care away from people. We don't deport four year olds who are who've got cancer and will die as a result. That's not who we are.
Speaker 4:We don't separate families. So, yeah, there is a very strong moral thing. If if we have any morality, we can't possibly coexist with this government. I
Speaker 3:did not know Captain America plays the flute, but apparently he does and he does it very well. And
Speaker 2:those were the sounds of protest that took place in downtown Willits, on Saturday morning, 07/14/2025. Reporting for the Mendocino News Network, I'm Damian Subuyan signing off.