No Kings Day protests Saturday drew thousands of Elgin-area people carrying signs, chanting slogans and generating an endless stream of car honks in opposition to President Donald Trump and his administration.
In downtown Elgin, a crowd stretched from North Grove Avenue to Foundry Park on Route 31 and a similar event brought out hundreds gathered on Randall Road in South Elgin. They were among about 3,300 protests held nationally.
Cheryl Wilkins, wearing a a paper crown with a red slash mark across the top, said she was compelled to attend because of “the injustice, the sleaze, the evil. … Evil. That’s not a word I say often.”
Lewis Wilkins, her son and one of the Elgin event organizers, said he believed that protests can elicit change if enough people participate.
“The academic research shows protests are extremely impactful,” Wilkins said. “If people just want to come meet their neighbor, get some sunshine and get creative with signs, that’s great. But at the same time, this is how communities form.”
And communities are the bedrock of democracy, he said.
“It shows we will not tolerate excess or unconstitutional abuses from our government,” he said. “We are going to stand up in support of our constitutional republic. No Kings Day in America is because we believe in democracy.”
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Tina Perry and her 11-year-old son, Zeke, were also attended armed with signs.
“I wanted to show him what our First Amendment right is,” Tina Perry said. “We have a way to stand up and fight and speak against things and show how we really feel.”
Zeke said he was impressed. “All the people here who come out here — I just think it’s cool,” he said.
Zeke’s sign that read, “ICE Melts Under Resistance.” His mom said the family has heard about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids in Carpentersville and other surrounding communities.
“We’ve talked about it a lot,” Tina Perry said. “What if someone came and took our family apart or kids came home without any parents and what that means.”
“Or ICE like shooting people,” Zeke said.
Children his age should never have had to worry about such things, she said. And “we as a people can stand up and fight to try to make things better for all of us. We all belong here,” Tina Perry said.
Sally Van De Voorde, whose father was mayor of Elgin from 1987 to 1995, carried a sign showing a UFO taking Trump away. She’s fascinated by UFOs and aliens, she said, so she decided to incorporate it into her message.
Trump is “destroying the U.S. in every conceivable way,” she said. “Collectively everybody showing up sends a message that we are tired of it and we’re not going to take it anymore,” Van De Voorde said.
She wants to see Trump out of office, either through impeachment or through use of the 25th Amendment, which allows a president to be removed if unable to fulfill his duties.
Elgin’s protest had music and chants of “Dump Trump” and “Draft Barron,” along with lots of car horns and cattle bells.
South Elgin’s protest was just as lively.
The League of Women Voters Central Kane County set up a table and sold signs for $5. The organization is nonpartisan, meaning it doesn’t support candidates, but does takes a stand on issues, co-President Patti Lackman said. It advocates on such things as due process, voting rights, immigration, social justice, democracy and education, she said.
LWV member Rita Berger said this was the third No Kings Day protest in which she’s participated since Trump’s second election. Each one has brought out a crowd larger than the last, she said.
“We are very excited people recognize there’s a problem and they are using their voice to say they are not OK with this,” Berger said.
In addition to participating in rallies, the League holds voter registration drives and candidate forums. “One of the things we like to foster is your vote is your voice,” Berger said.
Personally, she has been impacted by immigration; her mother was born in Mexico. It’s important to protect immigrant rights and voting and to remember that democracy is not a spectator sport, she said.
“It’s something we should teach our children,” Berger said. “Children model what you do. For me, it’s important to model to my kids and my new grandchild that you need to get involved. If you don’t like what is happening, get involved in a constructive way.”
Lackman has been protesting since she was 15 years old, she said.
“I was really under the impression for several years we were heading in the right direction. There weren’t the problems we see today,” she said. “I think our administration is basically unchecked. This shows people care about the issues important to them.”
Gloria Casas is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.