‘No Kings’ Draws More Than 1,000 Protesters to Franklin Square

More than 1,000 people gathered on Franklin’s Public Square on Saturday afternoon as part of the third nationwide “No Kings” rally, calling for the end of President Donald Trump’s second administration.

The crowd — made up of mostly older white people, many with gray hair holding hand-written signs on poster boards — grew to a point of closing half of the square’s roundabout to vehicle traffic. Some drivers taunted protesters with shaking heads, obscenities, revving engines and middle fingers. Others signaled support with horns, cheers and waves.

Remarks were issued from the steps of the historic courthouse, along with prayers and songs. Hours earlier, thousands more took to Nashville’s streets, and in communities across the state and nation, voicing outrage over issues including the Epstein files and the now-monthlong war launched by the U.S. and Israel against Iran.

“I say this to every elected representative of America: We are the American people, not a party, not a demographic. Yes, we are the citizens of this great nation, the people you were elected to serve, and we are speaking with one voice. You are failing us,” said Mark Rogers, a retired U.S. Navy Captain and 1966 Battle Ground Academy graduate.

Rogers ended his remarks with a more direct dig at Trump.

“Somewhere buried in a clogged artery in the world's ugliest man, there is a tiny little clot struggling to be free. I believe in you, little clot. Be free, send that son of a bitch to hell.”

Other speakers urged continued action and faith in resistance. 

“I just want everyone to know that you have already done something very powerful today. You showed up," Williamson County Democratic Party Chair Ragan Grossman said.

“I will also be the first to tell you that this is not about political affiliation. This is not a Democrat versus Republican thing, and if that's how we make it, we all lose. This is about truth versus propaganda. This is about accountability versus blind loyalty. This is about whether we still believe that government is supposed to work for the people, all people. I stand here before you today to say that we have work ahead of us. But after we put these signs down and after we put the bullhorns away, I'm going to ask you, what are you going to do tomorrow?” 

Community Organizer Jorge Zetina — with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and the Tennessee chapter of the National Domestic Workers Alliance — spoke of his experience immigrating from Mexico to the United States, having also lived in Cuba, before eventually settling in Franklin.

“I came from a place under an authoritarian government. I know the feeling on the boot in the neck disguised as order,” he said. “I know the injustice signed into the law behind closed doors, and most of all, I remember the fear. Yes, I was paralyzed [out of] fear for my children. I looked at them, and I realized that in that place, the future was not their own. It was dictated by the weight of a ruler. So we left. We crossed the continent to find a place where my kids could grow free.

He said he felt that same authoritarian playbook was now unfolding in America. 

“Make no mistake, fascism is not a foreign idea,” he said. “It is a process, and right now, that process is systematically destroying the four pillars that hold our great society.”

Zetina encouraged action in the form of education and community and civic engagement at the local community level to the ballot box, and spoke directly to the hundreds of young people peppered throughout the crowd.

“You are inheriting a nation at a crossroads. Build a better America,” Zetina said. “Not one ruled by a king, but one governed by we, the people, for your future, for your children and for the promise that brought me here to Franklin on that grateful day.”

Mirabelle Stoedter, president of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State and a white South African immigrant, joined Franklin Community Church Pastor and Williamson County Homeless Alliance Executive Director Kevin Riggs in warning of threats from American theocracy and Christian nationalism.

“Religion must never be forced on us or funded by us,” Stoedter said. “Not when Trump sent Stephen Miller to Tennessee with model bills for ‘controlling immigrants.’ Not when Christian prayer services are held in the Pentagon, not when our governor tells us an entire state to fast and pray for a month, not when we are told we are fighting a holy war. A wall of separation must be kept between church and state, because the separation of church and state means this. The rule of law, not rule by the whim of one man.”

Riggs argues that Franklin serves as the “unofficial headquarters” of the political-religious ideology. He also spoke of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, who according to the Christian faith, ordered the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.

“I cannot leave today before pointing out that today's ‘No Kings’ rally in the Christian calendar falls on the day before Palm Sunday. What is often overlooked in our churches is pointing out that Palm Sunday was a protest against [the] military might of the empire. Palm Sunday was the very first ‘No Kings’ rally,” Riggs said.  

“Palm Sunday was a protest against wars, oppression and unjust policies that keep people down instead of lifting them up. Jesus was showing us a better way, a way of love, forgiveness, sacrificial service and humility. Thus, what we are doing here today is holy. Even if you're not a believer in any religion, you are still doing holy work today by showing up. This is kingdom work. This is the way of Jesus. So let's keep it up. Let's not stop, let's push back. Let's stand against authoritarianism, let's make the world a better place for ourselves, for our neighbors, for our children and for our grandchildren.”

The only elected official was District 52 State Rep. Justin Jones (D-Nashville), who energized the crowd. 

“I come here today from Nashville to stand with my sisters and brothers in Williamson County, because they said that this was a red county,” Jones said. “But when I look around, I see a multi-racial, multi-generational, multi-faith movement saying that we're here to reclaim our democracy,” Jones said.