A motley row of about 80 people, mostly holding homemade signs, were standing on the Albany Avenue side of the triangular Academy Green in uptown Kingston last Saturday afternoon. In back of these demonstrators was gathered a crowd estimated at 2000 parading around, admiring each others’ signs, listening to the speakers, and in general whooping it up under the cloudy sky.
This was the local edition of the “No Kings” rally against the current Trump administration. It was timed to precede the Washington military parade scheduled for later on this same day — which when it happened had a much lower audience turnout than expected.
A woman suddenly darted out of the row of placard-holders and shoved one of what she was carrying through the window of a car passing slowly by. It turned out to be a bumper sticker bearing the legend, “Elect a clown expect a circus.”
A group of Kingston police officers moved traffic along at various intersections near the park. Flocks of those leaving the rally, signs still held aloft, filled the street crossings as the police overrode the traffic lights to keep them safe.
Judging from the traffic in mid-afternoon, a considerable number of attendees at the rally were from surrounding towns. Close to 400 people, many of them wearing plastic gold crowns, had assembled in New Paltz that morning.
“We are celebrating the 250th anniversary of the American revolution next year,” said Ulster County executive Jen Metzger. “That was a war against tyranny. We are fighting a war against tyranny again.”
Local state senator Michelle Hinchey said the country was “watching history unfold in real-time.”
In a forceful speech, Hinchey spoke to the need for the responsibility of individuals in these troubled times. “When we are watching the very fabric of our country unravel, this is the moment in history where we will look back on and say where were you when?” she said. “Where were you when we were watching dictators take over?”
There were more than 2000 “No Kings” rallies throughout the United States of America that Saturday afternoon.
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