On Saturday, October 18, thousands of demonstrators in Carrboro, Pittsboro, and Hillsborough made signs, donned costumes, and stepped out to voice their distaste with the actions and policies of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Chapelboro.com sent reporters to each of these demonstrations to hear what they had to say.
Carrboro
Image via Emma Cooke/Chapel Hill Media Group
In Carrboro, protestors gathered at the Town Commons to voice their frustration and find community support. Trisha Lester, one of the Carrboro No Kings organizers, said more than 2,000 people registered for the town’s demonstration. She said that Republican messaging against the demonstration only bolstered attendance.
“As you may well know, there were 2,600 events across the country,” she said. “And once the Speaker of the House started spewing out the propaganda about the No Kings Day, saying that we were terrorists and all such inappropriate names, it made the number of people registering double in one day.”
State Sen. Graig Meyer was one of the speakers in attendance in Carrboro. He laid out some of the specific issues that the demonstrators were rallying against.
“Their trickery and their thievery is not the point,” he said. “The point is their cruelty, because they’re doing it to advance the Trump agenda. They’re doing it to double health care premiums. They’re doing it to ensure that billionaires are never held accountable for polluting our air and water. They’re doing it to make sure that corporations get everything they want out of the Trump administration. They’re doing it because they can rip off your vote and then rip off your pocketbook. We have to say, no, no kings, but we also have to provide an alternative agenda.”
Pittsboro
Image via Henry Taylor/Chapel Hill Media Group
It was a similar scene in front of the Pittsboro courthouse, where hundreds of demonstrators gathered. Many brought signs, and some even wore masks and costumes. While the decision to demonstrate was no doubt spurred on by anger for many, the energy at the protest was jovial and hopeful. Bubbles filled the air, children wearing pro-democracy shirts played, and there was even a musical performance from the Raging Grannies, a group of elderly women performers and activists who have been attending demonstrations since the 80s. Nancy Jacobs of Indivisible Chatham, the local activist group that organized the town’s rally, led the crowd in chants and cheers.
“This is our chance to be free,” she said to the crowd. “We must be fight to be free. We must be free to be free. This is why we’re here. It’s why we’re all here. To demonstrate and celebrate our shared belief in democracy. We share the highest form of patriotism.”
Mary Blevins, who attended the demonstration with her husband, said that the past decade has changed her political outlook.
“I grew up in a predominantly Republican county in North Carolina and a Baptist church, and I turned my back on the party when Trump came down the elevator,” she said. “It has gotten more critical since then, and I think we are in severe danger of losing our democracy.”
She said she hopes the demonstrations reminds people just how many like-minded individuals they have in their communities.
“It will let us all know that we are united, that we love America,” she said. “We’re not alone, and that this really is like in decades past. We have to speak up and let people know that we’re here and this is what we want, that we don’t want oligarchs, autocracy, or great big tax breaks for billionaires.”
Hillsborough
Image via Heather Wilson/Chapel Hill Media Group
Hillsborough’s rally was quite similar to those in Carrboro and Pittsboro, as much a celebration of shared values and community as it was a demonstration against what they see as rising authoritarianism. Like Pittsboro, it was organized by a local chapter of Indivisible. Drummers drummed, signs with slogans both hopeful and cynical dotted the streets, and cars honked along in support of the protest. There was some dissent, in Hillsborough and the other rallies, mainly expressed by passing drivers yelling out in support of Donald Trump or against the protesters.
Organizers have said that nationally, at least 7 million Americans participated in Saturday’s demonstrations. It was the second No Kings Day following the first in June.
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