She was small, thin, elderly, and perhaps not in the best of health. And yet she was standing in a crush of people waiting to join the protest march. I was wearing my yellow day-glo traffic vest and feeling a bit like the maître d at a wildly overbooked restaurant: “Watch your step, thank you so much for coming, thank you for your patience, the line will start moving when the light changes,” while 3,000 people tried to merge onto a sidewalk. The day was warm, people were smiling, laughing, chatting, and carrying signs. A lively fife and drum band in tri-cornered hats jumped the queue, but no one seemed to mind.
People sometimes ask, what is the point of protesting? What good does it do? And my answer, not original but learned from veteran rights activists, is that we protest to not be alone in our fury and grief over watching our country being plundered by people who have neither empathy nor conscience; to show the people currently in power that we see what they are doing and we dissent, loudly, strongly, with humor and even joy; and to encourage others to join with us in the hard work of building a better and more democratic country.
If you are feeling hopeless and wondering what you could possibly do that would make a difference, find your lane, whatever you care most about, find others who share your passion, and take an action, however small. It will be enough. And come to No Kings 4.
The woman moved slowly up to where I was standing and began talking, nearly in tears. I patted her arm and said, “We are going to win this,” and then she was hugging me, and I hugged her back, feeling how small and vulnerable she was. And then the crowd moved forward and we let go and I watched her take a deep, shuddering breath and continue marching.
Alison Jones
Los Osos
This article appears in April 2-9, 2026.
The No Kings “march” was a contrived “march” and a farce, created by billionaires to manage dissent by the AARP crowd. It took no critical examination of America’s structural issues and instead, took all of America’s glaring problems, i.e. labor participation, our healthcare system, low wages, deindustrialization, etc, and simply personified them into one man: Trump. As if replacing him with someone else would somehow remove the dependency of members of Congress on campaign contributions from private interests.
When it was all over, Boomers simply folded up their walkers, tossed them into their BMWs, dropped by their favorite bistros, had wine and cigars, and retired to their coastal villas, only to go to bed that night satisfied that once again, they were able to shake their fingers at those in power.
Meanwhile, the rest of have to go move refrigerators and color tvs.
The marches are emotionally driven, howling in rage and frusration at a world which refuses to obey their diktats about “how things ought to be”.
We’d be happy if the current administration adhered to ‘how the Constitution says things ought to be.’ You won’t see howling rage until they try to reinstate the draft; do you have ‘Peace With Honor’ on your bingo card for Trump’s next speech?
Steve:
The Constitution allows slavery, the 13th Amendment. You pine for a return to it. You’ll prolly argue that the South with rise again, right?
The 13th Amendment prohibits slavery, but left a giant loophole leading to the Prison Industrial Complex. I’d argue that No-Nothings, KKK, Birchers, Tea Party and MAGA are all on the same continuum. But, hey, you’re the history major.
I had no idea that the Framers, or those who drafted the 13th Amendment, objected to prison for criminals. Call me mean-spirited, but I rather like the idea that criminals are off the street.
Prison is de facto slavery, and Steve loves it.
“Don’t feel like Satan, but I am to them,
So I try to forget it any way I can.”
1lb jars of Folgers instant coffee are on sale for a measly $10 again at Costco until the 26th. I just bought $120 worth and I’ll do it again before the sale ends. At $10, in 6 months that will look like a STEAL. 1 jar makes at least 260 cups. Instant coffee lasts forever. I’m just stacking it in my storage locker.
* Edit: According to AI, a 1lb jar of instant coffee will make between 215 and 288 cups off coffee. On sale for $10, Costco. It’s practically free at that price, ladies and gelatin.
Thank you, Ms. Jones for writing this beautiful letter. As Jesus said in the Parable of the Sheep and Goats in Matthew 25: “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”