No Kings Rallies Sweep Across Northern Arizona
This past weekend, northern Arizona witnessed a surge in activism as thousands participated in “No Kings” protests, a nationwide movement challenging the current administration’s policies. These demonstrations aimed to “defend democracy and reject authoritarian power,” according to organizers.
The backdrop of these rallies includes an ongoing immigration crackdown, with National Guard troops deployed to several cities. In Prescott Valley, a significant turnout of 2,500 people stretched over a mile along State Route 69 on Saturday morning.
Among those present was Vietnam veteran Dick Derrickson, who traveled from Prescott with his wife. He expressed concerns about the potential for violence due to the deployment of National Guard troops in cities like Chicago and Portland. “I’m old enough to remember Kent State. That’s a result that can happen when you put people on one side against each other and one side of them has loaded weapons,” Derrickson remarked.
While the majority voiced opposition, a small group gathered on the opposite side of the road in support of the Trump administration. In Flagstaff, the protest drew a younger demographic, with over 5,000 assembling on the city hall lawn.
Sofia Carrasco, a freshman at Northern Arizona University, shared her personal experiences regarding immigration raids. “A lot of my family is undocumented. Recently, some of them finally got their green card. Especially when ICE raids were here in Phoenix, Flagstaff — everywhere in Arizona — that terrified me. I did not want any of my family to go outside. I didn’t want them to go to work. I didn’t want to go to school because I was scared that maybe they would trap me and my siblings and try to get my family to come out, to take them away,” Carrasco explained.
Further protests were held in Sedona, where 1,600 participants lined State Route 89A, and in other locations such as Kingman, Payson, and Tuba City. Despite some Republican lawmakers labeling the nationwide events as “hate-America rallies,” participants dismissed these claims. A woman in Prescott Valley, dressed whimsically in an inflatable frog costume, argued, “Nobody is out here because they hate America. They’re here because they love America, they want to see our constitution upheld, they want the rule of law to be upheld.”
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