The ‘No Kings’ mass mobilization debunks Trump’s biggest myth

The ‘No Kings’ mass mobilization debunks Trump’s biggest myth

Ezra Levin, Martin Luther King, III, and Arndrea Waters King write:

President Donald Trump wants to celebrate his birthday like a king: not with cake or candles, but with a $45 million military parade through the streets of Washington, D.C. Officially, the parade is only to mark the U.S. Army’s birthday, not the president’s the same day; in reality, the military’s celebration, though long planned, did not include a parade until his administration got involved. On the day the Army was founded to defeat tyranny, he’s getting a parade and using your tax money to do so.

This chilling spectacle pulls us away from the ideal of nonviolence that has paved the way for freedom movements in this country for generations. That’s not freedom. That’s not democracy. That’s not American. So on June 14, we the people are rising up and declaring that in America, we do not have a king. Across every U.S. state and territory, in cities, towns, and rural communities alike, millions of us will join the “No Kings” mass mobilization.

The president is using the same playbook we’ve seen in other countries throughout history: concentrate power, crush dissent, target vulnerable communities, enrich yourself, and distract the public with shows of force. He’s moved swiftly to erode the guardrails of democracy. He’s attacked the press and public universities, purged civil servants, and ignored court orders. He’s slashing budgets for public services, moved to erase hard-won victories for civil rights, ordered the hounding of immigrants in schools, places of worship and job sites, and ignored due process while deporting migrants to dangerous foreign prisons.

Now, in the very same week when he dispatches the National Guard and the Marines to Los Angeles to silence protesters’ righteous cries for justice in the face of his cruel assaults on our immigrant brothers and sisters, he hosts a grand parade. We hold a parade of the people.

Trump’s power doesn’t just come from his title; it comes from the myth that he’s untouchable. That he can say and do whatever he wants, and no one can stop him. But that myth only exists if we let it. [Continue reading…]

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