Chicagoans celebrated the No Kings rally as a successful and peaceful protest. Tens of thousands showed up on June 14 to protest the authoritarian policies of President Donald Trump and the ideology behind pairing his 79th birthday with a military parade in Washington DC. They joined the millions gathered around the nation for their own No Kings protests.
In terms of police action, one arrest was reported during the Chicago march. Also, Block Club Chicago reported that one attendee was struck in the head by Chicago Police officers after a standoff between protesters and law enforcement near the ICE Field Office at 101 W. Ida B. Wells Drive.
Organizers wanted to keep things peaceful to avoid giving Trump a reason to retaliate violently against protestors. But what exactly goes into keeping a protest peaceful?
Event organizer Indivisible Chicago, a progressive activist organization founded in 2017 in partnership with the ACLU, says this outcome shows what happens when protestors can find a middle ground with city officials.
“I think the city had an interest in making this a successful, peaceful protest, too,” said Denise Poloyac, an Indivisible organizer. “I think personally that when police show up [in riot gear], that is very provocative, and that actually escalates situations and makes them into something that they don’t ever need to be.”
Indivisible worked with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to apply for the city permit and plan the march route. Poloyac said the areas blocked by police — such as the bridges along Wacker Drive — were a result of planning between city officials and organizers to protect protestors from oncoming traffic.
Poloyac added that the absence of police in riot gear, and the fact that there were no federal troops deployed, helped in the peaceful outcome of the protest.This runs counter to recent law enforcement and military intervention in protests in cities like Los Angeles where federal troops were called in to quell an otherwise peaceful anti-ICE protest.
When asked about why Chicago police did not wear riot gear for this action, Chicago Deputy Mayor of Community Safety, Garien Gatewood, said there was no riot, so there was no need for it.
“There didn’t need to be any riot gear because people were protesting peacefully,” Gatewood said. “And this also works when, again, organizers of protests and marches [are] willing to work together with the city so we can get to that safe result that people are looking for. I think that plays a big role in it, because the city’s certainly not in the role or not interested in being an aggressor at all.”
When asked if such an action could take place without the use of the Chicago Police Department, Gatewood says that the coordination of all city resources is needed to ensure the safety of protestors. Police overtime is a routine accompaniment to such protests. There is not yet any data on how much overtime was clocked by officers who worked during the June 14 action; however, in the past, the city has clocked hundreds of millions in overtime for similar community engagements
The No Kings protest was an example of a planned protest that procured a permit. Meanwhile, other actions are meant to be more disruptive.
During the 2024 Democratic National Convention, which was held in Chicago, one group called Behind Enemy Lines disrupted a planned demonstration that was meant to be family-friendly. Local organizers explained to The TRiiBE that there’s a time and place for each type of protest.
Notably, Poloyac said she acknowledges the privilege that groups like Indivisible Chicago and the ACLU may have when it comes to how officials determine the necessity of decisions like the police’s use of riot gear.
“We are predominantly white organizations, and I know that we are treated differently than communities of color,” she noted. In 2020, during the summer-long protests following the Minneapolis police murder of George Floyd, Chicago police showed up in riot gear, intensifying tensions with protestors.
Poloyac said that because of such realities, it’s important for their organization and other white-led groups to act as marshals and be on the front lines to protect the marginalized.
Sharon Hicks-Bartlett, an associate instructional professor at the University of Chicago, attended the local No Kings rally. She has been documenting protests since the Vietnam War and said that the violence that Black people historically faced during protests is one reason we saw a smaller number of Black people visibly marching in the No Kings actions.
There’s been ongoing dialogue about Black people “sitting out” the protests under Trump’s second presidency. Hicks-Bartlett added that the move is reflective of how divided the country is and the fatigue Black people are feeling with politics in general, coupled with the attitude that this fight is not theirs to be on the frontlines for.
It is worth noting that one-in-ten Black people in the United States are immigrants, and the majority of countries listed on Trump’s latest travel ban are African nations or nations with heavy populations of brown-skinned citizens. On Aug. 3, hundreds of thousands of Haitian immigrants in America are scheduled to lose Temporary Protected Status due to Trump’s policy changes.
Organizers have long said that there is more than one way to participate in protesting. However, several Black people who attended the No Kings Chicago march said they did so because they needed to fight for humanity.
Taliah Shelton, 17, who lives in Roseland, attended the protest with her best friend and said she doesn’t want anyone to be oppressed.
“I feel like everybody should be treated equally, no matter what they look like. Black people have gone through a lot of oppression,” Shelton said while standing on a platform, holding a picket sign outside of Daley Plaza. “I feel like even though we went through it, it’s not right for anyone else to go through it as well. And I feel like if we want to change that, we have to come out here and make a change.”
Meanwhile, in Washington DC that same day, hundreds of soldiers and expensive war equipment marched down the parade route. There were very few sideline attendees. Trump reportedly spent $45 million on the parade. Notably, Trump dodged being drafted in the Vietnam War five times, which was not uncommon for men with resources to do during the time.
Jah Wyatt, 22, who lives in Marquette Park, sat in front of Trump Tower on Wacker Drive during the action. He said that the $45 million spent on Trump’s parade could have changed his neighborhood for “generations,” and that it will take action to make this kind of change.
“They see people looting [in other cities,] and they see people destroying buildings [in other cities and in the past,] making graffiti art, and they say, ‘We shouldn’t support these people. Look what they’re doing,” he said. “But they’re not looking at how we got to this point. They’re not looking at the anger and the frustration and the hurt that built us up to this point.”
Suburban Homewood resident Zuri Primm, 17, said it was important to fight for a United States she wants to grow up in.
“This is my future. I’m the one who has to live in this country. I’m the one who has to continue to go to school in this country. I’m expected to raise a family in this country and everything,” Primm said. “And if I’m gonna do that, if I’m gonna have a life here, I want it to be right.”
