Thousands protest at Oak Park ‘No Kings’ march 

 Thousands gathered in downtown Oak Park Saturday, June 14 to take part in Oak Park’s “No Kings” protest of U.S. President Donald Trump. 

The protest was part of a national series of demonstrations of the president on the day, as protest organizers said last week they expected more than 1,800 protests associated with the “No Kings” movement to take place on Saturday. 

The protest in Oak Park was one of several in Chicagoland on Saturday, the largest of which drew an estimated crowd of 20,000 to Downtown Chicago’s Daley Plaza. Other suburban communities like Geneva, Evanston, Arlington Heights and Joliet also hosted “No Kings” protests. 

The protest was part of a national series of demonstrations opposing the president on the day, as protest organizers said last week they expected more than 1,800 protests associated with the “No Kings” movement to take place on Saturday. 

The crowd along Lake Street Saturday far eclipsed a similar anti-Trump protest in April. 

Attendees of the Oak Park protest said that fears over Trump policies aimed at ramping up deportations, slashing budgets to federal departments and consolidating executive power drove them out to protest.  

“There can’t be kings and there can’t be fascism,” said Lori Sadowski, a long-time Oak Park resident who now lives in Grayslake. “I don’t recognize the United States right now at all.” 

The nationwide “No Kings” protests were planned to go head-to-head with the large military parade planned for Saturday evening in Washington D.C. celebrating both Trump and the 250^th anniversary of the U.S. Army. The Army birthday celebration had already been planned for months. But earlier this spring, Trump announced his intention to transform the event into a massive military parade complete with 60-ton M1 Abrams battle tanks and Paladin self-propelled howitzers rolling through the city streets, according to the Associated Press. 

Oak Parker William F. Short attended the protest alongside his son Brendan, and was seated in his wheelchair holding a neon yellow sign that proudly declared that he was a 100-year-old World War II veteran. Short said he felt like he had never lived under a president like Trump and that he was struggling to recognize the politics of the modern United States. 

He said he was appalled by the idea of Trump’s military parade and that it did not honor the sacrifices of his generation. 

“We fought for this country, it was a rough time, and we lost a lot of people but they didn’t die so a guy like this would take over their country,” said Short. “It’s as if we’re not going to be a democracy anymore. When he gets through, you won’t have a country anymore. You have people thinking in so many crazy ways, this is so far from where we’re supposed to be.” 

Short’s granddaughter Elizabeth Short is a freelance writer for Wednesday Journal. 

Fakih Seals, another Oak Park veteran who attended the protest with his young family, said it was his important for him to attend the protest show his children to see the value of protest and patriotism going hand-in-hand. 

“I want them to see democracy in action, and I want them to see people speaking up,” Seals said, holding a folded American flag in his hands. “I’m a veteran and I’ve seen other veterans out here representing and reclaiming the flag. The other side does not own the flag, they don’t get to determine what this means, this means a lot to me. We want to stand for true freedom, it’s not about a select few and the oligarchs.” 

“If we don’t stand up to him, there will be nothing left.” 

The Oak Park protest comes months after another large anti-Trump protest in the village’s downtown on April 5, although Saturday’s demonstration drew a notably larger crowd with protestors marching down Lake Street and gathering in Scoville Park while chanting, waving flags and displaying satirical signs.  

“The sheer number of people who showed up, having so many of these around the Chicago area especially with the main one in Downtown Chicago, I really didn’t expect as large a gathering as was here today,” said Kat, a two-year Oak Park resident who wished not to have their last name printed. “I was absolutely blown away by how much of the community came out.” 

Oak Park is one of the most liberal communities in the United States, with over 90% of Oak Parkers voting for Democrat Kamala Harris in the last Presidential election. 

Traffic along Lake Street slowed to a crawl as cars honked their horns in approval, with a large Oak Park police presence on scene monitoring the march. Horn blows from an Oak Park Fire Engine rolling down the street drew a roaring cheer from the protestors. 

The weekend’s peaceful protests come on the heels of tense scenes playing out in Los Angeles as Trump ordered more than 2,000 National Guard troops and more than 700 U.S. Marines to intervene in immigration protests demonstrating against the administration’s bid to maximize deportations.  

That move marked the first time in decades that the national guard was deployed in a state without a governor requesting it, according to the AP. 

Susan Meier of River Forest said she’s worked in immigrant resettlement for more than 50 years and currently works with Friendship Community Place, a church on Chicago’s Northwest Side. She said that she’s recently worked with immigrants in Chicago, mostly women with multiple children, who she said were made to wear ankle monitors by immigration enforcement officers under false pretenses. 

“It is frightening to hear their stories and to understand that we have government that is not taking care of the least among us, in fact we have a government and a president who seems to be focused on hurting the most vulnerable among us,” Meier said. 

Oak Park, along with neighboring Chicago and Berwyn, had recently been included on a federal list of immigration “sanctuary cities” the Trump administration said were actively violating immigration law. The list was pulled from the Department of Homeland Security’s website days later, but it had followed threats from federal agencies that cities like Oak Park who have policies against cooperating with civil immigration enforcement investigations would lose access to infrastructure support and other forms of federal funding. 

Village President Vicki Scaman officially responded to the village’s inclusion on the list at June 3’s village board meeting. 

“I remain in constant contact with the governor’s office and I’m grateful for their support, our designated contact with the governor’s office was the first person to call me Friday morning after the Thursday release of a Presidential press release wrongly and irresponsibly calling out sanctuary city politicians,” she said. “Our ultimate goal is to build a stronger, more inclusive Oak Park and position our community to best serve and protect our residents. It is our engaged community, all of you, that makes us the leaders that we are and holds us accountable to never rest. I will never rest.”