‘No Kings,’ ‘Boots Across Oregon’ rallies bring thousands to Oregon Capitol
- Sirena Coulter-Kress, Staff Writer & Robin Linares, News Editor
- 7 days ago
- 7 min read
Thousands gathered on Oct. 18 at the Oregon State Capitol State Park with signs, and some with inflatable costumes, to join the “No Kings” rally and march through downtown Salem. Across the capitol mall, a smaller crowd of approximately 150 people gathered in a rally to promote a petition to recall Oregon Governor Tina Kotek.
This “No Kings” event in Salem, which, according to rally organizers, had nearly 10,000 people in attendance, was one of more than 2,700 demonstrations with over 7 million participants across the country that came together in protest against President Donald Trump and the policies enacted in his second administration. This demonstration also occurred in the midst of Trump’s push to send the national guard into Portland and as the Salem region sees increased reports of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in the area.
One of the organizing groups of the Oct. 18 “No Kings” rally, Salem Region Indivisible (SRI), which is a regional chapter of the national grassroots organization Indivisible, was present in full force, including tabling volunteers and volunteers prepared to act in a de-escalating capacity according to Thom Gapen, SRI’s director of communications. From SRI’s website, their vision is “To build a movement around a progressive agenda, defend the rule of law, and to mobilize diverse coalitions to save our democracy.”
Gapen spoke about the organization of the “No Kings” rallies, which as a national movement comes from a large coalition of organizations across the United States, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), MoveOn, the 50501 movement and more. Gapen estimated an attendance of nearly 10,000, which is around two times more than they had seen in previous rallies, he said. He stressed that organizing events such as this is a learning process and that they are still “building the plane as [they] fly it.”
The rally started at 12 p.m. and included several speakers prior to the march through downtown Salem at 2 p.m. According to the SRI Facebook page, speakers included Hannah Shooting Bear from Indigenous NOW, Sandy Chung with the ACLU, RJ Hampton with the NAACP, and Vanessa Nordyke, a Salem city councilor and mayoral candidate.
Nordyke explained that she was initially invited to speak at the rally after running into the organizers at Salem’s “Pride in the Park.”
“Beyond being invited to speak, I really wanted to be there because both personally and professionally, I have been impacted by the policies from the federal administration this year,” Nordyke said, “This is a really important way to find others who have been similarly affected, find those who share your values and to give each other hope.”
According to Gapen, SRI trained around 40 volunteers for almost a month to prepare them to keep the peace between attendees of the “No Kings” event and the aforementioned counter-rally on the other side of the Capitol mall. “We kinda knew that, if you’ll pardon my French,” Gapen said, “they were pissed off — we didn’t know how they were gonna act. We didn’t know how they were gonna react with us across the way.”
Despite the presence of hired security and human rights observers in the crowd at the rally, the No Kings website states, “A core principle behind all No Kings events is a commitment to nonviolent action. We expect all participants to seek to de-escalate any potential confrontation with those who disagree with our values and to act lawfully at these events.”
One of these human rights observers was Elise Strauss, who sported a frog hat and the signature neon vest to note that she was a volunteer. She described her role as an “impartial observer of infractions of the rule of law” who could act as a witness if there happened to be an altercation. Noting that her role was focused on keeping the peace, she expressed admiration for peaceful protest efforts in Portland with the “freedom frog” referring to the man protesting in an inflatable frog costume at Portland’s ICE facility in early October.
Many rally-goers followed in Portland’s footsteps with the inflatable costumes, which included frog, chicken, axolotl, dinosaur and unicorn costumes. Ryan Davis, who was adorned in a pink and purple unicorn costume and held a large American flag, explained why he valued this new wave of inflatable expression. “Inflatables grab attention and steer people towards curiosity about the cause we are promoting,” Davis said.
Davis expressed that he was there to advocate for freedom of speech and to protect democracy. He felt that the inflatable costumes acted as “the antithesis of violence” and can act as a "less invasive form of self-expression," while remaining eye-catching.
Two current Willamette students, Reilly Harrington (’28) and Alyssa Thompson (’28), were present at the rally.
“Everyone’s voice matters, and it’s important to hear from everyone. I think that you should never be silent, especially if you have something to say,” Thompson stated. “That includes the youth and especially [as] we’re moving out into the world and starting to have more power to make change.”
Seth Cotlar, history professor and chair of Willamette’s history department, was also in attendance. He expressed his admiration of the turnout at the Salem event and noted how far it extended throughout the country. “I think it was also really important that it happened in so many places around the country. Not just in big cities and not just in really blue parts of the country, but all over the country,” Cotlar said. “It’s a useful reminder that the majority of Americans do not approve of what Donald Trump is doing.”
The recall rally
At the opposite end of the State Capitol State Park, a smaller asse
mbly of approximately 150 people showed up for the “Boots Across Oregon” caravan and rally at the State Capitol. According to a poster advertising the event, the goals for the rally were to promote the recall of Oregon Governor Tina Kotek and to be a tribute to Charlie Kirk’s national day of remembrance, likely referring to Trump’s executive order declaring Kirk’s birthday, Oct. 14, to become the National Day of Remembrance for Charlie Kirk.
The caravan and rally event was organized by Oregon for the People, which was founded by Bill Minnix, a La Pine resident, speaker at the recall rally event and chief petitioner of the petition to recall Kotek.
At the time of writing, to get the recall election on the ballot, Minnix had until Oct. 27 to collect 292,933 signatures. At the event, one of the organizers, who did not provide her name to The Collegian, noted that Minnix had not shared at that time how many signatures had been collected. Minnix did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.
According to posters advertised on Minnix’s Facebook regarding the caravan, the schedules and routes were coordinated and approved by law enforcement. The travel path was notably routed in a way to avoid Center Street, where the “No Kings” rally was primarily situated, likely to minimize potential clashes between movements.
At 2 p.m., the same time the “No Kings” event began its march through downtown Salem, speakers at the recall rally took to an American-flag-backdropped stage that had a photo of Charlie Kirk propped on a stand. There was also an area where people could purchase Donald Trump merch, and many attendees were dressed in more muted camouflage, which provided another visual distinction between the two events.
Considering the stark ideological differences between the two Capitol events, there was minimal confrontation between the two groups besides occasional verbal spats. Additionally, members of The Collegian staff were briefly heckled by one of the attendees of the “Boots Across Oregon” rally.
Youth’s role in protest movements
Organizers at both rallies expressed their interest in youth involvement and simultaneous struggle with sustaining interest and involvement with the demographic.
Gapen spoke to the importance of showing up and fighting for what one believes in, in order to affect change, as well as voicing the difficulties SRI has experienced engaging youth — including Willamette students — in their events and rallies that don’t fall under the banner of the “No Kings” movement, despite often taking place across the street.
Additionally, Cotlar noted the diversity in generational turnout at the “No Kings” event and acknowledged the importance of the mutual sharing of knowledge that can be provided between generations. He explained members of older generations have lived experience of a time before Trump-era politics that can provide a different perspective on current events. “For those who are 20, Donald Trump has always been in your world,” Cotlar said. “In part, I think that’s why a lot of older folks are out there.”
Nordyke expressed the importance of local action, especially as things can be daunting to view from federal-level politics under this current administration. With her role as a councilor, she said, “There’s actually a lot that happens with the local level that is going to impact our college students, our Willamette University students, our Bearcats.” She noted these impacts include things like local climate action plans, public transportation and affordable housing and Salem’s commitment as a sanctuary city.
When asked if they had anything else to say directly to other students, Harrington said to “Use your voice in whatever capacity you can. That’s how you make change.”
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