Dallas’ “No Kings Day” demonstration was a new experience for Mike Galindo and his family.
“This is the first time we’ve come out like this and figured, ‘never too late,’” Galindo said.
The father of two attended Saturday’s event with his wife, daughters and an estimated 10,000 others from the area to air collective grievances about President Donald Trump on his birthday. Opposition to the Trump administration was the unifier — perhaps the only one — of the protest that coincided with a military parade for the Army’s 250th anniversary.
“It’s about having a voice,” Galindo said.
From noon to 4 p.m., thousands of Texans rallied around Dallas City Hall, then marched across downtown in two rounds.
No National Guard soldiers were spotted during the protest and there were no violent encounters. Peaceful and without incident, the event evoked more of an anti-Trump cookout vibe than heated political action. Merch was widely available, with stands selling “No Kings” t-shirts and “Smash the Oligarchy” commemorative hats. Bacon-wrapped “freedom dogs” were grilled and topped with the full works of grilled onions and peppers. Speakers blared rappers YG and Nipsey Hussle.
The national protest was held by 50501 Movement, a grassroots political movement against Trump’s policies. While 50501 Movement had a big turnout for “No Kings Day,” it’s not its first protest event. In fact, 50501 was formed on the idea of “50 protests, 50 states, one day.” And Atlanta 50501 organizer Kay Evert said that the movement’s early protests were “a decentralized rapid response to the anti-democratic and illegal actions of the Trump administration and its plutocratic allies.”
Recent protests against ICE and immigration enforcement put a bigger spotlight on “No Kings Day.” Over 2,000 troops and 700 Marines were deployed to California, where some of the most high-profile anti-ICE protests are taking place. Last week in Texas, at least 14 people were arrested at rallies across the state.
Several Latino leaders in Dallas publicly called for peace after Gov. Greg Abbott called in the National Guard for the weekend in anticipation of riots. Anonymous white supremacists sent threats of violence to organizers, one of which promised to shoot demonstrators “in the head,” according to local collaborators working with 50501.
On Saturday, one Minnesota state lawmaker and her husband were shot and killed, another and his wife were shot and survived; both were targeted in an apparent political assasination. Police evacuated the Texas State Capitol after learning of a credible threat to lawmakers. A man was arrested in connection to the threat hours later.
By-and-large, no feared violence came to pass in Texas. In Dallas, the police presence felt more like security for demonstrators than a threat to them, as Abbott had insinuated earlier in the week. The biggest public safety issue was the heat — multiple people passed out as the heat index reached triple digits.
The events were a far cry from the Los Angeles protests, which were spurred by increasing immigration raids in the city and across the country.
The mass market tone of “No Kings Day” in Texas seemed to come, in part, from the 50501 Movement, which has received high-profile support from wealthy backers like Wal-Mart heiress Christy Walton, who also provided consistent and large donations to anti-Trump conservative PAC Lincoln Project since 2020. 50501 itself developed from Indivisible, an anti-Trump group that formed in 2016. As Indivisible was founded by Leah Greenberg and Ezra Levin, two former Democratic congressional staffers, 50501’s message similarly remains focused on criticizing Trumpism while enshrining democracy and patriotism.
That is to say: 50501’s directive is broad, with a general goal of opposing Trump.
That overarching goal seemed to draw people from different backgrounds and demographics to the event in Dallas. An older crowd co-mingled with younger trans rights advocates, pro-Palestine organizers, labor activists, and immigration rights supporters.
As nonwhite, younger protesters began chanting pro-Palestine slogans early in the first of two marches, white, older demonstrators quickly drowned them out with a chant of “peaceful protest.”
Flags became a barometer for the level of political activism. American flags, both straight and inverted, a symbol of political protest, were flown. Mexican and Salvadoran flags were present, too. A few pride flags were seen through the crowd. No Palestinian flags were seen, as they often were at protests last year, though some attendees wore keffiyehs, a traditional Arab headdress that’s become synonymous with Palestine.
Many refused to carry the American flag, pointing to the United States’ victimization of Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities through its history. Others had more nuanced takes.
“I think that people should have the right to fly the flag they think that best represents them,” said Kyle Jay, who distributed free mini American flags at the event. “Over the past many years though, the right [wing] has said the American flag is for them and that critiquing the United States somehow equates to hating it… My opinion is that we should take back the flag and make this country a better place.”
One demonstrator, who requested to give comment anonymously citing work privacy concerns, explained why he chose to wave his American flag in an inverted position. “It’s a sign of distress, that’s part of the US Flag code. We are obviously in a state of distress right now.”
He compared the state of the country to reconstruction following the civil war, describing recent news headlines coming from Los Angeles as signaling “unprecedented” chaos.
“My wife and I were coming back from the Dominican Republic,” he said. “When we came back into the country in Chicago, they scanned my face, and the border patrol agents took my passport and held me in a room for over half an hour. And me, I look as WASP as you could get.”
“When I finally did get someone to talk to me they said, ‘under Title XIX, we can detain, search, and do whatever we want,’ and that’s all they said,” he told The Barbed Wire.
He said he was released into O’Hare airport without explanation after a call from a lawyer friend in the city. He isn’t sure whether the brief detention was due to a mistake made with his name, the results of an AI mismatch, or something else.
The experience changed both his and his wife’s perspectives on the need for protest.
“All I know is that no one would answer why my husband was being detained. It was basically silence,” his wife said. “There’s that thought that it can’t happen to us, like ‘Oh my God, we’re U.S. citizens.’”
“We know that we have it easy, that doesn’t make it right to see other people treated that way,” she said. “And we can’t just sit by anymore and watch as our neighbors and our friends and even strangers have this happen to them.”
