By Karen Rubin, editor@news-photos-features.com, news-photos-features.com
Estimates of more than 2,000 turned out in the rain for the No Kings rally and march at Nassau County Courthouse on June 14 – just one of several No Kings protests on Long Island.
Long Island’s protests were among the 2,100 taking place in all 50 states and the world that collectively drew an estimated 5 million in response to the authoritarian excesses and corruption of the Trump administration and rejecting Trump’s attacks on democracy and the Rule of Law, for one of the largest single days of protest since the 2017 women’s marches in Trump’s first term.
“The power of the presidency has been used to attack universities, the arts, political adversaries and the very fabric of our democracy,” wrote the organizers, Show Up LI, Engage LI, Long Island Network for Change. “It has been used to terrorize our immigrant communities and disappear them off the streets. It has been used to decimate the ranks of our federal employees who keep us safe, oversee our social security checks, care for our veterans, develop cancer treatments, monitor severe weather, attend to disasters and maintain our national parks. Disastrous cuts to the services and healthcare hard-working and vulnerable Americans rely on are on the horizon. The painful ramifications of these senseless cuts are being felt across the country while enriching a cabinet of billionaires and their allies.”
The No Kings protests were a counterpoint to Trump’s $45 million military parade, ostensibly to mark the formation of the U.S. Army on June 14, 1775 by the Continental Congress, to stand up against Britain’s monarch who claimed absolute power over the colonists, but actually for his own glory on his 79th birthday. Trump had been mooning over such a display – extraordinary in American history and more typical of tyrants and dictators – since his first term, when more patriotic advisers than surround him this time talked him out of it. The $45 million boondoggle is also a harsh contradiction to the millions of dollars cut from veterans benefits, health care, education, research, climate action, foreign aid, and administration of such critical programs as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid in order to fund billions more in tax cuts for the richest 1% and corporations.
“So on June 14th 2025, we come together to say NO KINGS in America. We say no to the cruelty and the chaos. Our country belongs to the American people and we will peacefully stand up to authoritarianism and defend our democracy.”
Speakers included Lieutenant Governor Antonio Delgado, NYS Deputy Speaker Assemblyman Phil Ramos, and NYS Assemblyman Chuck Lavine.
NYS Assemblyman Chuck Lavine began his remarks by mourning the political assassination of Minnesota State Representative Melissa Hortman and her husband, and the critical wounding of Rep. John Hoffman and his wife – an event which prompted U.S. Senator Mike Lee to tweet “This is what happens When Marxists don’t get their way,” when Speaker Mike Johnson called for U.S. Senator Alex Padilla to be censored for daring to ask DHS Secretary Kristy Noem a question during a press conference, at which point he was thrown to the ground and handcuffed, and while in Los Angeles, law enforcement continued to provoke encounters with otherwise peaceful protesters, no doubt to give Trump an excuse to invoke the Insurrection Act and declare martial law. Raising the danger to our democracy, Lavine could also have quoted Noem who stated about the provocations in Los Angeles, “We are staying here to liberate this city from the socialist & burdensome leadership that this governor & this mayor have placed into this city” and just a couple of days before, U.S. Senator Padilla was thrown to the ground and handcuffed merely for trying to ask Homeland Security Sec Kristy Noem a question at a press conference.
It was a reminder that since Trump first entered the political scene 10 years ago down a gilded staircase, he used bigotry, sexism, xenophobia, scapegoated, stoked hatred and violence and basically gave permission for those to act on the grievances he created. And record numbers of threats and assaults have occurred as a result, including the January 6 2021 insurrection intended to keep Trump in office. (Notably, Trump pardoned 1,500 of the insurrectionists on his first day, and has weaponized the Justice department against the prosecutors and scores of his declared enemies and politicized the military.)
“You are not fair-weather sailors,” Lavine said as people stood steadfast as rain poured down. “We are here because we care, and if you care about the future of American democracy — you join us.”
Deputy Speaker Phil Ramos denounced the Trump administration’s escalating attacks on immigrant communities and railed against Trump’s $45 million military parade. “While mothers in Brentwood are praying that their children make it home safely, while ICE agents tear fathers from their families without warrants, Donald Trump is having a birthday party — let that sink in,” Ramos said.
Ramos’ impassioned remarks echoed his previously issued a statement after the militarism in Los Angeles and ICE raids in Long Island “America-and the world-witnessed what we have long feared: the unchecked abuse of presidential power unleashed against communities of color. Families are being torn apart. People are being taken without explanation, without warrants, and far too often, without due process. What remains is a trail of fear, heartbreak, and outrage….The painful truth is we can no longer trust this administration to uphold the law, respect the courts, or honor basic human dignity….
“In Los Angeles and here on Long Island, people are marching in defense of their families, their dignity, and their right to live without fear. They are standing against an authoritarian tide gaining strength each day. And when masked officers descend on our neighborhoods, abducting loved ones and escalating tensions with military force, we must ask: what choice do the people have but to resists?
“The tools of authoritarianism are in full effect. While 1% of the population hoards 99% of the nation’s wealthy, they poison our drinking water, erode our democracy, and drive the cost of living to unbearable heights. They gut our healthcare system and dismantle the foundations of everyday life. And yet, President Trump wants us to believe the blame lies not with the powerful but with the people who build our cities, harvest our food, mow our lawns, wash our dishes and hold this country together through honest, back-breaking work…
“We cannot fall for these cruel, calculated lies. We must reject this propaganda and speak the truth: immigrants are not the problem, they are part of the solution.
“The people are demanding an end to these raids. They are demanding justice. Many are prepared to risk their own safety to protect their families because for them, this is a should understand that. We must support peaceful protest, and wemust demand an end to this campaign of fear.
“We are at a turning point in our nation’s history. We must condemn the use of ICE and the National Guard as political tools deployed by a president who thrives on hate, division and fear, and who undermines constitutional rights and human dignity for political gain. This is not leadership. This is cruelty disguised as policy…
“I call on all freedom-loving people-Democrats and Republicans, Black, White, Latino, Asian – to stand in solidarity with our immigrant communities. History has taught us a painful lesson… We cannot-we must not – turn our backs on those now suffering these fascist assaults.”
Lt. Gov. Antonio Delgado said, “No one is above the law” and every person is entitled to “equal protection under law. Without the Rule of Law, the most vulnerable would be trampled, the mighty would take what they want. But that’s not America. Democracy is based on a moral idea that all are created equal. If we lose sight of that moral essence, we will crumble. In New York, we are diversity, we are inclusion, we are tolerance. We are the essence of what it means to be American, what it means to be human.”
Rachel Klein, founder of Engage Long Island and an organizer of the rally, said immigration raids across the country has stoked fear, even on Long Island. “There are people in Brentwood and Westbury and Huntington Station and Glen Cove who are afraid to leave their homes right now,” she said. “We can’t function as a society like this.”
Other No Kings protests were held in Port Washington, which drew hundreds; outside Heckscher Park in Huntington, where Newsday reported 2,000; Patchogue, where Newsday estimated 2,000 demonstrated outside the local office of Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), Riverhead, Orient, East Hampton, Hampton Bays and Southampton.
See also:
PHOTO HIGHLIGHTS: OVER 50,000 NEW YORKERS JOIN ‘NO KINGS PROTEST’ TO STAND UP FOR DEMOCRACY
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