(Photo by: EF5, “No Kings” sign in Columbus, OH – 50501 protests, February 2025, Own work, Attribution 2.0 Generic)

The organization “Boots on the Ground Midwest” has organized a “No Kings” rally–a protest to take place on the lawn at the corner of College Boulevard and Quivira on Saturday, Oct. 18. The No Kings protests were originally started by the organization “50501” (pronounced fifty-fifty-one). 50501 was founded in Feb. 2025 after a meme was posted on Reddit. The name stands for “50 Protests, 50 States, One Movement.”

Nancy Mays, co-founder of Boots on the Ground Midwest, explained how this is a fully peaceful protest with speakers, nonprofits, and opportunities to learn. The rally with speakers will begin at 1 p.m., and a sidewalk protest will begin at around 2 p.m. They are still searching for volunteers for the rally; you can sign up on their website. Mays recommends bringing signs and chairs.

For speakers, you can expect Laurel Burchfield, Advocacy Director of the Mainstream Coalition; Mark McCormick, Journalist and Executive Director of the Black Leadership Council; Dr. Micah Kubic, Executive Director of the ACLU; Jae Moyer, a local queer activist; Nubia (last name not provided for safety reasons), community organizer for the Kansas and Missouri Dream Alliance; Rabbi Moti Rieber, Executive Director Kansas Interfaith Action; and Huascar Medina, Former Poet Laureate of Kansas.

Along with speakers, informational nonprofits will be spread out around the rally: Moms Demand Action, Planned Parenthood, The Mainstream Coalition, Little Lobbyists, The Green Party, Voter to Voter, and Veterans for Peace.

Boots on the Ground Midwest co-founders, Nancy Mays and Martha Lawrence, have put together other protests like this, big and small. Their Free State Days protests took place on April 26-27, 2025, and they had a turnout of roughly 750 people. Boots on the Ground Midwest is a Johnson County-based organization. They work to empower people to share their voices, provide educational resources, support nonprofits, host peaceful protests to protect the constitution, offer weekly online workshops, and have weekly protests on Saturdays from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. at 80th and Metcalf. To get involved with Boots on the Ground Midwest, sign up for their newsletter on their website, Bootsonthegroundmidwest.org, or follow them on Instagram and Facebook, @Bootsonthegroundmidwest.