{"id":2482,"date":"2025-10-20T09:27:14","date_gmt":"2025-10-20T14:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/?p=2482"},"modified":"2025-10-27T11:47:53","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T16:47:53","slug":"6000-protestors-gather-on-jccc-lawn-for-no-kings-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/2025\/10\/20\/6000-protestors-gather-on-jccc-lawn-for-no-kings-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"6,000 Protestors Gather On JCCC Lawn For “No Kings” Protest"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Photo by: Vaughn Wheat)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Over the weekend, JCCC was one of the many sites of the \u201cNo Kings\u201d protests taking place nationwide. The lawn on the corner of College Boulevard and Quivira welcomed about 6,000 protesters for the rally and protest, hosted by \u201cBoots on the Ground Midwest.\u201d The loud honking of car horns and shouts from roadside supporters, along with classic hits playing over the speakers, could be heard around the entire campus lawn.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnity. It is an opportunity for us to celebrate each other, our stories,\u201d local poet Huascar Medina said.<\/p>\n

Emotions were heightened, and when asking speakers about the unity and community they saw at the protest, their answers reflected the mood of the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is getting me emotional, because it’s crazy to see this many people\u2026 I\u2019m blown away, and it makes you feel not as alone as Donald Trump wants us to feel,\u201d Jae Moyer, a local queer activist said.<\/p>\n

The current state of immigration in America was spoken about by many speakers and nonprofits. Most were handing out \u201cKnow Your Rights\u201d cards. Nubia, a community organizer for the KCMO Dream Alliance, was both a speaker and had a table set up for the Dream Alliance. The Dream Alliance works to help immigrants with education, college tuition, and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t have any words because the intensity I felt inside of my heart was that I\u2019m not alone,\u201d Nubia said.<\/p>\n

Nubia hopes that people will go out to vote and \u201cstep up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many local nonprofit organizations like Moms Demand Action, ACLU, Mainstream Coalition, KC\/MO Dream Alliance, Veterans for Peace, Little Lobbyists, and more were set up around the event space with informational packets and volunteer calls.<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, it made me cry pulling up today because, you know, everything you do kind of feels like you\u2019re in a vacuum sometimes,\u201d Laura Robesos, a parent ambassador for Little Lobbyists said. \u201cSo to see everybody in [the] community together gives me a lot of hope.”<\/p>\n

The cloudy day, nor the reminder of the police snipers on the roof, could bring the crowd down, many of whom were dressed in inflatable costumes and carrying large signs. The protest was peaceful and had no signs of threats on the lawn, though some shouted criticism while driving by the roadside protest.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome joy, I think we need some joy right now\u2013people to be seen, to be heard, and for us to not feel alone at this moment, because I think a lot of people are feeling really alone,\u201d Medina said.<\/p>\n

The overall hope and message of the day seemed the same for most attendees. They are fighting against what attendees called a “dictatorship,\u201d building community, and they want people to be educated about our country, and about their rights. Neely Holland, a first-time protester, shared what community and No Kings means to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t yield to a higher power\u2026 They\u2019re here to represent us, not the other way around\u2026 This is actually the first protest I\u2019ve ever been to, so this is kind of new to me, but it means unity. Like, we\u2019re all together,\u201d Holland said.<\/p>\n

The No Kings protests began this year by the organization \u201c50501.\u201d They were founded in Feb. 2025, after a meme was posted to Reddit. They stand for \u201c50 protests, 50 states, one movement\u201d.<\/p>\n

Boots on the Ground Midwest is a local Johnson County organization, founded by Nancy Mays and Martha Lawrence. They work to provide educational resources, support nonprofits, and help to empower people to share their voices.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Over the weekend, JCCC was one of the many sites of the \u201cNo Kings\u201d protests taking place nationwide. The lawn on the corner of College Boulevard and Quivira welcomed about 6,000 protesters for the rally and protest, hosted by \u201cBoots on the Ground Midwest.\u201d The loud honking of car horns and shouts from roadside supporters, along with classic hits playing over the speakers, could be heard around the entire campus lawn.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2483,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"ppma_author":[321],"class_list":["post-2482","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"author_meta":{"display_name":"Saul Epstein","author_link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sepstein\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/10\/IMG_3765_2000.jpg","coauthors":[{"link":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/author\/sammie-magee\/","display_name":"Sammie Magee"}],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["News<\/a>"],"unlinked":["News<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 11 months ago","modified":"Updated 11 months ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 20, 2025","modified":"Updated on October 27, 2025"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 20, 2025 9:27 am","modified":"Updated on October 27, 2025 11:47 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":321,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"sammie-magee","display_name":"Sammie Magee","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&r=g","author_category":"","first_name":"","last_name":"","user_url":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/files\/2025\/10\/IMG_3765_2000.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2482","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2482"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2482\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2523,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2482\/revisions\/2523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2483"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2482"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2482"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2482"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.jccc.edu\/messenger\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=2482"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}