But meanwhile, some things happen that require immediate documentation in as many places as possible, and the most recent thing that falls into that category was yesterday's No Kings day of national action. It was the third No Kings event thus far. I've attended all three. And, as any longterm reader of this blog is aware, doing street-level protests is hardly a new thing for me. I've been at this shit for years.
Takin' It To The Streets
Despite that tendency for people to become discouraged or cynical about the act of protest, I find the opposite has occurred in my case: the more I do, the more effective I believe they are. And that's an easy conclusion to make in regard to No Kings in particular; at each of the three, they've grown both in the numbers of events and in the level of attendance.
To that end, there's no doubt: No Kings III was the single largest day of protest in American history. There were somewhere over 8.5 million people spread across some 3,200 events in 50 states and territories and international locations. Some are claiming that No Kings III attendance went even higher than that, surpassing the 12-million mark and therefore achieving the well-known 3.5% barrier toward a guarantee of massive change.
Look at the greater Los Angeles area alone. They say that 95% of Americans live within a one-hour drive of one of the No Kings events on March 28. I live within a one-hour drive of like 40 of them.
But that's not what was important to me. There are no data points needed to make it clear to all that No Kings III was a massive success, going above and beyond everyone’s expectations. You don't need me to talk about the thousands of individual events. On a general basis, I'll mention how great it was to see the No Kings events happening successfully in small town and in red states (or both, as was often the case). Almost half of the No Kings protests took place in GOP strongholds. Texas, Florida, and Ohio each held over 100 events yesterday, and even lower-population red states like Idaho, Wyoming, and Utah had events in the double digits.
However, you can read hundreds of news article about all that. All I'm going to do here is to tell you about my own direct experiences at No Kings III for LA's South Bay in Torrance, CA.
Getting There, Getting Parked, Getting Rolling
Torrance City Hall is all of three miles away from my home in Redondo Beach; it's a 10-minute drive. Still, feeling like No Kings was going to blow the fuck up (in the best of ways), Christina and I decided to leave a bit earlier than necessary for an event that started at 10:30, and boy, was that a good idea.
It turned out that the city of Torrance — a full year ago — had scheduled March 28 for some recycling drive event. That meant that the huge parking area adjacent to the court and the city hall buildings was closed to the public. It's the area where we'd parked for every social activism event at that location previous to this one, and times being what they are, I could feel the bubble of paranoia rising up inside me as we were turned around back on to Maple Avenue. "The Torrance conservatives are doing this on purpose to try and crush the rebellion!" I thought to myself for a moment, until realizing how ridiculous that premise was. And the good news? We still found parking directly behind the event, near the library on the same grounds. Ironically, we were actually parked closer than would have been in our usual spot.
Both Christina and I are experienced protesters, so we knew what to expect. After we arrived, we wandered about for awhile, checking out the various pockets of people along both sides of Torrance Boulevard. The mood? From the very start, it was festive and positive and joyous. Exuberant, even. And the first thing we noticed was that while we were still early for the official event start time of 10:30AM, there were already more people there than had been even at the peak of the previous two No Kings events at the same location. So much for parking being a deterrent.
Froggys and Unicorns and Freedom Fighters
Who was at No Kings III in Torrance? Well, first off, let's talk about geography. The South Bay Area of Los Angeles County is comprised of the coastal and coast-adjacent cities southwest of DTLA that includes the Beach Cities (El Segundo, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach), Torrance, the Palos Verdes Peninsula, other local cities like Carson, Gardena, Lawndale, Lomita, and nearby LA neighborhoods like Harbor City and San Pedro. You may recall Randy Newman singing the line, "From the South Bay to the Valley," in his iconic tune "I Love L.A." This is the South Bay in reference.
This area — where I've spent most of my life since 1975 — spans a wide range of income groups, racial makeups, national backgrounds, political outlooks, and more. It also accounts for nearly a half million people. It's not an insignificant populace, and a good portion of people here lead active lifestyles and are hard workers. And we care about the world around us. At least most of us seem to. I love it here, and always have, and always will.
My beloved South Bay
Again, focused only on the No Kings event that I personally attended in Torrance: I witnessed not a single moment of conflict. Not a single counterprotestor. And maybe I missed them but I never even heard an angry word or saw a raised middle finger from even one of the thousands of cars passing by. Let me throw a caveat out there: I live in a congressional district where Harris beat Trump 68%–29%. I speak from a position of liberal privilege here in Southern California by the beach.
What did I witness? A lot of terrific signs. A lot of smiles and laughter. A lot of people being immensely grateful to be among their own likeminded people. Old people. Young people. In between people. Families. Gay people. White people (so, so many white people), but also Asian and Latino and Black people. Oh, and at least a dozen or more dogs, many dressed for the occasion.
So as Christina and I hung out in various spots — along the tree line near Maple and Torrance, in front of the fountain area where speakers were doing speeches, down toward the west end near the pool, or on the other side of the street after crossing Madrona and looping back around to where we started. Also, at one point, we found ourselves in a pocket of inflatable characters who were pumping dance music out of a boom box, and I got in with them for some techno mini-rave action.
A Few Pics
Between Christina and I, we managed to document the No Kings III event quite thoroughly. I did a few livestream spots on Facebook Live, and she and I both captured a bunch of the scenes around us in still pics. Here's a little pictorial featuring some of them.
Cool Speakers and Attendees
I have to admit: I'm not a big fan of standing around at protest events to hear people speak. Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful when politicians, local activists, and the occasional celeb makes it out to these kinds of events. It's way cool. But I'm there to be an active participant, not an observer. Also, the area where the speakers set up in Torrance is around the fountain, and it's kinda crowded and in direct sunlight... not the preferred environment for a vampire like me.
But surprisingly, among the speakers we had the well-liked Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT), who came by and addressed the crowd, and once again, our neighbor Jimmy Kimmel (who lives not far from me in Hermosa Beach) attended the event with members of his family. Photos below from their respective social media feeds.
Wrapping It Up
Christina and I stayed for nearly three hours, until our levels of being around yelling people and honking horns and bright sunshine and loud music hit their respective limits. It was just wrapping up by then, and we made our way back to our Jeep and back home, ravenously stopping by Carl's Jr. on the way.
I have to say, No Kings III was not only the biggest protest event in U.S. history as measured by attendance; it was also the best measured by that most intangible quality of vibe. All I can tell you is that if this wave of enthusiasm translates into votes this November, there's no fucking way we can lose. Let's fucking go. See you at the next one.
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