Carlos A. Luna / The SWC Sun
By Alfonso Julián Camacho & Yanelli Zavina Robles
Activist Janine Manchel, 62, stands on the same Chula Vista corner every weekend to protest the authoritarian drift of the United States.
Last weekend she had company.
Plenty of company.
An estimated 7 million Americans in all 50 states took to the streets for another No Kings protest. Almost 100,000 people protested in San Diego County, including 50,000 in downtown San Diego. About 1,000 attended protests scattered around Chula Vista, including more than 500 at Millennial Park where
Manchel was positioned.
Octogenarian Holocaust survivor Lou Pechi said he had seen this act before and called upon Americans to reject “the hate and divisiveness of Donald Trump.”
“I believe we are all the same,” he said. “We are one. We are one race.
We have different religions, but when you get right down to it, we have the same feelings.”
Pechi said the United States has been infected with a virus.
“The virus is hate,” he said. “The only way to get rid of the virus is
with peace.”
Donna Smith agreed. A 57-year-old white military veteran, she said she was there to support Americans of color, including fellow vets.
“I am here today because I believe
our country is turning into a dictatorship since Donald Trump has been inoffice,” she said. “I don’t like the harassment of immigrants. I do not like that money was taken away from Medicare and Medicaid, and other programs that help people and lift people up.”
Smith also said she feels the need to stand up for those who cannot.
Manchel said she stands in protest at the same corner every day to promote joy and kindness.
“We are one big community,” she said. “Look at these wonderful human beings. We are all colors, races and pronouns, and we stand together as one. We are not going to allow Trump to destroy our humanity. We protest peacefully and joyfully.”
Protesters hold signs that defend the First Amendment, an end to the Iran war, trans rights, release of the Epstein files and meaningful inclusion of people with autism.
Autistic protester Kristen Running, 37, was critical of the administration’s diminishment of people on the autism spectrum.
“I was born this way, same as any other autistic person,” she said. “It is really ridiculous that RFK Jr. and (other members of the Trump administration) are trying to make people like us not exist. It’s really important to speak out.”
There were strains of anger in air, but optimism carried the day. Flower balloons bobbed in the coastal breeze as Indigenous drummers sang percussive Native prayers. Among the many flags was one that merged those of the United States and Mexico. The clever combination featured an eagle next to the 50 stars with stripes of red, white, blue and green.
A caloric protester wore a pizza costume, another rocked an inflatable chick. There was a Mexican folklorico dancer in her beautiful regalia and a young Latino wearing a monarch butterfly.
“This is our America,” said a protester. “We are still here, we have not forgotten.”
