‘No Kings’ protest made us feel like we were doing something

In her Oct. 26 column, Althea Cole characterized the Oct. 18 No Kings protest in Cedar Rapids as "underwhelming.” So Cole thinks the 7 million protesters were just Trump haters who achieved nothing. Throughout America's history, we have taken to the streets in opposition to or support of our government's actions. Should the colonists at the Boston Tea Party in 1773 have stayed home? The Women's Suffrage marchers in 1913? The 1960s protesters for civil rights and against the Vietnam War? The 2018 student-organized March For Our Lives protest against gun violence? How about the 2009 Tea Party protest against taxes? Or the violent protest on Jan. 6, 2021 that obscenely breached our nation's Capitol building? I wonder if Cole thinks those Republican-fueled protests were worthwhile.

We were on the streets last Saturday to demand that our representatives in Washington stop the Trump administration's kinglike abuse of power. How can we get Washington's attention but to gather together to shout our frustration and wave our signs? We have called and visited our representatives' offices, emailed them, written postcards, and attended town halls, only to be ignored. The No Kings protest did, if nothing else, make us all feel like we were doing something to save our democracy. The destruction of an entire wing of the White House is emblematic of what we feel is the crumbling of our country. We will not sit home silently and watch it happen.

Sheri Albrecht

Solon