A large crowd gathered Saturday at San Joaquin Delta College for the “No Kings” protest, joining a nationwide wave of demonstrations denouncing what organizers describe as authoritarian overreach under President Donald J. Trump.
The Stockton event, co-chaired by Barbara St. Urbain, founder of the San Joaquin Coalition for DEI, brought residents from across San Joaquin County together under the slogan “No thrones, no crowns, no kings.”
“This coalition came together to stand up for democracy and return to the rule of law,” St. Urbain said. “We want to show that we love the United States, but we want it to be what it was intended to be. We the People.”
Organizers said turnout appeared larger than the June 14 “Day of Defiance” protest, when roughly 2,500 people filled Delta’s main entrance at Pacific and West Yokuts avenues. While no official headcount was provided as of Saturday evening, organizers said they expected attendance to surpass June’s demonstration based on crowd size and registration numbers.
“The longer that we have this president, the more unhappy people are getting,” St. Urbain said. “There’s also been a lot of publicity across the whole country about today — that it must be peaceful — because the other side keeps saying that we’re not.”
The “No Kings” demonstrations, coordinated by MoveOn and the Indivisible Project, took place in all 50 states, including international solidarity events in London, Toronto, and Sydney. According to the Indivisible Project, more than 2,500 protests were registered across the United States, part of a coordinated effort to “show that peaceful, organized people power can stand against authoritarianism.”
Organizers said the national goal was to exceed the estimated 5 million participants who joined the June 14 rallies in over 2,100 cities and towns, one of the largest protest actions of Trump’s second term.
Demonstrators lined the Pacific Avenue entrance waving flags and handmade signs calling for accountability and fair elections.
Andrea Songey, a Lodi resident and community advocate, said she joined the protest out of concern for what she called the “erosion of both societal and political norms.”
“We clearly have a system where checks and balances no longer work as our Founding Fathers intended,” Songey said. “Ever since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act, more than 20 states have made it harder for people to vote. This is the only way to get the word out.”
According to a report by Alliance for Justice, the Supreme Court of the United States may be poised to significantly weaken Voting Rights Act of 1965 by striking down key provisions of Section 2 that have been used to challenge state-level voting restrictions
The report warns that such a decision “could open the door to a future where minority communities are silenced by design, stripped of political power through maps and laws that no longer have to pretend to be fair.”
She urged fellow residents to stay engaged at the ballot box. “Get out there and vote,” she said. “People like me take a vacation day so that people like you can vote.”
Among the attendees was San Joaquin Delta College Area 1 Trustee Shelly Swanson, who said she was attending in a personal capacity. Swanson cited her family’s history of service.
“My great-uncle fought against racism, and my dad was a Marine,” Swanson said. “It’s crazy that we have to fight this all over again.”
As the rally ended, St. Urbain called the event a reminder of democracy’s resilience and of the responsibility that comes with it.
“Peaceful assembly is our First Amendment right,” she said. “Whether we agree or disagree with the administration, we have the right to speak our minds. And we’ll keep doing so.”
