Pittsfield — U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey (D) and Berkshire County community leaders are scheduled to take part in the “No Kings in America: Rally for Democracy” on Sunday, March 9, at 2:30 p.m., at the Colonial Theatre, where former Vice President and then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris spoke during a fundraising event in July 2024.
Several Berkshire County organizations, including the Berkshire Democratic Brigades, Rural Freedom Network, Greylock Together, Left Field, Berkshire Indivisible, Progressive Democrats of America, and the NAACP Berkshire County Branch, are co-sponsoring the event.
The sold-out event will take place on the 48th day of President Donald J. Trump’s controversial presidency. Since his inauguration, President Trump has enacted a flurry controversial policies, including policies against immigration and immigrants; eliminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs; laying off thousands of federal workers; and enlisting X (formerly Twitter) and Tesla owner Elon Musk to lead the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), among many other controversial decisions.
On February 19, the official White House social media pages posted a graphic with an AI-generated President Trump donning a crown on his head along with the caption “Long live the king.”
“The purpose of this rally is clear: We want to stand up to the guy who would be king and show opposition to his administration,” event co-organizer and Berkshire Democratic Brigades co-founder Sherwood Guernsey told The Berkshire Edge. “He is crushing our democracy and hacking personal data while hurting people by promoting fear, not prosperity.”
“To me, we take so much of how our government works for granted,” said Berkshire Democratic Brigades Chair Jim Mahon. “Many Americans have had the luxury of being apolitical. We have people who ignore politics because people don’t worry about it when it takes care of itself. Suddenly, when [President Trump’s administration] puts institutions in danger and in jeopardy, we have to think about politics. We have to act on the principles that founded the institutions to defend the rule of law, even though most people would rather not have to get out in the street and defend things. It’s a pain, but here we are.”
NAACP Berkshire County Branch Executive Committee member Shirley Edgerton said that the rally will serve as an opportunity to bring awareness to many of the issues marginalized people face as a result of Trump’s actions in office. “For a lot of groups that have been labeled as marginalized, we have dealt with inequities and injustices for generations,” Edgerton said. “[Trump’s policies] have been a conscious effort to return the country to a period that was extremely concerning for many groups, including African Americans and the LGBTQ community. This event is to showcase that we are a resilient people and we will not allow anyone to pull us back into a period that was the worst of everything for a lot of us.”
“Right now in America, there is a lot of hurt and fear,” Guernsey said. “I think that people are beginning to notice that he is not fulfilling his promises of prosperity. He’s only focusing on cultural issues, including equality and transgender issues. That is not advancing this country, it’s taking us all backward.”
Mahon said he believes that members of the Trump administration have a “large desire to be cruel to other people.” “They desire to make other people suffer,” Mahon said. “That’s why they have these photos of people in chains being deported on military aircraft. [The administration] wants to get at these people to satisfy its political base. To do that, they have to find ways to undo and ignore laws. That’s dangerous for everybody.”
“I think that there is starting to be an awakening in this country that Trump’s goal is not to uplift this country and not uplift all of those who live here,” Edgerton said. “We don’t want to allow this person who is occupying the White House temporarily to destroy the Constitution, the values, and the belief systems in our country.”
Guernsey said that, while the event is sold out, organizers plan to find a way to hold part of the rally outside of the theater. “Public protest has always been a way of making change, including changes to governments,” Guernsey said. “Sometimes change takes a while, but public pressure is now growing. We sold out our rally in three days, and there will be tons of people there.”
“What Trump wants is to be a king,” Mahon said. “He doesn’t recognize the difference between his interests and the interests of the country at large. He wants to turn the country into his fiefdom, thinking he is the king.”
