Beverly Hills Holds Successful No Kings Rally
Organized by longtime flats and Southwest Beverly Hills residents, including Harvey Friedman and Gay Abrams, the third Beverly Hills “No Kings” rally in Roxbury Park took place on October 18th from 2-4 pm. The movement began in response to President Trump’s military-style birthday parade last June and has since grown into a powerful, peaceful opposition movement to defend Democracy and the norms upheld by previous Republican and Democratic Presidents.
Approximately 3,000 people attended, with the majority being Beverly Hills community members, and others coming from nearby Westwood and Cheviot Hills. It marked the largest turnout yet, from the first "Hands Off" rally in June - attended by 120 residents - to this latest rally of thousands, proving more and more American citizens are frustrated by government actions and corruption at the Federal level and want to make their voices heard.
The event was a peaceful, family-friendly gathering, with attendees ranging from young children to older adults who enjoyed their First Amendment rights to express their dissatisfaction with current government actions together with like-minded neighbors. It showed the power of a community working together toward common goals and had a very positive vibe.
Notable attendees included local actors and actresses, former LA City Councilmember Paul Koretz, Beverly Hills Councilmembers Mary Wells and Craig Corman, and former School Board President Noah Margo.
Last week, House Speaker Mike Johnson dubbed “No Kings” a “Hate America” event, and that could not have been further from the reality as seen at Roxbury Park. The Beverly Hills protest, like others in large cities and small towns across the country, offered both a celebration of community and American democracy and a disapproval of President Donald Trump’s anti-democratic power grab.
The “No Kings” movement drew approximately 2,500 rallies nationwide, with each of the 50 states participating, and more than 7 million people came out to defend democracy.
In coming days, it will be crucial that these attendees begin to take more action and continue to stress how important it is for friends and neighbors to join this movement to create a critical mass to oppose President Trump’s sending masked men into our major cities, targeting immigrant families, profiling and detaining people without warrants, threatening to overtake elections, and gutting healthcare, legal protections, education, and even the moral fiber of our government and the accountability its systems once provided.
Sam Mulick