No kings in Alameda or America

Organizers of Alameda's No Kings rally estimate that 4,700 people attended the pre-protest event at Chochenyo Park and the protest at City Hall on Saturday.

By chance, of those who came to the park to prepare for the march downtown, a countless number of kids made their own shakers and noisemakers using supplies that traced their way back to a trip to India 10+ years ago.

My then-fiancee and I had agreed, almost on a whim, to accept invitations from friends to their weddings, wherever they might be in the world — and next we knew, we were in northwest India for a week-long wedding ceremony. One of the most memorable parts of the wedding was the parade in which the groom and his entire ancestral village entered with much fanfare, music, and an elephant.

When my now-spouse and I got married ourselves soon after, we borrowed some of these colorful aspects for our own wedding. Instead of a staid entry of suited people, we invited as many guests as wished to join a loud parade to begin the ceremony. (Unfortunately, San Francisco's Water Department wouldn't let us bring an elephant — that said, the Pulgas Water Temple remains the most simultaneously scenic and affordable of wedding venues in the Bay Area.) Afterwards, many of the makeshift instruments and doodads ended up in my parents' garage... and a decade later reemerged at Chochenyo Park for this weekend's protest. Thanks to all the kids who created their own noisemakers for the No Kings protest with my parents' help (and as a side effect, took all this stuff off their hands).

I share this story partially to appreciate the success of this Saturday's protest — thousands of participants, attendees of all ages, and not one reported incident — and also to appreciate America's present-day immigrants.

We were in India because a young fellow worked his way up to going to university in the U.S. and married a college classmate (and we met them both).

On another wedding-induced international trip, we got to go to the Yucatan because one young Mexican and one young Brazilian worked their way up to going to graduate school in California, where they met each other (and I met them).

It's trite but it's also true that the United States is a country of opportunity and a country of immigrants. Are we going to welcome those who bring their energy and their talent? Are we going to keep as our own those who already live here and work here and go to school here and pay taxes here and have family and friends here?

Thank you to volunteers with Indivisible, EB-Flow, and All Rise Alameda for organizing this opportunity for ~6% of the city's population to protest the Trump/Musk/Miller administration — and to make noise for an America with immigrants but no kings.