On the April 19th holiday weekend, the spring weather was an unpredictable roller coaster, alternating from cool and cloudy in the morning to delightfully warm and sunny in the afternoon. From midday onwards, it was a perfect time to gather outside. Hundreds of Pacific Northwesterners chose to spend a portion of the lovely, pre-Easter afternoon rallying to protect democracy. Their efforts, billed by some organizers as a National Day of Action, occurred in concert with approximately three million Americans who also made the decision to protest against the Trump administration in cities across the country. In some of the demonstrations held that day, protestors were asked to bring food donations, to sign petitions, or to sign up to vote.
At first glance, the April 19th protest in Everett, WA seemed sparsely attended. Low attendance was anticipated, due to the family holiday and the combined egg hunts and Earth Day celebrations scheduled in parks, church lawns, and public gardens across Washington state. However, initial impressions can be deceiving.
Everett, WA is the largest city in Snohomish County. In fact, it is the county seat. With a population of nearly 111,000 people, it ranks among the top ten populous cities in the state. It is also an important industrial port city, with a long historic past that pre-dates white settlement and official incorporation in 1893.
Broadway is a main drag in Everett. This bustling, downtown street parallels Interstate 5. On April 19th, when exiting the freeway and approaching Broadway from the north, it appeared as if there was a meagre pocket of protestors huddled together in a corner. However, it was soon evident that the protest had been spread out across the city. One could walk over three miles along Broadway, to Everett Community College, and encounter protestors on each corner of every Broadway block, if not spread out in between. Some protestors stayed put for hours, shouting and waving or listening to music. Others kept switching places, walking the length of the protest, making intermittent stops, even crossing at sidewalks to mingle with different protesters on the other side of the street.
Since it was a sunny holiday weekend, the protest took on a festive mood. Protestors took photos, admiring and complimenting each other’s signs. People came in costume or draped in the flags of the United States, Canada, and Mexico. There were dinosaurs, penguins, handmaidens, the Statue of Liberty. They brought with them noisemakers, glitter, and bubbles. Most of the travelers along Broadway honked in support. Some had mounted protest signs on their car windows. One man in a classy, red sportscar pulled over at each corner and handed out free donuts!
An idea arose, and was discussed among some participants, that it is time to make resistance fun and inviting! If protests are akin to street theater, then let’s harness the region’s creativity and truly make them theatrical experiences. Bring on flash mobs, musicians, dancers, puppets, street performers. Let’s write and record protest songs and poems, or crown a Miss, Mrs., and Mr. America Anti-Trump Protestor (masked for safety) with a criterion based on resilience and charitable deeds rather than on looks. Let’s make a slick, Protest of the Month calendar!
Protests are about serious matters, but they don’t have to be completely somber affairs. The urgency due to threats against freedoms and a constitutional crisis is real, and the horrific nature of Trump’s nightmarish rollout of Project 2025 should not be discounted. According to Erica Chenowith, a political science professor at Harvard University, “it takes around 3.5% of the population actively participating in protests to ensure serious political change.”1 More and more people will have to take to the streets in nonviolent protest, and continue to do so, if we are to reach this important threshold. Yet as we move into the spring and summer months, why not try marrying pro-democracy events with block party vibes, which may draw in those who might otherwise not show up and be counted, and get them motivated to keep participating? Let’s showcase the kindness, the joy, the marvelous upsides of diversity and inclusion that seem anathema to the MAGA cultists and billionaires.
A Movement Not a Moment
The Trump administration is like the Grinch. He and his allies are greedy and oppressive. They seem to delight in punishing people. Still, the Grinch couldn’t prevent the advent of Christmas for the Who’s in Whoville. Similarly, we cannot allow the intimidation, extortion, corruption, the gloom and doom and lack of empathy displayed by Trump and his allies to dampen the spirits of the majority of people who care about America and retaining the democratic institutions that we rely upon. Trump’s cruelty is no match for the unstoppable energy of community that resistance movements which focus on positive change and interactions can produce in this country. Democracy will prevail if enough people unite with groups that serve the public good and won’t back down. As 50501 organizer Sarah Parker suggests, these protests are “not just about one day or even one presidency. [They’re] about putting down roots for a more just and equitable America.”2
Protesting can move the needle. There is strength in numbers, in non-violent hordes insistent upon fairness and dignity for all. The Trump administration and the state media can downplay resistance, but public opinion matters to politicians. Let them cower in our numbers, in the authenticity, tolerance, and optimism that Trump and his allies cannot bribe, or purchase, to achieve. Trump wants you to believe that resistance is futile, but that is a lie. To quote a song from the musical “Cabaret,” set in an earlier fascist era, “What good is sitting alone in your room? Come hear the music play. Life is a cabaret, old chum. Come to the cabaret!”3
Find a local protest group and show up! The next massive, single-day protest is on or around May Day. A few hours of your presence is not too much to ask. Bring a sign, an open mind, and your best self. Let’s prove that the MAGA mindset is not normal or sustainable. Future generations will thank you!
Footnotes
- David Robson, “The ‘3.5% rule’: How a Small Minority Can Change the World, BBC News, May 13, 2019, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world. ↩︎
- “Massive Anti-Trump Protests Across 50 States: Who is Organizing Them and How People Can Participate: Here’s All You Need To Know,” Economic Times, April 17, 2025, https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international/us/massive-anti-trump-protests-on-april-19-across-all-u-s-states-who-is-organizing-them-and-how-people-can-participate-heres-all-you-need-to-know/articleshow/120414147.cms. ↩︎
- Liza Minneli, “Cabaret,” Track 1, Cabaret (Original 1972 Movie Soundtrack), Valando Music Co. Ltd., 1972, Vinyl. ↩︎