Thousands of Central Oregonians showed up to No Kings, a movement against the Trump Administration, on March 28 in Bend. The day started with a rally at Drake Park and transitioned into a protest at 2pm sharp, with protesters marching toward Peace Corner at the intersection of Northwest Greenwood Avenue and Northwest Wall Street.
Protesters told the Source they turned out to protest Trump’s immigration policies, actions taken against LGBTQ community and women’s rights. The March 28 demonstration was the third installment of No Kings in Bend.
When asked about the current administration, individuals often offered a few words, simply saying they felt “embarrassed” to be an American.
“I saw somebody with a sign that said something to the effect of, ‘not enough cardboard, too many reasons.’ That summed it up pretty good,” Amanda Wold, a protester at No Kings said.
The rally portion of the event lasted an hour and included singing and chanting words like “No nazis, no KKK, no fascist U.S.A.”
As soon as the clock hit 2 pm, the crowd began its troop toward Peace Corner. Drummers and musicians played to the rhythm of “This Land is Your Land,” a song that was also sung by demonstrators at the rally.
The crowd moved as a steady and tightly packed group out of Drake Park through Northwest Brooks Street and onto Northwest Newport Avenue.
The two-hour protest at Peace Corner included chants, drums, many passing cars and motorcycles honking and revving their engines and one altercation.
At 2:50pm, Founder and President of Central Oregon Peacekeepers Luke Richter attempted to burn and subsequently ripped the U.S. flag.
“The flag to me symbolizes genocide for people that look like me, LBTQ people, people from all walks of marginalized communities,” Richter said. “I feel like I did the right thing. I feel like everybody can do what they need to do to feel like they’re being heard and their rights are being respected.”
Protesters in the crowd shouted, “That’s bullshit!” when Richter was seen attempting to burn the American flag on the Northwest Newport Avenue median.
Protesters and de-escalation team members with Central Oregon 50501, the progressive organization and driving force behind No Kings, approached Richter on the median.
As the altercation unfolded, a protester approached Richter and attempted to take the flag from him, which resulted in Richter pushing them in the direction of a slow-moving oncoming vehicle.
Bend Police Communications Manager Sheila Miller told the Source that Bend Police Department received multiple calls due to the shoving altercation, but they ultimately did not respond.
Miller says that BPD were not at the protest and typically only show up to protests when they are called.
“It was me and a few other peacekeepers to start. We were swarmed. I was pushed. I had the flag that was given to me, taken from me multiple times, and I got it back. I was doused with water, then I had the cops called on me only,” Richter told the Source in an email, Monday, March 30.
Additional details from the Central Oregon Peacekeepers’ Facebook page state that Richter was “made to bleed,” and his “good friend” was spit on.
Around 15 people, including de-escalation team members and some masked persons who claimed to be with Central Oregon Peacekeepers, were on the median when the altercation developed.
While some masked individuals who were questioned by the Source responded by saying they were with COP, others who were also wearing sunglasses and tactical gear declined to share any information.
De-escalation team members attempted to keep protesters off the street and from further exacerbating the trouble.
Some protesters were captured on camera by the Source saying “only criminals wear masks!” to individuals who claimed to be a part of Central Oregon Peacekeepers, as Richter and the masked individuals returned to the sidewalk.
Members of Central Oregon 50501 helped direct traffic and people cross the street.
Ruth Vernotico, among the speakers that day, told the Source one of the reasons he came to the protest was because he was “appalled” by the Trump Administration.
“For anyone who disagrees with why we’re out here, I’d encourage them to look inside and really see the humanity of the people and their faces and why they are out here,” Vernotico says. “It’s oftentimes not an argument you can win, but one can hope.”
Member of Central Oregon for Socialism Summer Roberson also made a speech at Peace Corner. COS is a progressive and socialist activist movement that provides aid and education to number of local organizations.
“It’s not enough to come out for a day and just pull up some signs; we need to actually invest in building movements that can be sustained long term to bring about change,” Roberson told the Source. “This isn’t going to change anything unless we get people into the long-term movement.”
Protester Kelly Sosa said she that she comes from a family of immigrants. Sosa told the Source that the main things she is against are the invading of other countries, attacks on the LGBTQ community and the “inappropriate behavior” toward people of color.
“My hope is that in seeing the numbers of people who are against this, it will not only put a lot of pressure on the current administration to change but I also really want to see the people who are still behind the administration to start to question what they’re behind.”
This article was edited to include an email from Richter that was sent to the Source on Monday, March 30.
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Headline of Jesse’s article “Hundreds Gather at Bend’s No Kings…” but then in his article, “Thousands gather in Bend….” Which was it?
Also, he mentions the March 3 demonstration…. it was March 28.
These blaring mistakes sure caught my attention. Detail is important if you know it.
I appreciate the Source, and look forward to reading it!
What I know is important, is Bend was well represented! No Kings!
Summer Roberson is right that we need a mass movement like the successful civil rights and anti-war movements of the 1950s-70s. However, telling people that what they are doing is not going to change anything won’t bring them into that movement A better message would be to say that No Kings rallies are a good start and that we need to build them into a sustained movement for social and economic change. While I respect the rights of people, including flag-burning, I would suggest that burning a flag at a large rally is, as we saw, divisive and can alienate people you want on your side in this long fight. Provocative actions for their own sake don’t build the movement.
Agree.
Michael, with all due respect, sit down. Let the youth lead. This imperial country was literally built on genocide and chattel slavery.
In regards to the flag burning, you have no right to tell a person of color how they should or should not protest. When you choose apathy, you are choosing the side of the oppressor.
Liberals don’t need their hands held anymore. This country has always been fascist and will continue to pay for its sins until it builds class consciousness and learns its true history. The American people are the most propagandized people of the world and the people of the global majority are tired of being carpet bombed, murdered, genocided, enslaved, and stolen from.
This is the third No Kings protest in Bend and most of those people out on the streets haven’t taken any concrete actions to change their or their neighbors’ material conditions.
COS has done more for this community in the past two years than all of the performative liberal groups in Central Oregon combined over the years.
Also, @thesource, WE ARE ALL PEACEKEEPERS.
Never burning an American flag at a rally bring people “together”, as it will do nothing more than cause more division. Imagine if that was an LGBTQ flag that someone chose to burn? The climate would have immediately turned violent and uncontrollable! I believe in EQUAL rights not SPECIAL rights for BIPOC, LGBTQ, etc.
Burning the U.S. flag is a First Amendment protected right. The U.S. flag means a lot of things to a lot of people, especially to those marginalized groups you mentioned who are most harmed by what it represents. It’s definitely not the same as burning a pride, trans, BLM, Land Back, etc. flag. The U.S. flag always has and continues to represent genocide, imperialism, and colonialism all throughout this country and the world. Sounds like you have more decolonizing work to do. Hope you’re not teaching my children about American history and justice movements.
My God, can’t anyone out there think strategically? Central Oregon Peacekeepers couldn’t have done more harm to the cause if they had been on Trump’s payroll! This re-enforces MAGA stereotype propaganda. Watch for Fox News coverage of the event. Burning our flag (yes, it’s OUR flag. The local neckbeards and K-Mart Kommandos don’t get to keep it.) drives away the very people we desperately need – the independents, the fence-sitters, the un-engaged – to join and grow the movement.
Fox News and all billionaire-owned, imperialist media (CNN, MSNBC, etc.) will always spin their narrative to fit their capitalist class. Anyone who is watching Fox News, including my elderly parents, are not interested in changing their deeply ingrained racist, hateful framing of the world.
We don’t need fence sitters. We need people fed up and angry at the ruling class and ready to act–to help our community and get involved in our local mutual aid movements–many of whom were at the PC on Saturday.
“If you are neutral in situations of injustice, you have chosen the side of the oppressor. If an elephant has its foot on the tail of a mouse and you say that you are neutral, the mouse (i.e., every oppressed person) will not appreciate your neutrality.” – Desmond Tutu
For many The Flag represents 250 years of outright evil. In it we see America at its execrable worst. It’s a nation that has amassed ungodly power. It has used it again and again with lethal terror against the non-Caucasian, non-European preponderance of the world.
It has left vast areas on the globe with unfillable emptiness: The decimation of an entire continent’s people. The kidnapping of multitudes from another continent. William McKinley’s go round at a repeat genocide in the Philippines. Then Hiroshima/Nagasaki with subsequent testing of the bomb over the heads of Pacific Islanders. Then, extinguishing the lives of tens of thousands in Korea followed quickly by 3 to 4 million more in Indochina. All this while creating and upholding gruesome dictatorships in Iran (the Shah, remember?), Guatemala, Indonesia, Rhodesia, Angola, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Brazil, and Honduras. All of this as prequel and sequel to the ultimate unleashing of Teutonic weaponry as Shock and Awe and Murder against more than a million people in Iraq and Afghamistan. Now . . . what do these Christian Nationalists in the White House have in store for Gaza, the West Bank, Yemen, Lebanon, and the Islamic Republic?
A good introduction to the centuries-long impact of American style imperialism can be found in a reading of Dr. King’s April 1967 message at Riverside Church. It always provides me with instant orientation when I lose my historical bearings.
An American “No Kings” mass movement that does not and can not incorporate this history into its strategy will never amount to much more than twice-a-year, sign-wielding singers of “America the Beautiful”. A local indivisable “resistance” that blanches at the activism of true long-time local heroes like Luke Richter will never acknowledge and overcome the long history of racism and colonialism that persists in our region.
I don’t disagree with most of what you wrote here, Foster. I do think that it is incorrect to call “No Kings” a mass movement. So far, it is a mass mobilization, starting much in the way that most mass movements start. The anti-war movement in the 1960s started a a series of many rallies and mobilization and did eventually morph into more of a movement. That requires organizing. There is a difference between mobilizing and organizing. A mass movement can and should incorporate many elements. I want a mass movement that includes flag burners and people who sing America the Beautiful. Which is what we had when we stopped the Vietnam war. Denigrating one over the other will not build the movement we need.
Are you trying to educate Foster? One of the most politically knowledgeable and active members in our community. Wow.