Crowds fill downtown Wyandotte for No Kings rally

 

By SUE SUCHYTA

Sunday Times Newspapers

WYANDOTTE – Protestors filled the plaza east of City Hall to hear speakers and lined Biddle Avenue while carrying signs the afternoon of March 28 during a No Kings rally.

Downriver United 734 event co-organizer Ashley Perry voiced concerns about election interference, and spoke of action items people can pursue to prevent what she called President Donald Trump’s voter-limiting agenda.

“Guys, he’s coming for Wayne County, and do not kid yourselves: he literally mentioned Detroit as the first city he’s going after,” she said. “We have to be vigilant and we have to be prepared.”

Perry said the community needs to be the eyes and ears of what is going on, and multiple Michigan voting rights groups are working together. She said Michigan, along with North Carolina, Iowa, Georgia and Ohio, have been identified as battleground states in the upcoming mid-terms.

She stressed the importance of encouraging liberal-leaning voters to turn out to the polls for the midterm elections.

“If they didn’t show up to vote for Trump in 2024, then they don’t want him where he is and they don’t want the Republicans where they are,” Perry said.

She also mentioned efforts to stop the proposed Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention facility in Romulus.

“We as Michiganders need to show up, and after the midterms, I think we are going to kick ass,” Perry said.

She said that after the 2026 midterms, they need to keep the momentum going until the 2028 election “to flip the White House.” 

Perry then introduced Angela Davenport, a voting rights activist and community organizer, who reminded those gathered what they were fighting: tyranny and fascism.

“We’re here for the same reason, because something is at stake, no matter what we look like, no matter where we come from, our circumstances, we are here because there’s no kings in democracy,” she said.

Davenport said power belongs to the people, not the well-connected and the powerful.

“Our voices don’t only matter when we’re free,” she said. “If power only listens to itself, that is not leadership, and that’s why we are here: we believe there are no kings in a democracy.”

Davenport said the actions of Trump and his regime are escalating, and democratic institutions are under threat, civil rights are under attack and the rule of law is being tested.

“We are putting elected officials on notice: Tell them to defend the Constitution,” she said. “Protect the people in our communities – they are being targeted, they are being brutalized, and stop allowing systems of harm to expand unchecked.”   

Davenport said we should not be building any more cages in our communities like the proposed detention center in Romulus.

“We will not allow our elections to be decided by who has the right paperwork, who can navigate obstacles, who has the privilege,” she said. “That is not democracy, that is exclusion.”

Davenport said the fight for democracy is for all, even for the least, and especially for those whom Trump is trying to prevent from voting.

“He knows that Republicans can’t win based on what he is doing, so he is trying to rig the election by picking his own voters, and is that right?” she said. “So, that’s what this moment is about: They are putting barriers in front of the ballot, forcing people to prove who they are, again and again, just to exercise a right that belongs to every single one of us.”

Davenport said if someone is eligible to vote, they should be able to vote without fear, confusion or barriers.

She urged those present to protect the vote, to oppose the federal Safeguard American Voter Eligibility Act, which she said is equated with voter suppression, as well as the push in the Michigan Legislature designed to prevent people from voting in November.

“We will not let a wannabe king and his billionaire friends stop Michiganders from voting so they can keep waging war and stealing our tax dollars,” Davenport said. “We’ve got news for them: Deploying ICE agents will not stop us from voting, and that’s what they are saying they are going to do.”

She said people are demanding that the Trump administration “get their hands off our votes.”

Davenport encouraged those present to make sure others are registered to vote and have a plan to vote.

“We have to get our people ready,” she said. “You’re going to stay connected, you’re going to stay informed and you’re going to stay organized.”

Davenport urged the protestors to defend democracy every single day.

“This November, when we turn out, it’s going to be in record numbers, and I need you to commit to sending a crystal-clear message,” she said. “We will fight for the right of every eligible Michigander, and hands off our vote.”