“It’s not enough for us to mourn. This outrage has to become something,” said Judge Everett Mitchell to over 10,000 at the State Capitol for the latest round of the “No Kings” rally.
On March 28, a third round of “No Kings” rallies was held around the country with an estimated 7 million in attendance across over 3,000 events. In Madison, an estimated 10,000 gathered at Brittingham Park, 829 W. Washington Ave., at 12:30 p.m. before marching to the State Capitol around 2 p.m.
The rallies across the country continue to raise issues with the same topics — that the actions of the Trump Administration are tantamount to that of acting like a monarchy and the restoration of the rule of law — but this round saw the addition of two points since October’s “No Kings” rally.
This time focused on the Trump Administration’s increase in ICE operations, particularly in Minnesota, which resulted in the deaths of two U.S. citizens by federal agents, and the war in Iran.
“Last year was a hard year, and we are living in a new form of enforced despotism,” said Ajax Johnson, organizer with the Badger Collective. “We’ve got ICE on our streets, we’re waging war on a foreign nation that was completely unprovoked.”
Johnson was one of the speakers at “No Kings.” Johnson urges the people, in wake of many issues most are currently faced with, to stand up for what is right and demand that the government realigns itself with representing the people instead of the interests of outside influencers.
“It comes time for an absolute rework of our republic, and we start by changing the people,” Johnson said. “When we change the people, we change the systems that those people are in. When we change the systems that those people are in, no matter what they look like, we can change the world.”
A heavy emphasis was placed on the midterms this year. Currently, there are 6,122 seats scheduled for elections across 46 states in 2026, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.
Speakers urged attendees to make sure they vote and call on their friends and families to do the same.
On the topic of Iran, Dane County Circuit Court Judge and Reverend Everett Mitchell gave his insights on his unique experience in the Middle East as bombs began to drop. Judge Mitchell was one of the U.S. citizens who were left stranded with no word from the government.
(Photo by Omar Waheed)
“I wanted you to sit with the idea for a moment that an America that claims to be superior had left its citizens stuck in a foreign land because they engaged in the war nobody voted for,” Judge Mitchell said.
Judge Mitchell was in the Middle East because he “likes to take pilgrimages to places to be able to walk on grounds where I get to see things for myself.” He visited Palestine, Dubai and the United Arab Emirates to experience the architecture and experience Ramadan. On Feb. 28 when he was scheduled to go home, bombs started to drop.
“I heard the explosions. I watched the drones. They sent messages to us to come and stay inside of our hotels to get water and food, because they didn’t know when we were going to be extracted from the place,” Judge Mitchell said.
He, and other U.S. citizens who were in the Middle East, received a call telling them to wait in their hotels with further instructions to come via email. Judge Mitchell did not receive that email.
“We realized that in that moment, that we were expendable to a war, that a president we did not ask for, engaged us in,” Judge Mitchell said.
When bombs first dropped in Iran, he thought of the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, by the Ku Klux Klan on September 15, 1963, that killed four girls at Sunday School.
“Dr. Martin Luther King stood and delivered that eulogy, and he said to those in the audience at the time at the church, he challenged the city of Birmingham, that the state of Alabama and the nation to reckon to what it had produced: a culture of violence, of impunity and contempt, of Black life dressed it as law and order and the language of civilization,” Judge Mitchell said.
What Dr. King said later in his eulogy stood out to Judge Mitchell as he sat in the fallout of attacks. In the eulogy, Dr. King stated that the bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church was not the actions of a lone bomber; it was the product of every politician who fed the system to result in its actions.
“I’ve been thinking about those four girls ever since February 28 of this year. Why? Because it feels like history repeated itself,” Judge Mitchell said regarding the school in Minar that was bombed.
(Photo by Omar Waheed)
Judge Mitchell urges action from the people. Organizing and coming out to “No Kings” has to mean something — it can’t just be an empty gathering, he said.
“The sign making, the marching, the protest. It has to become something. It has to be organized. It has to become more votes. It has to become more bodies in the street. It has to become voices at the school board. It has to become candidates on the ballot who actually come from those who are committed to being committed to the community that they serve,” he said.
“No Kings” started to fizzle out after Judge Mitchell’s address. The rally was played out by local System of a Down cover band Dances with Deer.
