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Island community takes part again in ‘No Kings’ protest

By CASEY BRADLEY GENT / news@breezenewspapers.com 2 min read
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.
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CASEY BRADLEY GENT Protestors line Periwinkle Way on Sanibel on Oct. 18 for a “No Kings” protest organized by the Progressive Club of the Islands. It was the second held on the island, with the first in June.

For the second time in four months, peaceful protestors assembled on Oct. 18 along Periwinkle Way on Sanibel as part of a national movement in opposition to the Trump administration and MAGA agenda.

More than 2,000 “No Kings” protests were planned nationwide, with many of the demonstrators donning red, white and blue and waving the American flag.

“Waving the flag is part of the resistance,” second-generation island resident Frank Nera said. “I am immensely proud of this flag. I want to claim it.”

“MAGA co-opted the flag and the ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ slogan, which is another extremely patriotic American symbol,” he added. “I am here today to help bring back what the term patriot really means.”

A former history professor at Florida State University, Nera was joined by his father, Frank Nera Sr.

“Trump levels criticism at people who protest,” Nera Sr. said. “This type of peaceful dissent is as American as you can be.”

“We need more of these rallies, not less,” he added.

Father and son agreed that they were pleased with the turnout.

By 10:45 a.m. — 45 minutes after the protest began — the line of demonstrators standing on Periwinkle was several people deep, stretching west from Purdy Street past Mitzi Lane.

They waved homemade signs declaring “No Kings.”

“Honk if you love democracy,” Deb Glasheen shouted, her voice growing hoarse.

As the sun stretched higher into the middle of the morning, she and Gretchen Danbaugh stood with their shoulders touching.

“What else can I possibly do to show my disgust with this authoritarian president? I can show up and demonstrate,” Danbaugh said. “Because our American freedoms truly are threatened.”

Ronald Green sat in a lawn chair among the feet of the demonstrators. A board member for the Progressive Club of the Islands, he helped to organize the protest and the first “No Kings” in June.

“The island is free to do what we feel,” Green said. “We welcome all kinds of people and politics.”

The participating protestors reported that they oppose President Donald Trump’s treatment of immigrants and his use of military in American cities. When a large delivery truck passed by the crowd, the driver honked loudly and the demonstrators cheered and lifted up their signs higher.

As they continued to gather, Glasheen moved from the middle of the group to the front.

“Honk if you love democracy,” she shouted, voice still crackling with her mantra.