MANKATO — Protesters in Mankato Saturday morning demonstrated their growing numbers, the breadth of their disdain for President Donald Trump and their determination to continue resisting even on a day of political violence in Minnesota.
But the local “No Kings” protest, which organizers said totaled more than 3,500 participants, was unrelentingly peaceful and largely polite. For the most part, southern Minnesota demonstrators even waited for the “Walk” sign to appear before crossing streets in the protest zone that stretched along four blocks of Warren Street for more than 90 minutes.
Ashley Harris laid out her motivation for joining the mass of Minnesotans.
“I do not like the way this country is going,” Harris said, “and sitting idly by is not going to bring change.”
Husband Matt Harris used even fewer words: “Because the GOP has set fire to the Constitution.”
Formerly residents of Indiana, the Harrises moved to Mankato with their three children — Lilah, 10, Dillon, 8, and Mia, 5 — because they felt individual liberties were being eroded in the Hoosier State and wanted to live in a place that more closely aligns with their beliefs. In comparison to Indiana, they’ve been impressed with the three local political rallies they’ve attended since April.
“Fewer Rebel flags here,” Matt Harris said.
“It feels safer to me,” his wife said. “I just don’t know if I’d be comfortable in Indiana to be out here.”
They felt secure enough to bring the kids along.
“I want them to see what democracy looks like,” Ashley Harris said. “We’re living it right now, so I want them to be a part of it.”
While 5-year-old Mia Harris is now on her third political demonstration, 81-year-old John Bipes was participating in his first on Saturday.
He and his wife Aileen had walked through the heart of Mankato’s “No Kings” protest, which filled the sidewalks on both sides of Warren Street from South Front Street through Second Street to Broad, Fourth and beyond, spilling into the side streets in several spots.
“It’s so great to see — friends and clergy, people from churches,” Bipes said. “… And I’m impressed with the creativity and artistry of the signs.”
He pulled up a photo on his phone of a placard with a Mary Poppins theme: “Super Callous Fragile Racist Lying Nazi Potus.”
An hour into the event, one of hundreds held across the nation, they rested on the eastern edge of the protest zone where it was less crowded and a bit quieter.
“It’s just great,” said Aileen Bipes, who was heartened by the size and unity of the crowd. “And I’m thankful it’s peaceful. … People are obeying the traffic signs even.”
Sitting on a retaining wall near the Blue Earth County Historical Society, John Bipes provided a historic perspective on his decision to join his first protest at the start of his ninth decade.
“I think we’re at the most critical point in our republic in our approximately 250 years,” he said. “… There’s so much right now that resembles 100 years ago in Europe.”
A retired engineer, Bipes said he recently heard of research into protest movements in totalitarian countries of the past. The conclusion was that a critical mass was reached — a tipping point — when the share of the population actively protesting the government reached 3.5%.
“According to that researcher, things start to topple at that point. … And I’m going to be part of the 3 and 1/2 percent.”
Although Saturday was the first time Bipes had participated in a political protest, he witnessed many more as part of the U.S. Army’s 561st Military Police Company when the unit was detailed to Washington, D.C. in 1969 and 1970. He and his fellow MPs were regularly called to serve as a buffer between Vietnam War protesters and federal facilities such as the Pentagon.
“I found them awful annoying because our MP company was constantly on call,” he said of the anti-war demonstrators.
But the draftee, although he couldn’t express it at the time, shared the protesters’ attitudes about the war.
“In my heart of hearts, I was with them,” Bipes said.
Now 55 years later, he’s free to speak his mind. He hesitated briefly when he heard that the Minnesota State Patrol was advising people, for safety reasons, to not attend “No Kings” protests. The advisory followed the early morning shooting of two Democratic lawmakers in Twin Cities suburbs by a gunman who was still on the loose as the demonstrations began.
“And then I thought, ‘So what. You wore the uniform of the country. And when you do, you’re asked to put your life on the line for your country.”
Any risk on Saturday was far, far less than what American soldiers faced in wars throughout history.
“Our national cemeteries are full of people who thought it was worth it in the defense of liberty to give their lives,” Bipes said.
He contrasts that with Republicans in Congress — including 1st District Congressman Brad Finstad — who he believes recognize that the president is acting in violation of the Constitution but “won’t even risk being primaried.”
“What about the people who were willing to lay down their lives?” Bipes said. “… Brad Finstad, where are you? They’ve drunk the Donald Trump Kool-Aid and they just live in fear of him.”
Most of the protesters along Warren Street were from Mankato, North Mankato, St. Peter and other nearby towns where the local Indivisible chapter, which organized Saturday’s local “No Kings” demonstration, is active. Others living in deep-red portions of rural Minnesota had to travel a bit farther to find like-minded people.
“I love it,” said Heather Magyar, who drove the 84 miles to Mankato from Westbrook in southwestern Minnesota. “It’s awesome. I think it’s very positive.”
Magyar came in full colonial attire, complete with powdered wig, for a reason.
“This is patriotic to me,” she said. “I believe that the values that our country was actually based on — the consent of the governed, all men are born free, the better angels of our spirit — are being represented in this time by the people that are out on this street.”