Intermittent honks down Main Street Saturday morning signified the third coming of the No Kings protest to Cortez.
As more than 3,000 other No Kings protests rallied across the globe, Montezuma County’s gathering saw veterans, retirees and advocacy groups wear costumes and hold handmade signs opposing the war in Iran and the federal immigration enforcement crackdown.
Sean Benson, a veteran who fought in Iraq and Afghanistan, said he attended to voice opposition to Trump’s conduct of war in Iran without congressional authorization. His grandfather, father and stepson were all veterans of various conflicts, he said.
“It has to stop,” Benson said. “I can love my country and support its people without shedding any more blood. It’s been generations and we’re still doing the same thing.”
Organizers of Cortez’s Angry Knit-In, a gathering of fiber arts enthusiasts opposing many Trump administration policies, showed up for similar reasons. They sat in lawn chairs and knit red hats, alluding to historic Norwegian headwear protesting the Nazi occupation.
While they’ve attended similar protests before, organizer Megg Heath said she added the phrase “No War” to her protest sign, which already included “No ICE” and “No Kings.”
“We’ve lost one Coloradan already, and I don’t want to see that happen anymore,” Heath said, referencing the death of a soldier formerly based in Colorado Springs in the new conflict.
While many of the messages from protesters were serious, creative expression and joy were cornerstones of the event.
Angela Atkinson and her fellow co-organizers of Dignity Project, a Montezuma County-based immigration advocacy organization, draped themselves in orange butterfly wings and moved up and down the two blocks of protesters, receiving cheers and greetings. “The only orange monarch we want are the ones that pollinate our flowers!” reads their motto.
“It is so important to know that joy can coexist – in fact it must coexist – with the terror in our small communities,” Atkinson said.
Julia Anderson, one of the protest organizers from the grassroots nonprofit Indivisible, argued that despite Cortez’s population, small-town protests can influence national issues.
“Every town has a national influence right now,” Anderson said. “There are some towns that might have 10 people showing up and there’s some that might have 10,000.”
Regardless, she said, these events drive change. On Cortez’s streets, she said she has seen people warm up to protesters by attending events or donating more to her organization’s activities.
According to Anderson, 650 people attended the event, down a couple hundred from the No Kings protest in October. However, she said the turnout was still significant because it coincided with the end of spring break.
“Just listen to what we hear the whole time,” she said in an interview with The Journal, gesturing toward the road where cars passed. Every few drivers honked or waved at protesters, who smiled and waved back.
avanderveen@the-journal.com
