The U.S. Virgin Islands now has four official events, which are part of the No Kings movement, planned for Saturday, Oct. 18.
On St. Croix, demonstrators will gather from 9:30 to 11 a.m. at the Aloy Wenty Nielsen Bypass in Christiansted.
Also on St. Croix, community members are invited to participate in a motorcade that begins at 4 p.m. at Gallows Bay and ends at a rally at the Frederiksted Beach at 5 p.m. Speakers include Dr. ChenziRa Kahina, Positive Nelson, Ghadeer Taha, and others.
Events on St. Thomas and St. John were announced 10 days ago in the Source.
On St. Thomas, participants will meet at 10 a.m. on Veterans Drive across from Windward Passage and walk east along the Waterfront to “the People’s Promenade” across from the courthouse. Rally-goers will be joined there for a musical performance by the St. Thomas All Stars Steel Band.
On St. John, community members will assemble for a rally in Frank Powell Sr. Park across from the ferry dock from 5 to 6:30 p.m. There will be speakers and a performance by the Dynamic Dancers.
The four events in the U.S. Virgin Islands are among the 2,500 now being planned for locations in the United States, Canada and Europe, as well as some far-flung places including Panama and Saipan.
“Virgin Islanders have always stood against oppression,” according to a statement issued by the organizers of the St. Croix motorcade.
They listed a number of ways Virgin Islanders have been affected by President Donald Trump’s policies:
- Cuts to Health & Education: Millions slashed from UVI and the Health Department.
- Disaster Aid as a Loyalty Test: Threats to cut FEMA, with aid given or withheld depending on loyalty to the president.
- Medicaid at Risk: Families, elders, and children could lose care – decided in Washington, without VI votes.
- Unconsented Military Presence: Forces stationed here (St. Croix) without our consent, linked to an extrajudicial killing at sea.
- Attacks on Rights: Immigration crackdowns, threats to birthright citizenship, suppression of protest and press.
“These are not just policy disagreements,” the statement continues. “They are examples of power imposed without our voice, our vote, or our consent, at the whim of a fickle, vengeful, uninformed ruler. No Kings means: power belongs to the people. Always.”
Last week, Speaker Mike Johnson described the No Kings rally as a “hate America rally” and said it would attract “the pro-Hamas wing” and “the antifa people.”
This led Sen. Bernie Sanders to respond on X, “The No Kings Rally on Oct. 18 is not a ‘hate America’ rally. Quite the contrary. It’s a rally of millions of people who believe in American freedom and are not going to allow you and President Trump to turn us into an authoritarian country.”
The Oct. 18 rallies are being coordinated by the group Indivisible, which successfully organized an estimated five million people in more than 2,100 peaceful demonstrations on June 14.
