Time to Turn Protests Into Resistance
Editor's note: This was the speech I delivered at the "No Kings" rally in Worcester, Massachusetts, on October 18, 2025. The rally was organized by the Greater Assabet Indivisible Network (GAIN). Between 5000 and 7000 people attended the rally at Institute Park, making it the largest rally in Worcester history, on the single largest day of protests in American history.
But rallies are not the point of rallies. The time has come to transform the opposition movement into something more, a resistance movement.
Thousands across central Massachusetts flocked to Worcester for the No Kings rally hosted by Greater Assabet Indivisible Network (GAIN) - Photo Credit: James Miller
History is filled with great heroes, and terrible villains. But the history books ignore the fact that most people sit back and do nothing. With more than 2500 rallies today, this is the largest single day of protest in American history. You did not sit on the sidelines. You are the heroes and the helpers, and together we will stop this regime.
I'm not going to talk about the problem. You all know the problem. The people who spoke before me used their expertise and their lived experience to tell you have this regime is attacking families, minorities, our health, our children, our economy, and our future. I'm here to talk about what we can ,m do to stop them.
Make no mistake, showing up today is not enough. We could have rallies like this every single day and it would not stop Donald Trump. You know this. I believe you have come here today to find out what to do next. What is the plan?
Some of the organizations here today have a plan and are already acting on it. You need to sign up and get involved! To build a truly effective, democratic opposition movement, the first step is to organize. We must unite, share our ideas and our talents and skills and time and money. We have to gather our strength for the storm ahead.
The resources are here. The minds, the brain power, the heart... the heroes who are going to win this thing are right here in this park. JOIN THEM or you've wasted an afternoon. Sign up for the mailing lists for organizations like ours, Greater Assabet Indivisible Network, GAIN, who put on this rally and the June 14 rally. Sign up for another Indivisible group in your area -- you can get information about other groups in the area at these tents here. YOU CAN FORM YOUR OWN GROUP and we will ally with you and help you do it and some of us will join you. Start these conversations before you leave here today. ORGANIZE!
The enemy is organized. They are involved in community organizations, church groups, the VFW, the Knights of Columbus, the local Freemasons lodge... groups liberals have been leaving for years have now been turned into weapons of the far right. I want you to drive through any downtown in America. Count the churches. People are going to churches 3 or 5 times a week, sometimes donating ten percent of their money, and too many of those churches have been corrupted by the MAGA agenda.
I'm glad that so many representatives of local churches and community organizations are here today. We need to support them. We need to build community organizations, we need to take back social clubs and churches, or we need to form our own. We stand for the truth, we stand for what's good for every American. Posting to Facebook is not enough. We need to build community and unite. ORGANIZE. Sign up and get it done before you leave here today.
So, number 1, organize and unite. But what's next?
Once we gather our strength we have to resist. We need to transform this opposition movement to a resistance movement. Resistance is about actually making life harder for this administration. You have to actually disrupt the system.
You may not know it yet, but we've already started the resistance. Right here in Massachusetts we have a small group of citizens who are writing the playbook on how to shut down ICE.
As you've heard, ICE uses a single base of operations to conduct its business in Massachusetts just feet away from the Burlington Mall. Protests there have already disrupted ICE's routine. They're conducting business when the protesters aren't around. The solution is obvious -- more protesters, more days, more hours in the day. A group called Bearing Witness started those protests on Wednesdays, and thanks to the leadership of Todd Palmer and a few other people in our organization GAIN, Justice 4 All is holding protests on Thursdays as well. There are MILLIONS of people in Massachusetts alone who oppose this regime. We could protest 16 hours a day, 7 days a week. We just need everyone to sign up!
But the protests go another level deeper. Protest organizers are putting incredible pressure on both the landlord who owns the building AND on the city of Burlington. If we keep pushing, that facility is going to be shut down, and we can shut down other facilities they use as well, like the private prison in Plymouth. Together, we can push ICE right out of these facilities, and when they're gone we can deny them new facilities. Do this in Massachusetts and they have no base in Massachusetts. Do it in Rhode Island, Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, New York, and New Hampshire, and they won't have a base of operations within an 8 hour drive of Massachusetts. We can shut ICE down. We need everyone in this crowd to do what they can, join us, and PUSH!
Groups like LUCE are monitoring ICE, raising the alarm when they are raiding, and helping the communities that are effected by their lawless hate. Neighbor to Neighbor, our food pantries, and other local organizations, are helping repair the damage Trump has done. If we help our effected communities become more resilient while disrupting Trump's attacks against them, we are resisting and we will win!
Organize, identify the problem, work together to find a solution, and RESIST.
Resistance needs to be disruptive, but we have to be STRATEGIC in our thinking. The protests at the ICE office in Burlington have proven that we have another super power. Protesters have put enough pressure on the city of Burlington that local officials are now demanding the state shut the facility down! And this brings me to the third thing we have to do to stop this regime, we have to lead our leaders.
During the Civil Rights Movement, protesters in the South were willing to put their freedom, and sometimes their own lives on the line to create change. Today in Massachusetts, 70% of the people already agree with us, as do most of our elected officials. We need to apply pressure to what we can control, our local elected officials. They have the power to stand up to ICE, they just don't have the guts to do it. We need to give them that courage, to show them that the largest protest movement in American history has their backs if they do the right thing. And unfortunately some of them don't want to do the right thing, and we're just going to have to vote them out of office and replace them with someone who will.
Some of our politicians are in the crowd. I'm glad you joined us to listen, because we're done with speeches. Our local and state leaders have to act. Too many of them are hiding behind a convenient lie, that the Federal government is the higher authority. This is simply not true, and it's never been true. WE THE PEOPLE have the power, and the country is called the "UNITED STATES" because the states form the government. They can't commit crimes here! There are no kings here, and our officials, from the city councilors and select board members to our state legislators and the governor herself need to show some courage and defend the people whom they serve.
We have to give our leaders ideas and then hold them accountable to ensure they act on them. I'm speaking for myself here, but we need to ask our elected leaders hard, uncomfortable questions. Blue states pay FAR more into the federal government than we take -- red states take. But Trump's illegal, immoral, unwise and unconstitutional cuts hurt the blue states more than the red states. So ask your elected officials this question -- why are we paying tax dollars to fund the building of concentration camps? Why are our dollars helping ICE build an army when OUR people are losing their careers, their food stamps, their healthcare? Why are we paying for these fascists instead of taking care of our own people?
The governor knows there is so much she can do. Other governors have started to do the right things. Why isn't Massachusetts leading them? The people in this crowd need to lead the leaders. In these tents over here we have a letter that GAIN has written to Maura Healey. In that letter, we tell Governor Healey that Massachusetts cannot stand by while federal agents commit crimes on our soil — assaulting citizens, breaking into homes, and detaining people because of how they look or speak. We call on her to shut down the ICE office in Burlington, to hold those agents accountable, and to pass the Safe Communities Act. I ask her to lead with courage — to make Massachusetts the state that stands up to a lawless regime and protects every resident’s rights.
There are thousands of people in this crowd. Every single one of you can sign that letter. Several other communities across Massachusetts are signing the same letter today. We can stand up and say that not only did we meet for a rally in a park, but we organized, we pledged to resist, and we lead our leaders by asking them to do the same. We have the power. Go to these tents, get information, sign up for the mailing lists, ask your questions, share your ideas, sign this letter, and together we will turn this protest movement into a resistance movement! DO THAT, and we will never have a king.
ORGANIZE! RESIST! LEAD! PUSH! THANK YOU!
