JULY 18th: GOOD TROUBLE
July 17th-19th is Good Trouble Lives On! Dedicated to deceased Congressman John Lewis, this weekend of action is all about voting rights, voter education, upcoming elections, and the fight for the freedom to vote. Join us for a classic Withington Park rally to listen to local candidates, learn about our rights as voters, and to push our elected representatives to do what's right!
Reminder: All events coordinated by the Jackson Activist team follow the same rule: everyone is allowed UNLESS you make other people feel like they aren't. Anyone instigating or escalating a situation will be asked to leave the event.
-This event took place from 2PM-4PM on Saturday, June 13th.
Around 27 people showed up to this classic line-the-corner protest. Thematically, it was centered around Flag Day -- the flag is supposed to be a symbol of freedom and fighting for our neighbors, yet our country is actively living against those ideals. Effectively, it felt like a return to form in the style of last year's Rage Against the Regime rally or weekly Thursday protests. We also had a cup of foreign and queer flags for people to take an attach to their protest signs!
Shoutout to Tim, who had been running a stand as part of the Art Walk downtown. He gave me a "No Kings" canvas for free, then showed up at the park around 3:30 to give away all the canvases he hadn't sold. I can't wait to display his work at future protests!
Overall, this was a small and sweet protest! Thank you to Charlotte and Steve for helping me keep tabs on things, to my dad for dropping off some supplies partway through, and to all the attendees for making this a day to remember! Thanks, everyone!
This event took place from 11AM-2PM on Saturday, March 28th.
Over 700 people turned out at Horace Blackman Park for our NO KINGS 3: JACKSON rally. The park was packed with 720-750 people at our peak! The sidewalks were decorated with chalk messages and filled with some amazing signs (some made right there at the event)! We even had a few costumes, like a chicken, Darth Vader, and Boba Fett!
Our speakers Becky McKenney, state house representative Carrie Rheingans, A'vion Johnson, Amador Ybarra, Reverend Dan Miyake and mayoral candidate Derek Dobies got the crowd raring to go. They reminded us of why we keep fighting! I'd especially like to shout out Carrie and Amador for getting the crowd hyped up with their electric energy, and Reverend Dan for giving one of the best speeches I've ever heard. All of our speakers were absolutely incredible!
Shoutout to our tabling organizations too! The Jackson County Immigration Coalition brought a slew of immigration resources and whistle-making kits, the Jackson County Dems brought sweets to fuel your protesting, the Michigan Action for Cuba Committee brought all sorts of information about the blockade in Cuba, the Sparks Artists Screenprinting group brought No Kings shirts, and the Universalist Unitarian and First Presbyterian Churches brought some fun handouts and resources themselves! Voters Not Politicians and Rank MI Vote got some wonderful reception on their petitions, too! Fantastic!
At 12PMish, we started the march! The line of people spanned all the way from Mechanic to Wildwood! While not everyone returned to the park after, everyone that participated did a wonderful job!
Ooh, and let's not forget our 1PM action segment, when we all called Tim Walberg to yell "NO KINGS" together! I need to do that at every protest now because that was amazing. Thank you to Jay (aka @jaythestrengthcoach on Instagram) for running that for us and encouraging us by example to call our reps every chance we get!
Thank you to everyone who came to the rally for an amazing protest. Unlike previous events, we didn't have a single incident or even a counterprotester! That's amazing! Special thank you to our wonderful volunteers who make rallies like these possible. Together, we added a local 750 to the nationwide 8 MILLION TOTAL at No Kings 3! Together, we say NO KINGS 3 IN JACKSON, MICHIGAN!
This event took place from 7PM-10:45PM on Tuesday, January 20th.
We counted 257 people at the meeting! 63 comments were made in the first comment period alone -- that's more than 2.5 hours! -- with 53 against 287(g). There were 72 comments overall (58 anti-287(g))!
These comments ranged from logistical to emotional pleas. Some spoke about the resource costs that break into the MILLIONS OF DOLLARS per year when our county police are already severely underfunded and understaffed. Others talked about the culture of fear, and how the shattering of trust caused by the deal is already scaring people out of calling 911 in an emergency. Racial profiling, ICE's history of violent atrocities, the impact on our kids.. oh man, the impact on our kids.
Here's to all the kids that spoke that night. They were scared, voices shaking, bodies trembling, tears in their eyes! But they still spoke. One broke down crying because "we're targeting immigrants when I've had more fear here in Jackson from your guys' citizens", begging the police to dedicate resources to the real criminals like the Americans that had hurt her instead of innocent immigrants. Another calmly plead for protection, because ""I don't have a guarantee that I can still live tomorrow". Even more spoke in trembling voices about their classmates, their friends, their families who had been so scared for them to speak at all. To all those kids -- thank you for your bravery. We won't let that be in vain. I promise.
There were a few incidents. Many of our own allies were yelling and jeering and booing other speakers. One woman was escorted out by the sheriff after refusing to hold back her words. Our opposition used our behavior to call us violent and hysterical. At one point, District 1 Commissioner Tony Bair put up an "I Love ICE" sign by his nameplate, which riled up the crowd until another woman walked up and took it down herself. I'd like to remind everyone that this was not a rally, but a county meeting. As Amador put it, "While I understand the emotion and why they did that, I also think that in a public meeting we have to make sure that we are aware of what we’re doing.” Both sides were out of line.
At the end of the day, though, the meeting was a wild success! I won't go too much into the impacts, but Commissioners Darius Williams and John Willis were very receptive! And we got a TON of news coverage! I'm extremely proud of everyone who attended. We certainly FILLED THE ROOM!
No Kings 2 was an absolute blast!
The rally ended up starting around 12:15, and it went GREAT! The park was filled with people! There were plenty of cool signs and especially costumes -- 2 frogs, numerous people in frog hats, at least one T-rex, a pterodactyl with "Fuck Trump" written on the wings, 3 unicorns (1 skeletal), an inflatable waving arm guy, an anglerfish, Spiderman, an orange ghost, a banana, a turkey with some goddamn MOVES, and way more!
Forgot to add: video credit to Mykie!!
— alexanderrrrrrrrrr (any/all) (@alexanderactivism.bsky.social) October 19, 2025 at 5:00 PM
[image or embed]
There were some counterprotesters. But the tactics of distancing, delegating, physical barriers, and focusing on something else WORK! Thank you to everyone for refusing to engage with would-be agitators!
We had some phenomenal people presenting to the crowd. Our speakers (notably including Pat Zabawa, Jacob Boswell, Gayla Ignacio and the wonderful Carrie Rheingans) did a great job! The organizations tabling got some real foot traffic, too, which was awesome! That included Rank MI Vote, Third Act, Voters Not Politicians, Abdul for Senate, the Jackson County Dems AND the Jackson County for Immigrants Coalition! Special thank you to Victor and the Good Vibes for performing some classic protest songs for us.
Around 2:15 we started the march! We had a line stretching back at LEAST a block. We had cheers, we had chants, and we had some friendly honks along the way! It did start downpouring once we got near the county sheriff's office parking lot. But that didn't stop us from chalking that lot up! We had a cop pull up while we were working. I wonder what they were thinking seeing the entire surface covered in "NO ICE"!
Thank you to the wonderful volunteers who made this possible! A special thank you goes to Phil, Kim, Charlie, Mykie, and a whole group of a volunteer's brother and co-workers for stepping up to fill some roles. Finally, thank you to everyone who came for following the safety rules!
Overall, it was a great day. We estimate we had 650-700+ people at our peak, with a few hundred for the march -- a proud part of the 7 MILLION Americans that came out all over the country. We did it better than we have before, and I am extremely happy. Thank you all for a day of musical, colorful, people-packed fun! No Kings in Jackson, Michigan! Let's keep it up!
We had a virtual meeting to discuss day-of plans, volunteer roles, and safety procedures for No Kings 2. Not many people showed up but we did get some great ideas thrown around!
This event took place from 12:00-4:00 on Monday, September 1st.
Labor Day went extremely well!
Everyone who spoke did a phenomenal job! I unfortunately didn't catch most of the speeches myself, but I could've heard the cheering a mile away. It was great! Thank you to Sue Shink, Derek Dobies, Shalanda Hunt, A'vion Johnson, Christian Vukasovich, Jacob Boswell, Becky McKenney, Thomas Burke, Amador Ybarra, Pat Ulanowicz, Gayla Ignacio, and Sarah Allison for speaking! Additionally, thank you to the few from the crowd that took the mic! I didn't catch your names, but you brought some fantastic contributions to the table and I cannot thank you enough for speaking up about the issues you care about. (I'd also like to thank everyone who stuck around while I rambled into the mic to fill the air during the community segment. Next time, we're just playing music and pausing it so people can speak, haha.)
We, for many reasons, can't get specific numbers for any increased interest in the various organizations that tabled -- Save Our Youth, Voters Not Politicians, the Jackson County for Immigrants Coalition, Jackson First Presbyterian Church's charity efforts, and Rank MI Vote -- but I saw a lot of people lingering at the tables!
It sounds like the petitions going around -- the Rank MI Vote petition, Voters Not Politician's Mop Up Michigan petition, and the Invest in MI Kids petition (thanks Joanna for bringing that!) -- got plenty of traction throughout the day! Those were major calls to action for the event! I'm incredibly happy that they got more signatures!
The food trucks were great too! I had Marshell's Wingity Anns and Irene's Water Ice myself, but I heard some talk about Meech and Muff's Heavenly Foods, Cookin with Beans, and Fila's Fantastic Food Truck while walking around. The crowd seemed to enjoy all the options.
Finally, I'd like to thank everyone who helped out! Thank you to Linda, Ruby, Bonnie, Devin, Angelique, Ryan, Brandon, and Steve for being our safety marshals and our welcome table rotation; Devin again for being our janitor; Ruby for taking some great pictures and videos; Gayla for double-timing as a group representative and first-aid manager; Natalie for beinging the vast majority of the supplies including the entire JC4IC/first aid tent setup; Steve for bringing the essentials for the welcome tent; Richard for bringing, setting up, and running his PA system; John for MCing; and of course Amador for organizing the food trucks (and about 50 other things, haha). And all that was just day-of! These wonderful folks make running events like this possible. Thank you everyone!!
This event took place from 12:00-2:00 on Saturday, August 2nd.
What a good time! We had great weather, a great speaker, and an even greater crowd -- roughly 30-40 people from all over southern Michigan (and even one person from Indiana!) joined us throughout the day!
Ironically, Rage Against the Regime was one of the calmest events I've hosted. In fact, we didn't have any incidents; just some very enthusiastic folks excited to be there. And they had great reason to be! Our key speaker Christian Vukasovich really stole the day with his phenomenal speech about the exact kinds of actions we were there to oppose -- authoritarian actions against us, the people.
"Wherever people are assembling," he said, "they're speaking up for our freedom. For humanity. They are defending our constitution, and our democracy, and they're crying out for our nation to join them in resistance. (...) And the moral path is clear: We resist. We resist. We resist in the voting booth, and with our ceaseless demands to our representatives (...). We resist with our voices at public meetings, within the civil organizations whose democratic charters are being eroded! We resist with our wallets and by deciding which companies and political interest groups we support with our hard-earned dollars (...)! We resist in the streets, in our public spaces like this. We let our neighbors know we haven't abandoned them and they let us know that they are thankful as they drive by. And we let our politicians know that we will not forgive them. We will hold them accountable for their complicity. And we resist these would-be kings as if our nation and our democracy depend on it. Because it does! They do! It's our patriotic duty and it is our moral duty.
"If your rage didn't matter, your representatives wouldn't be hiding from their constituents! (...) If your voices didn't matter, they wouldn't be deploying troops to shut you down! If your votes didn't matter, they wouldn't be spending so much to buy our elections, to gerrymander districts. If your boycotts didn't matter, they wouldn't be trying to make them illegal in state after state in America. And if your resistance didn't matter, they wouldn't be working so hard and so fast to take away our constitutional rights to due process, and to suspend the writ of habeus corpus. So we the people today -- you, me, our neighbors honking their horns in support -- we're making it clear that our democracy is not negotiable. (...) Democracy needs your courage! Democracy needs our rage!"
We had some great resources from the Jackson County for Immigrants Coalition related to the ICE. Missed it? No worries, here's their linktree! It's got all their contact information, plus some important information regarding how to prepare for/deal with encounters with ICE. I highly recommend looking at their red cards -- a free resource all about your rights.
All and all, this was a fantastic protest! A special thank-you to Devin, our safety marshal/runner/photographer who did a wonderful job keeping watch; and to Steve, who brought chairs, the banner, several great street signs, and the ever-valuable canopy for the welcome table! Let's keep fighting the regime together!
Edit: added specific quotes from Christian's speech. As of 1/10/26, his name is now here! Woo!
This event took place from 4:00-6:00 PM on Thursday, July 17th.
Roughly 100 people lined the sidewalks at Withington Park, stretching from Washington Ave down Louis Glick! And we didn't just get Jackson locals -- attendees from six other counties joined us for the national day of action! Several participants were members of the Jackson County Democratic Committee (including chair Amador Ybarra and fellow organizer Natalie Schroeder), while others came from the Lenawee County Indivisible team. Plus we had a handful of folks from Rank MI Vote walking around with petitions! What a turnout!
While I wasn't really an organizer this time, I spent most of the two hours talking to people. Everyone had such incredible signs, with fun slogans and designs (see the Media page for pictures!)! And those who didn't bring a sign seemed to be having loads of fun cheering at the many honking cars whizzing past. This phenomenal group of people really made this event one for the books! I'm hoping some of them become regular attendees!
Fortunately, we had only one, quickly-resolved incident! I'd like to thank everyone who came for keeping things peaceful and respectful. As a reminder, we run by the rule of "everyone is welcome until you start antagonizing people" and advise all protest participants to back off from developing conflicts.
I'd call this event a great success! This more than doubled the usual turnout for the typical weekly Thursday 4-6PM protest, and was just as joyful as normal. Good trouble certainly lives on in Jackson!
Edit: Headcounts varied from under 100 to 130. I'm using "100" because that's what I heard on the day of.