Conservative sources are stressing the white 55+ aspect of the "No Kings" protests, and often show stills and videos highlighting that. A secondary group is quite young people, disproportionately gender-ambiguous and carrying PRIDE signs. A third group, with better signs and prominent among organisers and speakers seems to be government union and socialist groups. But it is easy to select people out of a crowd for photographs, which is why colleges always get nonwhite students, especially black, onto the first page of their websites and brochures and females onto the laboratory pages.
An online person assured me that there was a noticeable Black, Hispanic, and Asian presence at the rally he attended "even in all-white New Hampshire." Well, he was in Nashua, which is more than 25% nonwhite, so he was shading the truth on that one. But I didn't go myself, so I wanted to get a more accurate picture. I looked at photos, but Hispanics - half of the nonwhites - are not always easy to pick out at a distance in a crowd. White hair is probably a better identifier than skin among seniors.
I couldn't find a second black person, so I tried Boston, and couldn't find a third one in all the pictures there. But still, that's an imprecise measure, figures in a crowd shoot. All the closer, clearly identifiable people were white save one, and it was definitely a white-and-gray-haired crowd, even when taken by people sympathetic to the cause. Nationally, the Atlanta Journal and Constitution had an interview with a black man complaining that the protest was mostly white people and there were only a few articles like that except from conservative sources. I didn't see a lot of strollers or kids on shoulders. More electric carts and wheelchairs. But again, I wasn't there.
Historically, black people show up for black protests but not others. LGBT groups and women whose signs are coded pro-choice ("Hands off," "Women's health") show up for everyone; socialists show up with few people but great signs; environmentalists, antiwar, and Hispanics are variable. College students are variable along different lines, probably more social than group-identified. I don't know how that played nationally this past weekend.
Also Manchester, the other city in the state 25% nonwhite.
Do any of you know from actual attendance, an abundance of local photos from sources expected not to shade things, or reliable reporting in your area?
4 comments:
No data to offer from photos, but several people on Quora said, "I'm old and white, and I made a point of attending because old white people are safer from arrest."
My brief research into the issue does not bring up stories of arrests of people who weren't creating significant disturbances in all of 2025. There are often conflicting reports, but even those, written and video don't show the police acting entirely without warrant. I have also heard people express fear that they are going to be detained or arrested without warrant for simply protesting. I have yet to see anything unambiguous, and plenty that is unambiguously exaggerated. These are from sources like CNN and MSNBC, which are generally anticonservative.
Okay. I merely report what some people say they were concerned about. Here's a sample:
"Why were the vast majority of protestors for no kings day in Atlanta Georgia white old people?"
"Old White people are less likely to be arrested for protesting, and we know it. If we are arrested, we’re less likely to be killed by police. And if ICE is looking for people to deport, they tend NOT to pick on old White folks whose relatives will have a lawyer there in no time flat.
"We have privilege, we know that, and we’re USING it."
Yup. I have heard similar things, and I can understand an old white person saying, "Okay, this is the sort of thing I'm going to." But I am wondering how much of it is a story people tell themselves rather than a real danger. There have been enough high-profile stories of unwarranted detainment of Hispanics that I can understand the caution even if these are exaggerated. I'm not understanding the rest. I don't see couples with strollers get arrested that often either.
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