No King Day of Defiance: Twin Cities June 14 2025: Bravery and solidarity in Community
Amid a time of horrific political violence, we are grateful that 80,000 Minnesotans chose to come to our State Capitol, gathering together in peace. As we grieved the assassinations of House Speaker Emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband and the wounding of State Senator John Hoffman and his wife, we chose to continue to stand up for democracy.
A team of folks including Women’s March MN, Indivisible Twin Cities, MN 50501, and AFL-CIO of Minnesota had been planning the march and rally for about six weeks. Saturday morning, the decision was made to march out of respect for Hortman and Hoffman and their lives dedicated to public service and meeting the needs of all Minnesotans. We wanted to stand together in solidarity in the fight for our rights and our freedom. We wanted to let the would-be-kings know, whether they sit in the White House or wear disguises and shoot our Elected Officials, that we will not stand down for one man – we will rise for our community.
Saturday was not the event we planned. Saturday was the march we needed. We thank the 80,000 people who showed up. We thank those who watched remotely. We thank the hundreds of volunteers and marshals. We thank the speakers and performers for their flexibility. We thank the media resources who reported accurately on the event. (Several larger, even national media outlets claimed we had cancelled.)
We have some video of the day, which was captured during our livestreams. Unfortunately, livestreaming only works well when the network is not congested so there are some holes. We also had videographers in the crowd and we will post their video when made available.
Below is the original schedule, with modifications based on actual events added.
NO KINGS-TWIN CITIES SCHEDULE
11 am St. Paul College, 235 Marshall Ave
Emcee Sam O’Connell, Women’s March Minnesota
Veteran Jacob Thomas, Common Defense
Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan (not able to attend)
Noon MARCH along John Ireland Blvd to Capitol
Veterans with Common Defense will lead the march to the Capitol.
12:30 pm CAPITOL
Bands Surly Grrly and The Silent Treatment (Silent Treatment there but unable to play with schedule changes)
Vocalist/composer Kashimana
Greeter Zach Lindstrom, MN 50501
Poet Kyle Tran Myhre (Guante)
Emcee Julie Baumeister, Women’s March Minnesota
Governor Tim Walz (not able to attend)
Nekima Levy Armstrong, Racial Justice Network
Musician Larry Long
Artist/musician Venus DeMars
TikTok influencers @off_jawaggon and @pottymouthpollyanna
Rebecca Larson, Indivisible Twin Cities
Art of Heather Friedli, MN 50501, Grand Finale
We also have video from the community partners that tabled at the event. It was great to see attendees line up to talk to them about what next steps they could take to protest democracy.