Residents partake in protests

No kings — San Benito residents, ranging from the young to the elderly, veterans of various wars, retirees, health professionals, and educators, took to the streets during area protests on Saturday, demonstrating their opposition to multiple policies of the Trump administration. (San Benito News/Ray Quiroga)

By ALBERT VILLEGAS and RAY QUIROGA
publisher@sbnewspaper.com

San Benito residents attended multiple protests across the Valley on Saturday, June 14, as an estimated 10 million demonstrators nationwide voiced their objections to various policies of the Trump administration.

Dubbed the “No Kings Day” protests, demonstrations were held in American cities from LA to Chicago and everywhere in between, including multiple events in Brownsville, San Benito, Harlingen, and McAllen.

San Benito residents were among those who joined hundreds along a busy stretch of road near Harlingen City Hall to voice their political disapproval.

The No Kings protest had been planned for weeks and coincided with Flag Day, a national holiday that Congress passed into law in 1949. However, for many protesters, it also coincided with President Trump’s 79th birthday.

“This president, if you want to call him that, is doing things that sure make him out to be a dictator, and it’s terrifying what it’s doing to our country,” said Ruben Rodriguez, of San Benito.

“I’m encouraged by the turnout because it says something about our community, that we’ve had enough of the president.”

If protesters chose not to follow along with chants, most had signs that not only cemented their opinions about federal agencies but also about President Trump.

Bob Dymond, who graduated from San Benito High School in 2003, stood next to his sister and two nieces along Tyler Ave. It didn’t take long for the young girls to experience backlash.

“We’re here because we’re in support of humanity, we support democracy, and justice for all,” Dymond said, pointing to his older niece, Zoe. “It’s also important for my nieces to know what hatred looks like. When we first arrived, one of the cars that passed us, a male driver flipped us off, and my niece asked,‘What’s that? What does that mean?’”

His sister, Pauline McIvor-Szmutko, who had her daughter, Emory, on her shoulders, added, “These girls are our future, and you have to raise kind humans if you want to see kindness in the world, and that’s what I want my daughters to know.”

Their response to the motorist who flipped the family off was a peace sign, Dymond said.

“Chicken Donald” was an inflatable item purchased by a female protester on Amazon in advance of the protest. She wore a yellow shirt that read: “Not my president. Not my voice. Not my values. Not my beliefs… Resist.”

She disapproves of the tactics the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is conducting under Trump’s orders.

Another protester, Dorann Schramm, of Harlingen, wore a shirt that indeed dated her ideas in terms of injustices.

The back of her shirt had an image of Rosa Parks, a symbol for the Civil Rights movement in the 1950s and 1960s. The shirt read: “You must never be fearful about what you are doing when it is right.”

“We’re here again. It’s frustrating,” Schramm said as she stood next to her husband, Jerry. “So many people worked and prayed, and fought and walked, and here we are again.”

Protesters held signs that sometimes negatively showed the president, including labeling him a felon, a disease, a liar, a clown, a sex offender, and some comparing him to Adolph Hitler.

A smaller but steadfast and passionate group of protesters gathered in front of San Benito City Hall in an event organized by the local League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) council.

Among the protesters were brothers and U.S. military veterans Victor and Daniel Cavazos, who are also members of the Brown Berets, a Chicano (Mexican American) activist group that emerged during the Chicano Movement of the late 1960s and is often compared to the Black Panthers.

The duo represented Sidewalk School, a mobile children’s classroom operating in nine cities, including Brownsville, Matamoros, Mexico, and Reynosa, Mexico.

“We’re here to show solidarity. We’re for a free country. My brother and I are both veterans, and we believe and support the Constitution,” said Victor Cavazos.

Also present was San Benito Pl. 3 Commissioner Pedro “Pete” Galvan, who didn’t mince words, calling the recent local ICE “inspections” that netted six residents here last Monday“terrorism,” adding that he has spoken to local business owners who say that migrant crackdowns are impacting local businesses and the economy.

“I’m not going to stay silent. We are put in these positions not tostay silent. When I ran, when I first got elected, I was not a silent commissioner, and I’m not going to stay silent, especially when it affects my community,” said Galvan.

Elias Cantu, LULAC Director of Communications and a member of the San Benito LULAC Council 22347, remarked that the national LULAC president challenged the Resaca City council to organize a demonstration during a recent visit to San Benito.

“We wanted to make sure we held an event, especially in response to all the ICE raids that have been happening recently in our community, where people have been taken from their places of employment,” Cantu said.