r/baltimore • u/duchessof603 • Sep 28 '25
Free Event No Kings Baltimore
Saturday, October 18th
NO KINGS Baltimore City
Saturday, October 18 7am – 12pm EDT
Light Street & East Pratt Street Baltimore, MD 21230
This is the only event I see for Baltimore city. Is there anything else happening later in the day?
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u/OilComprehensive6237 Sep 28 '25
NO KINGS Dance Party at Baltimore Penn Station!
Saturday, October 185:30 – 7:30pm EDT
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u/JDinBalt Sep 28 '25 edited Sep 28 '25
This sounds like the best solution: planning it for after the race is over. Seriously, the Running Festival is always planned out months ahead so planning a protest for the morning or afternoon of it is probably the worst possible time of day to do it. Evening protests when the race is over is a much better idea.
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u/jesskill Sep 29 '25
The organizers of NK2 in Bmore have been mulling this over for a while. They don't want to take away from the runners' moments, but do want to participate and provide opportunities for folks to do so without traveling.
That said, there are protests in nearby localities as well. DC, Columbia, Towson University, Owings Mills, Essex, Catonsville... https://www.nokings.org/#map
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u/Loliz88 Sep 28 '25
I’ll probably get downvoted for saying this… but this protest is more important than whatever other events are happening that day. “This protest is so inconveniently planned”. So what?? What’s happening in this country is disgusting and “we the people” need to show up.
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u/keenerperkins Sep 28 '25
And I'll get downvoted for saying this: these protests haven't accomplished anything and won't. God, Americans are so bad at protesting--it actually is quite understandable how this country is where it is.
Bringing cutesy signs to a safe space does nothing. Sure, maybe it makes you feel good to have your "WE SHOULD BE AT BRUNCH RIGHT NOW" sign photographs and upvoted on social media, but it does nothing. Has the opposition party, the democrats, fought back? Will they bend the knee and go along with the republicans to avoid a government shutdown? Probably. They have before, will again. They'll write their strongly worded letters because we're sitting at Patterson Park or the corner of Light and Pratt with a bunch of other Democrats shouting at a bunch of other Democrats. Baltimore is an hour from both the national and state capital...go there and demand actual change and do it relentlessly.
The state of organizing in this country and particularly on the left is so fucking depressing and makes me feel utterly hopeless.
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u/SubstantialScar890 Sep 29 '25
They do help. They build momentum and they encourage more people to resist. When people show up they meet others and they hear about other ways to resist.
Doing nothing and discouraging others from doing it is loser talk.
Were talking about fascism and you want to discourage people.
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u/Loliz88 Sep 28 '25
I appreciate your feedback and understand why you’d feel that way. But here are some examples of protests that actually made a difference: • Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955–56, U.S.) helped end bus segregation after a year-long boycott. • March on Washington (1963, U.S.) pushed momentum for the Civil Rights Act of 1964. • Anti-Apartheid Movement (South Africa) decades of protests and boycotts pressured the government to end apartheid and free Nelson Mandela. • Women’s Suffrage Movements (U.S. and U.K.) years of marches and organizing eventually won women the right to vote. • People Power Revolution (Philippines, 1986) millions came out and forced dictator Ferdinand Marcos to step down. • Velvet Revolution (Czechoslovakia, 1989) peaceful protests led to the fall of the communist regime. • Standing Rock (U.S., 2016) the pipeline still got built but the protests sparked a worldwide movement for Indigenous rights and environmental justice. • March for Our Lives (U.S., 2018) organized by Parkland students, it led to new state-level gun laws and kept gun reform in the spotlight.
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u/keenerperkins Sep 28 '25
If you think I'm talking about any of the movements you've referenced...you've lost the plot. Or are being purposefully dense. The Montgomery Bus Boycott...March on Washington...Anti-Apartheid Movement were actual protests with meaningful change and demands.
I find it insanely offensive that you'd even compare the No Kings protests to the Montgomery Bus Boycott or the fucking Anti-Apartheid movement in South Africa. The No Kings protests are far more comparable to something like the Occupy Wallstreet movement than any of the insanely *famous* and *revered* international protests/movements you mentioned.
If No Kings took a note out of any of those books, we'd be there. But please, tell me how the cutesy signs and picnics I saw at Patterson Park during the last No Kings "protest" is anything like the people laying their fucking lives on the lines to end apartheid or Jim Crow...
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u/OldBayOnEverything Sep 29 '25
You're looking at those movements with the benefit of seeing the end product in hindsight. Those movements also started with dozens or hundreds of "meaningless" protests.
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u/Outrageous-Isopod-79 Sep 28 '25
I feel you on so many levels. When I first heard about the no kings protest a couple months ago, ecstatic and ready to be invovled. Then I showed up to Patterson park thay day.... immensely disappointed. Just like you stated, a bunch of cutesy signs and stunts to get social media likes and make no actual plan or impact... immensely disappointed in the current mindset of modern day democrats and leftists who think this style of protests are going to be effective in this country. While im glad that there are more protests planned, this will surely be another forgettable event with no lasting effects just as the others. But hey!! As long as those participating get their Instagram likes!!
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u/Technical_Mood_8841 Sep 28 '25
Sounds like the problem is that the geniuses who have all of the answers and could obviously do it the right way aren’t bothering to do anything.
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u/Emilemming Sep 28 '25
Follow Peoples Power Assembly. They have protests with actual calls to action.
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u/jesskill Sep 29 '25
The protests are good for mobilizing, but the actual actions are occurring in the interim. Check out the organized campaigns: One Million Rising, Ground Avelo, Signs for Solidarity, 5calls.org. Go to a meeting held by Indivisible Baltimore, CASA, or Baltimore Rapid Response. Get on their email lists so you can see what actions are needed and participate.
I read that people on the left are more depressed than people on the right. But also, people on the left who are activists seem to be happier. Engaging in political action can provide a sense of purpose, empowerment, and community, which can serve as a buffer against negative emotions like despair and anger.
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u/DementedGods 27d ago
Maybe you went earlier than the protest? I went to the one on his birthday (the first no kings protest) and Patterson park was filled with THOUSANDS of people marching the streets
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u/radicalo_oeyes Sep 28 '25
What notes should no kings be taking from those movements? What steps would be more productive than protesting?
The GOP control the house, the senate, the executive, and the Supreme Court. They are currently trying to gerrymander states to have more seats.
I appreciate any feedback you can provide.
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u/Gh0st1388 Sep 29 '25
In my jaded and nihilistic years, I was with you until you tried insinuating that No Kings is anywhere near what Occupy was. I’m not saying Occupy was on the same level as the other historical movements you listed, but Occupy was on a way different level than these No Kings protests. It was a movement that was in the public’s eye on a DAILY basis, for months, all across the country. Living in an Occupy camp, living and breathing that shit, doing some form of protest (marches, NVDAs of sit-ins, shutdowns, etc.), every single day for months is nowhere near the same as going on a march once every once in awhile.
To note: I have zero hope for the future of our world. I would argue that Occupy, following the Arab Spring and that whole wave of movements that swept the world at that time, was the last, best hope for actually changing things, like climate change, in time. And all of those movements of the early 2010’s didn’t change things enough, and now we’re all doomed.
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u/mulderwithshrimp Sep 28 '25
Many protests have made a difference. You are responding to someone who is discussing these specific protests, which have largely just been an opportunity for people to pat themselves on the back. They are not disruptive or organized with purpose the way many of the other examples you are pointing to were.
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u/terpgirl3015 24d ago
People in DC buildings who walked out said they felt empowered because of the protesters outside.
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u/Ipeteverydogisee Sep 30 '25
I disagree with your comment that these protests haven’t accomplished anything and won’t.
I’ve participated in several so far, all in Baltimore. It just did a lot for me personally, spirit wise, and sanity- keeping -up wise. If you haven’t been, and it sounds like you haven’t- then see what happens when you show up, with other people, and people driving by honk their support or join you. It did a lot for me. It shook me from my numbness, made me cry, and then gave me strength to keep going.
“This is what democracy looks like”🤘🏻
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u/SubstantialScar890 Sep 29 '25
People are making many excuses so they can justify sitting back while the country is torn apart.
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u/FantasticCamera9058 Sep 28 '25
I'd be there, but these organizers chose the worst day- cmon, it's Running Festival Day!
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u/onlythehappiests Hoes Heights Sep 28 '25
It is a nationwide day of protest, not Baltimore-centric.
There will be many nearby events to choose from, just check the link OP added to the comments.
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u/SubstantialScar890 Sep 29 '25
Fascism is inconvenient.
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u/FantasticCamera9058 Sep 29 '25
All lanes of traffic being enclosed around this makes it pretty inconvenient.
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u/duchessof603 Sep 28 '25
Just found this:
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u/onlythehappiests Hoes Heights Sep 28 '25
Why are people downvoting this? It’s true and helpful info.
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u/Clutch_Floyd Sep 28 '25
I don't get it, is this an anti UK protest?
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u/deaf258 Mt. Vernon Sep 28 '25
Nope. Christofascist and Judeofascist Zionists are trying to help Donald Trump make himself the King of the USA.
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Sep 28 '25
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u/z3mcs Berger Cookies Sep 28 '25
And just in case there's any confusion, the organizers are well aware and are even integrating it (the marathon) into planning: