Hundreds of Mississippi State University students, alumni and Starkville community members gathered near The Hub on Main Street on Saturday as part of a nationwide protest against the Trump administration and the military parade celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. armed services held that evening in Washington, D.C.
The protest, one of over 2,000 planned across the country and seven in Mississippi on Saturday, was part of a large-scale movement called No Kings. The movement’s website describes the purpose of the day as “taking action to reject authoritarianism” and encouraging “a nationwide day of defiance.”
Dr. Raymond Overstreet, a psychiatrist from Columbus, said that he attended the protest in opposition to several policies enacted during Trump’s second term.
“I’m against almost everything he does, particularly the attack on democracy,” Overstreet said. “The authoritarians are using the military against our own citizens, the budget is skewed toward the rich and really takes away from the people that are poor and that are needy and the lack of medical research, putting people on committees that have no scientific or medical background.”
Overstreet also mentioned concerns over the administration’s attitude towards climate change and recent foreign policy regarding Ukraine as reasons he was protesting.
During the protest, participants held signs and chanted phrases such as “No tyrants, no kings,” “Deport Trump” and “Arrest Trump.” Some drivers honked in apparent support of the protest as they passed on University Street and North Jackson Street. One protester ran back and forth around the protest, waving an American flag and shouting, “Free the People.”
Susan Grzadzielewski, a jewelry maker from Eupora, said she came to the protest because she was very upset about the direction in which she felt the country was headed.
“I’ve been working as, you know, as a citizen making changes that I thought were progressive and good for humanity, and Trump has just turned that all around,” Grzadzielewski said. “I’m really upset, and what he’s doing now is unconstitutional. People need to stand up and say that.”
Graduate students KJ Butler and Rayven McMillian said that they came to the protest, in part, to support immigrants, whom the Trump administration has heavily targeted. Both are members of the Indigenous Students and Allies Association studying electrical and computer engineering.
“In our eyes, they’re our brothers and sisters, no matter what,” McMillian said. “It’s very, like, heartwarming, knowing that everyone else here feels the same way. We gotta be their voices too because they’re not getting heard easily.”
The cost of the U.S. armed services’ semiquincentennial parade in Washington, D.C., was another concern raised by the protestors. The parade, which is estimated to range between $25 million and $45 million, was scheduled in the midst of budget cuts across many government sectors, including research, healthcare, education and foreign aid.
Darcie Dalafave, an MSU computer software engineering alumna, expressed frustration with the administration’s budget management.
“I’m tired of seeing funding go places that it shouldn’t,” Dalafave said.
The parade was held in recognition of the U.S. Army’s 250th anniversary and Flag Day. However, some protestors questioned the timing, as it coincided with President Trump’s birthday on June 14. While the Navy and Marines will also mark their 250th anniversaries later in 2025, no similar parades have been publicly announced.
“President Trump wants tanks in the street and a made-for-TV display of dominance for his birthday,” the No Kings website said.
The parade is the first large-scale military parade that the federal government has funded since 1991, when President George H.W. Bush hosted a parade to commemorate the end of the first Gulf War.
Gratia Karnes, a Starkville resident, said she was at the protest because she was “radicalized by common decency.”
Karnes said that a group of older residents has been meeting every Friday at the Hub for the last six weeks to protest the administration, and they have full intentions of continuing for as long as they deem necessary.
“I’m old enough to have been doing this since the sixties, and we are still fighting exactly the same battle,” Karnes said. “This is racism, this is sexism, this is oligarchy. That’s what we were dealing with in 1968, and that’s what we’re dealing with now.”
Nox Clark, a local reporter, said that now is the best time for people to come together across party lines.
“I did my research, educated myself and I don’t stand for the current administration and what it’s doing in our country and what it’s doing in other countries,” Clark said. “Nothing changes if we change nothing, so I’m here changing something.”
Tommy James • Jun 16, 2025 at 3:02 pm
I wonder how many people who participated actually voted for Trump???