Every Saturday at the corner of South Mission Street and East Broadway, a sound rises above the traffic: Chants of “No kings!” and “This is what democracy looks like!” boom from a group of determined volunteers. The weekly demonstration is organized by Indivisible Central Michigan, a group with a dozen leaders united in the mission of strengthening local political engagement.
Indivisible Central Michigan shares information with the community through Facebook, YouTube, email, Discord and Bluesky. Bluesky is a social media platform created in 2019 and publicly launched in February 2024, according to Indivisible Central Michigan Leader and Bluesky poster Micki Christiansen.
“When Trump won the election, everybody was against Elon and leaving Twitter. We went to Bluesky, which is a female-designed platform, and it’s a lot like the old Twitter vibes,” Christiansen said.
She said the group protests and organizes events to show people what is happening in their lives that they may not be aware of.
“Its goal is to raise awareness of what’s going on in the government,” she said. “A lot of the media that we are getting here in the U.S. is very heavily skewed and edited.”
Several Mount Pleasant residents have expressed frustration with the government and are demanding change. More than 2,000 people attended the No Kings 2.0 protest on Oct. 18, 2025, which stretched along South Mission Street.
One protester drove almost an hour to voice her opinion.
“I’m feeling pride. I’m feeling encouraged. I’m feeling that people care. We all care about everybody,” said Lynette Rachilla, a Houghton Lake resident. “Personally, I’m not sure if a lot of the things that are happening are going to affect me at my age, but I have children and grandchildren that I want to have clean water and clean air.”
No Kings is an international protest, mainly in the United States, featuring a series of political demonstrations against the authoritarian policies of President Donald Trump and corruption in his administration, according to Indivisible leaders.
“No Kings and Indivisible are partners in the fight for freedom, for democracy and for justice,” Indivisible Central Michigan leader Toni Smith-Holmes said.
Smith-Holmes said they try to get as many people involved as possible, including first-time protesters. They feel successful when more people show up than the last time.
“I measure it [the success] by the honking of the horns and the thumbs up, and the joy in the people who are standing around and talking to each other, finding like-minded people,” she said. “When you come to an event like this, you understand how many people feel like you do.”
Their efforts in the community do not stop at protests, however. Leaders like Christiansen, Smith-Holmes and others said they volunteer, work at the farmers market and participate in additional local events.
“Recently, we were in an art mart in downtown Mount Pleasant with a booth, and every person in Indivisible who wanted to donate, donated items. Then those items were sold, and the profits for those items went to four different organizations, national and local, and that was awesome,” Smith-Holmes said.
There are Indivisible groups across the U.S., but this local group focuses heavily on community outreach and education.
“I keep showing up week after week, month after month, because I could not live with myself if I just rolled over and let this happen,” Christiansen said. “You know, I’ve got three kids. I hope to have grandkids someday. I want to tell them I was there, I did my part, I tried to make this better.”
“I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I didn’t stand up,” she said.
Jo Kenoshmeg Visual journalism 