No Kings Day in Chico!

There has been some confusion about the events planned for October 18th for No Kings 2. There are in fact two different events planned that day! 

Think of it this way: This is No Kings 2. We want to bring the energy of the first No Kings event and DOUBLE it. We want MORE people to feel safe and included. We want the energy of 2 events for No Kings 2.

That means shared duty on a heavy team-lift of a project. Defenders of Democracy Coalition is hosting the march downtown, and Indivisible Chico is hosting the supporting event at the safer location for a larger crowd to gather. The times of the events were planned in collaboration to allow for both events.

We at Indivisible Chico are trying to serve our community in evolving and new ways. This means being open to new ideas & entering the space from other points of view. We are a diverse group of volunteers trying our best to adapt to threats we all feel. Meeting that challenge with anger and hate is counterproductive at every level. This is a complicated balancing act and we are doing our best.

The No Kings Festival has been in the works for weeks, with the work of hundreds of hours of volunteers' time already put into the planning. The organizers of the march downtown asked us to take the lead on the supporting event and our team worked to try to accommodate as much of our diverse community as possible in doing so. 

We were asked by many people after the last few downtown events to hold events in areas more friendly for families from different backgrounds and those with disabilities to be able to participate. People with children and those with mobility issues can't as easily march, but they can "hold down a piece of sidewalk" in a chair, or participate in activities designed to hold their attention and educate them of their rights. 

Not everyone in Chico lives downtown or can easily traverse the downtown sidewalks and streets. Chico is a big city, with different populations in different areas. The goal of the combined events, as a local day of action, is to be inclusive of people from all walks of life who also have the right to speak up. 

Saturday the 18th is going to be a VERY busy day in Chico, with many community events already planned for our area parks. This includes the Alzheimer's march in the park and the Parade of Lights downtown. Our members have been looking forward to these events for months, and some of our partners on the festival will be in the Parade! We want the community to be able to support these events they have been looking forward to. That required planning around the logistics of so many things already happening on the same day that national organizations announced an international call to action. 

It was a challenge and our team tried our best. The downtown parks were not available that day for large numbers of people to gather around booths and tables, and the Esplanade location is difficult because we have been told the added noise interferes with the hospital and patients. 

There were also public complaints that "politics" was being marched around a children's park, because people don't seem to realize children are paying attention and children very much do care about the rights being taken away from them. That's one of the taboos we hope to address with the festival. 

By comparison, East Ave offers a wide street with wide, flat sidewalks, and heavy street traffic, so it affords excellent, safe visibility. On top of that, we will be asking folks to gather for the crowd photo at 3:30 pm before the vigil for victims of gun violence, in a large field that is safe for all attendees. 

We are holding this event as a support to the march, and to educate and encourage people to use their Constitutional rights. That includes people who don't understand what counts as civic engagement and that it can encompass much more of their daily lives. Life for many of us is political and many people don't understand that it is okay to be talking about these concerns in public. 

So this festival is intended to allow people to share these conversations and start loosening some of the taboos.

To be clear: 

• Protests downtown are an important piece of holding the rights within our democracy. 

• Protests ALL AROUND TOWN are also useful. 

• Additional events that include all ages,  languages and methods that these different cultures are more familiar with are absolutely also vital to our shared democracy goals.

We thank everyone for moving in the same direction as we are here in Chico! We are all working towards a shared mission and shared goals that we hope will unite us, whether red, blue, purple, or green from the party spectrum. We haven't lost the plot and our focus is still true: we are here to help add to and embrace our community and our democracy and will continue to try new ideas that folks in the community bring to us, as long as we are able. 

It was thanks to the community's efforts so far in our six months of existence that we were able to try for something as ambitious as 2 events in one day for No Kings 2, and we hope to see you all on October 18th!

In solidarity,

Indivisible Chico