She and two of her daughters were one of thousands who turned out for the "No Kings" protest rallying to confront "the crises fueled by the Trump regime" and reject authoritarianism. 

From 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. the event featured speeches, a march through downtown Lansing and a carnival that satirized President Donald Trump's concurrent military parade. The event was organized by 50501 Michigan with Crowded Table Coalition, Indivisible Michigan 7th District and the Ingham County Democratic Party.

50501 stands for 50 protests, 50 states and one movement. On Saturday, nearly 2,000 locations participated nationwide in various iterations of the "No Kings" protest. 

In Lansing, the event began with a land acknowledgment recognizing that Michigan exists on the ancestral territory of the Anishinaabe people.

Nichole Keway Biber, a tribal citizen of the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians (Waganakising Odawa) and member of the Turtle Clan (Mshiikenh Dodem), emphasized the ties between environmental injustice and the marginalization of LGBTQ+ and Indigenous communities.

"Happy Pride is an act of resistance," Biber said. "Among the Anishinaabe and many Indigenous cultures, our traditions respect and name LGBTQ people as Two-Spirit carriers of particular knowledge and special responsibilities."

She called on the crowd to recognize how environmental degradation is often backed by the same corporate forces funding anti-trans propaganda and to reject "false climate solutions" driven by profit rather than equity.

Continuing the call for systemic accountability, Gaia Herrick also took the stage. Herrick is a Central Michigan University student diagnosed with a currently unknown form of muscular dystrophy, she focused her remarks on the urgent need for disability justice and visible inclusion.

"We as disabled people must adapt as we constantly struggle to be seen in a world that is literally built to exclude us," Herrick said. "I refuse to be silenced and pushed into the shadows — not just for me, but for every disabled person here today in America and across the world who is tired of being forgotten, left out and excluded."

The Capitol lawn was packed with people of all ages and backgrounds, from toddlers in strollers to seniors with intricate handmade signs. Nearly every protester carried some form of messaging — whether scribbled in marker or a purchased print. 

Among them stood Tom Moran, a 70-year-old school bus driver from Livingston County. He positioned himself on the Capitol steps, clutching a massive, homemade sign that read: "Danger for America – Donald Trump – He is a loose cannon with a short fuse."

"I wasn’t going to come at first," Moran said. "But when I saw Senator Padilla thrown to the floor in handcuffs just for asking a question — I had to show up."

It took him 10 hours to make the sign, which Moran designed by hand using materials from Joann Fabrics. 

"Trump is a chaos agent," he said. "People might have been fed up with the system, but they didn’t vote for this level of chaos."

Elsewhere in the crowd, Sue Randall and several of her friends donned crimson cloaks and white bonnets — costumes from The Handmaid’s Tale, the dystopian novel and TV series that depicts the dangers of government control over women’s bodies and freedoms.

"We’ve seen this building — the Handmaid’s Tale — building the script and the scenario, and now we’re living it," Randall said. "We are women that will fight for our children and our grandchildren and their grandchildren."

Randall, who traveled from Flint, said she frequently participates in protests like this one, driven especially by concerns over immigration policy and what she described as a lack of accountability in Washington. 

"This is very personal to me, because every single person here is affected, and our country will not stand up to this dictator," she said.

While the rally was largely unified in opposition to Trump, a small group of Trump supporters stood apart. Most declined interviews — but one young man named Jasper agreed to talk.

Jasper, who would only give his first name, said he came out "for the flow." When asked what he supported about Trump, he responded, "His name. I rep his name everywhere. I like the ‘T,’ the drip and then also, he’s a pimp."

Despite the tension, some attendees approached the counter-protesters with curiosity rather than confrontation. Aviana Irrer, an MSU alumna, said she made a point to engage them in conversation.

"I was just really curious to see what they were thinking," Irrer said. "A lot of people get defensive, but once you establish a little respect, it’s interesting. I think we have more in common than we realize. I think a lot of times, people don't realize the implications of what they're saying. You can never convince someone who's been scammed that they've been scammed. That's a conclusion they have to come to on their own, but I think it's worthwhile to still have the conversation."