No Kings Rally 6/14/26

Hi. I'm Kathleen Shirk. Together with my friend and neighbor Kimberly Knight, we founded Normal Women Rising, because we couldn't shake our heads in disbelief for one more minute.

I had a different speech written and ready to go. And then this morning, I saw what many of you likely saw from last night and I couldn’t possibly let it go unaddressed.

Last night, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, where Martin Luther King stood, where the Gettysburg Address is carved in stone, where every soul who ever bled for this country is honored, Donald Trump staged a UFC press conference. Cage fighters. Laser lights. A military honor guard standing at full attention. And because apparently the ghost of Abraham Lincoln needed one more humiliation, each fighter was escorted down those steps by a child. Random children. Who are they? Nobody explained it. Nobody had to, because nothing requires explanation anymore when you are the president and the Lincoln Memorial is just another venue.

They are calling this a part of America’s 250th anniversary, but let’s be absolutely clear… for 249 years, we have celebrated this nation’s birth on July 4th. Not Flag Day. Not the president’s birthday. July Fourth. Today is June 14th. Donald Trump’s 80th birthday. Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, representing us to the world, compared this to the moon landing. I wish I were joking, but here we are. Because this man’s ego, boundless, bottomless, and historically unhinged ego, looked at the 250th anniversary of a nation built on the idea that no single person is bigger than the republic, and decided what the moment truly called for was a cage fight. On his own birthday. With his name on everything. The world is not comparing it to the moon landing. The world is watching us and calling it exactly what it is: the final act of a Roman Empire, gladiators and all, while the republic burns. A Vietnam veteran called it a desecration. A federal judge let it happen anyway. Anyone standing in that crowd last night and tonight, flag in hand, cheering as blood sport replaces democracy on the South Lawn of the People’s House — they’re not celebrating America. They are celebrating one man’s ego, on one man’s birthday, with our tax dollars, our monuments, our military, and their ignorance.

This is the same president who has ignored the 1st, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th and 14th amendments, gutted the Voting Rights Act, bulldozed the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement. 

This is not a warning friends; this is not a drill. This is happening.

But… here's what's also happening, right now, on this big birthday weekend.

Trump's name was removed from the Kennedy Center. Judge Christopher Cooper ruled: "Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it." On Friday, U.S. District Judge Angel Kelley ordered this administration to reinstate every slavery and environmental exhibit they stripped from our national parks, within 21 days, by the 250^th anniversary to properly honor the remarkable achievements of the United States."

I could keep sharing what you already know this administration is doing, but I'm going to get to the good and hopeful part. What we’re doing about it…

Six months ago, we sent a text to a handful of friends and asked them to pass it on. Three days later, forty women walked through my front door, and we knew something powerful was brewing. Today we are sharing Normal Women Rising with 300 local women. Women who showed up. Women who told a friend and made a friend. Women who brought snacks and brought bravery. Women who said, give us homework, give us something to DO, and then went and did it.

We're showing up for the Immigration Project, the YWCA, Hygiene Pantries, BloNo Helps, Planned Parenthood of Illinois, the Prairie Pride Coalition, and more. We are backing candidates with both spine and a conscience, right here in McLean County and in Washington.

Last week, we received an email from an organization we donated hygiene and pantry items to. I will just say that the story they shared was a reminder to all of us that this is real, it is good, and it matters.

We're starting NWR Morning Brew because a member shared that evening meetups are tricky for some with young kids. So, we're bringing the table outside, over coffee, with the kids playing in the yard. We organized a craftivism group because someone raised her hand with the idea. That is how we work: we listen, we figure it out, and we keep going.

Today we rally here. This afternoon we'll be at the Prairie Pride Picnic. Thursday, Morning Brew. Later this month, Music and Munch at Casper Brewing followed by our June 30th meetup. In the meantime, our members, their kids and grandkids are at home stringing rainbow beaded bracelets, by hand, with messages of love, support and belonging for the Bloomington-Normal Pride Fest in July.

We called in the women because the women see what's happening while carrying the weight of our family, friends and neighbors on our backs and hearts. So many of us saw this coming long before the train left the station. Our rage is not just from watching what is happening. It is from knowing, in our bones, that we saw it coming. That knowing. That instinct. That is what Normal Women Rising is.

We are reminding ourselves and this community that if you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything. That, to whom much is given, much is expected, and that every single voice, even a whisper, matters.

Normal Women Rising has been an honor for Kimberly and me to ignite. But it is the women who keep showing up who have made this what it is, and what it will be.

Hope is not something we are waiting for.

Hope is something we are participating in.

Please visit us at NormalWomenRising.org. Come find our table. Check your voter registration often and tell everyone you know to do the same. Find a candidate you believe in and show up for them in every way you can – most importantly with your vote. Your vote is your voice.