The third “No Kings” protest in Nashville, Tennessee, was held March 29 at 10 a.m. CDT at East Bank Greenway. Nashville community members, including Vanderbilt students and alumni, protested the policies of the Trump administration, the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and the war in Iran. The protest lasted nearly three hours with thousands in attendance. No Kings protests also occurred in several other major cities around the U.S., including Washington, New York City and Los Angeles.  

The Nashville protest featured several speakers, including local musicians and advocates who emphasized the need for mobilization. Many demonstrators held colorful signs with sentiments such as “No King, No War, No ICE” and “We Have a Constitution Not a King.” Several women attended the protest dressed as Marthas from “The Handmaid’s Tale,” carrying posterboards that listed the names of individuals connected to the Epstein files, including current President Donald Trump, former President Bill Clinton, Peter Thiel and Prince Andrew. 

One of the protest speakers was Cathy Carillo, who recently spoke at one of Vanderbilt’s Community Over Chaos lectures regarding her advocacy efforts for immigrant families. 

Several Vanderbilt students were in attendance, including members of Indivisible Vanderbilt, a student organization that helped organize student engagement at the protest. Many spoke about immigration and the role of ICE, which first-years Nico Bush and Keya Chanda-Rastogi attributed as their reasons for attending the protest.  

“I am here because I am sick of ICE terrorizing immigrants in our country,” Bush said.  

First-year Lucas Salaand expressed that he attended the protest to advocate for the Trump administration to take accountability for its actions and move back to issues that he believes are important.  

“I am here right now because America lacks accountability. Whether it be the rampant ICE agents attacking U.S. citizens without punishment or the unilateral actions committed by Trump in the Middle East endangering American lives for interests that are not our own,” Salaand said. “We need to force the presidency to focus back on issues that matter such as keeping the lights on and affordability.”  

First-year Eva Schneider shared her perspective on civic engagement and working toward ending injustice in the U.S.  

“I am here because it is our civic duty to resist. As Martin Luther King Jr said, ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.’ When there is injustice in our nation and in our cities, we must resist,” Schneider said.  

Andrea Pemberton, a graduate student in the Community Research and Action Program, emphasized that she, and the group she was with, attended the protest to ensure that their voices were heard.  

“We’re out here to defend free speech, to ensure that America is not getting involved in unnecessary wars and overall, just ensuring that Americans are heard,” Pemberton said. 

First-year Sammy Skier said he believes No Kings protests are one thing the Democratic Party is succeeding at.  

“The Democratic Party has failed in many regards at unification in the past. However, when it comes to No Kings, this is the one thing that we’ve been doing right so far,” Skier said.