No Kings

The No Kings protests are a series of organized national protests in cities, towns and municipalities across the United States. Beginning on June 14, 2025, millions of individuals peacefully expressed their right to assemble and free speech, responding to a myriad of dire social, cultural, economic and environmental issues. The second set of organized marches is happening today on October 18, 2025. The overall event(s) has been given the moniker, “No Kings Day.”

The No Kings Day protests are spurred on by the growing authoritarian, oligarchical and anti-democratic policies and actions of the Donald Trump administration. The name comes from Trump’s declaration of himself as a “king” in a social media post with an AI generated image wearing a crown.

Aesthetics and protests are inextricably linked. The choreography of people moving in tandem, singing, chanting and peacefully empowering one another to fight injustice, is in and of itself a form of performance. Protests are also replete with artfully rendered graphics, images and accessories; such as signs, costumes and sculptural effigies and puppetry.

Contemporary artists including Mark Dion, have contributed graphics in support of No Kings Day, applying motifs from their oeuvre that communicate the democratic right to assemble for social, cultural and environmental justice.

For its informational graphics and publicity material, the No Kings protests have appropriated a very symbolic motif from the cannon of contemporary art history, which is the three point crown featured notably in paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat.

Basquiat’s usage of the crown is an expropriation of canonical Western symbolism; especially with regards to the white supremacist hegemony through which it has been expressed. His painterly crown is associated with Black figures who he honors as noble, majestic and powerful for their contributions to culture and history.

Basquiat was a well regarded street artist before he became renowned in galleries and museums. The crown first appeared in association with his urban artwork (in collaboration with Al Diaz) under the tag SAMO (an abbreviation for “Same Old”). SAMO’s writings on the wall had undertones that were critical of the inequality and inequity within cultural realms, but were coded through a poetic and fragmented lexicon. The message has been well received, because his crown motif has been replicated by many street artists, making it a potent signifier of social critique.

Basquiat’s crowning of Black individuals elevates the representation of marginalized figures and voices across culture, which is similarly what participants at the No Kings Day protests are advocating for. Evident in Basquiat’s art is the concept that righteous power comes from the people. It manifests through actions of ethics, dignity and unity; and although the path is laden with struggle, the call for popular sovereignty and empowerment is justified and a noble cause to fight for.

When I was teaching, I had a library of books written or illustrated by artists. Life Doesn’t Frighten Me was one of the books, which I not only featured on the shelf, but read aloud with students. The book combines a poem by Maya Angelou with paintings by Basquiat. It has a whimsical and captivating cover of a Tyrannosaurus-rex wearing the signature three point crown. The message conveyed through both the words and the art is evident: fear and threatening events are a naturally occurring part of life; but our ability to be resilient and defiant in its presence is a great power we each have the ability to wield. This enduring understanding is convincingly clear during time-honored occurrences of peaceful protests and civil disobedience.