“Resist”

“No King”

We drove thirty minutes south to Clinton, Missouri on Saturday morning for an 11:30 a.m. gathering near the town square. For the past several months a group of concerned “non-partisan” citizens have been meeting weekly to figure out what they can do to oppose the current authoritarian administration. They decided to organize a teach-in (they didn’t call it that) and a march around the downtown area at noon. Clinton, Missouri is a town of around 9400 people and is the seat of Henry County. It is touted by the locals as the gateway to the Lake of the Ozarks.

We showed up at the appointed time. These folks aren’t the usual suspects for this type of activism. I’ve known some to many of the Democratic Party people around these parts, off and on, for over thirty years. This ain’t them.

The organizers used social media to promote their event. They told me that they had been planning this event for a long time and that none of them had ever organized a public protest before.

Long story, shorter: around forty people showed up (with signs), they had their teach-in (Fascism is bad, Fascism is happening here now), there were donuts, there were march marshals, the local gendarmes were notified that this was happening, and there was a march.

Here’s the thing. This was a big undertaking for them, they were thorough, they did it right (no major incidents). This was their first, they’re doing it again on (gasp) May Day. In Clinton, Missouri.

“Your vote matters”

“Resist Now”

“ICE is the new Gestapo”

If this kind of thing is happening across America, then there may, indeed, be something going on.

“Prejudice is not Patriotism”

“No Kings”

“No Kings”

A guy with two cameras (including a long lens on a monopod) with media credentials tends to tamp down the instinct of right wingnuts to get all confrontational. In three separate instances pointing the camera at them from a distance set off their radar, they’d turn away and then shrivel up as if they were slugs and a long ton of highway department road salt got dumped on them.

A truck stopped in traffic at a green light, next to the protesters, windows down. One of the parade marshals called out several times, “You can go now.” The truck stayed. I turned to photograph the driver and he called out to me, “No you don’t.” The shutter wouldn’t move since the lens was set to 10 meters and I was too close to the subject. He then drove off. I did get that.

“Bless your heart”

One memorable challenger almost prompted me to ask her how the Meth cooking was going this season.

Another bejeweled and betattooed person who had turned out from a health food parlor on the square, ostensibly to heckle everyone with “I like Elon Musk”, turned back inside when she saw the camera and then flipped me off from the shadows. I got the shot because Lightroom is my friend. She was wearing a I John 4:10 tee-shirt and had a pseudo runic dove tattoo on her right forearm.

Cue Gandhi.

I had a good time and I got nice images.

It was a good day.

On the Henry County courthouse lawn.

Previously:

March and Rally – Warrensburg, Missouri – March 29, 2025 (March 29, 2025)

The third rail (March 31, 2025)

#HandsOff – Warrensburg, Missouri – April 5, 2025 (April 5, 2025)

Due Process – Warrensburg, Missouri – April 19, 2025 (April 9, 2024)

Clinton, Missouri [pop. 9416] – April 26, 2025 (April 26, 2025)