Thousands of people are expected to participate in more than 70 No Kings protests Saturday in Colorado, joining millions across the United States and the world in holding aloft signs to share their grievances against the Trump administration as they march or rally in public spaces.
And many will be singing.
The Singing Resistance movement has swept the country since video clips filled phones and television screens in January, showing hundreds of Minnesota protesters singing in solidarity to protect neighbors. They even sang to ICE agents to encourage a change of heart.
The response was so overwhelming that within a month the organizers in Minnesota had created an online songbook and a tool kit to help others start Singing Resistance choirs. Two online training sessions in one week drew 2,500 participants at each one, and one Colorado organizer said there were about 100 Coloradans among them.
At least a half dozen singing groups have formed in Colorado, some by singers and others by people who profess to be tone deaf. They are in the Gunnison Valley, the Roaring Fork Valley, Boulder, Longmont, Colorado Springs and Denver — and they all will be at protests this weekend.
United in “radically welcoming” song
Those who are working with these groups say they expect more to form, whether they grow out of existing community or church choirs or spring up independently.
What they have in common is a desire to unite their communities in song as a form of nonviolent resistance to what they see as the rise of authoritarianism in the United States.
Merlyn Holmes, the primary leader of Singing Resistance Boulder, said as soon as she saw the Minnesota singing video clips she knew she wanted to start a choir.
“At a time when we have insurmountable divisions in this country, they were using song to be radically welcoming,” she said. “And I thought, ‘that’s it.’”
She called and asked for their songs and learned the leaders already were putting together a songbook to share. She discovered that Emma Kieran Schaefer also was trying to start a Boulder group and they joined forces.
Schaefer had helped organize the Joyful Resistance Choir in Carbondale last year and saw the impact singing had at local events and protests.
Singing Resistance Boulder rehearsing Thursday evening in the labyrinth space at First United Methodist Church in Boulder. (Provided by Merlyn Holmes)“When I was in Carbondale I remember walking down the street on a First Friday — there were about 15 of us,” she said of the monthly community art event. “People stopped what they were doing and listened. It was an incredible reminder that to do that alone would be personally quite terrifying — but doing it in a group is something that makes us stronger together.”
They know well the history of song and protest, whether in the civil rights movement, anti-war movements or revolutionary movements such as that in Estonia that led to the movie, “The Singing Revolution.”
Schaefer left the Joyful Resistance Choir in the hands of Katia Galambos, and it has morphed into the Singing Resistance for the Roaring Fork Valley, drawing singers from Aspen to Glenwood Springs.
Galambos lived in Minnesota for a few years and belonged to a weekly singing circle. It was members of that group who went on to form Singing Resistance, so she had a direct connection.
“To get involved in movements it helps to feel alive and feel inspired and singing helps us do that,” she said. “Singing is good for us and it’s good for us to feel unified and feel connected to the people we’re around.”
Protest signs lean against a wall during the Resistance Sing-in practice at Benet Hill Monastery in Black Forest. (Havalin Haskell, Special to The Colorado Sun)They often join forces with the Roaring Fork gaggle of the Raging Grannies, an organization born out of a 1987 protest against the docking of a nuclear submarine in Victoria, British Columbia.
Illène Pevec was living in British Columbia at the time and thought it was a great concept for protest but had forgotten about it until last summer.
It came up through a chance encounter with a New Mexico woman whose husband’s life was saved by Pevec’s daughter-in-law nearly four decades ago. The couple was passing through Carbondale and decided to visit the woman who had saved his life when he was lost in the mountains of Nepal.
During the visit his wife mentioned she was part of the Sante Fe gaggle — that’s what they call the chapters — of Raging Grannies and Pevec decided to start a group in Carbondale.
The small group — usually fewer than a dozen — dresses in long skirts and flowered hats to emphasize the “granny” element and to attract attention. It works.
Their first large protest was the No Kings event in October, but they also have protested at local and regional events in other public places.
“We are totally community focused,” Pevec said. “They love it. We hand out song sheets, probably 50 copies of each song, and lots of people sang with us.
“We are a bunch of committed community people. This is not about your capacity as a singer, it’s the spirit.”
Protests include doing things to help create community
The singing fits into the expanding nature of the major protests, where local organizers say people want something to do besides wave signs. Pueblo, for example, provides information booths so people can get involved with activities like registering voters or collecting canned goods.
Stand Up Loveland is asking protesters to help stock a new community free market that will open in April by bringing nonperishable food, toiletries and baby products to Saturday’s protest. Salida will have music, political theater and a Democracy Fair where people can explore ways to get involved with the community.
The arts and singing also provide ways to calm anger that often erupts at protests, choir organizers say.
“I walked through an anti-ICE rally with a group of singers and I could feel the shift in energy,” Holmes said. “We know what an impact it can have on the energy of a large gathering.
“It’s been telling how enthusiastic and aligned people feel when they’re singing,” she continued. “Even people who are not comfortable getting out on the streets protesting are saying, ‘Yes, I can do this.’”
Participants in the Resistance Sing-in practice at Benet Hill Monastery in Black Forest. (Havalin Haskell, Special to The Colorado Sun)Singers rehearsing with the Colorado Springs choir Thursday night who will join two protests on Saturday — one in Manitou Springs and one in Colorado Springs — said it was the message of love that attracted them to the group.
“What I like about singing in this group is it is all about love, leading with love,” said Lydia Brown. “When I go to these demonstrations, the angry language, all the swear words, sometimes used to describe the current administration or rather, regime, takes my breath away. As a person of faith, this group speaks to me because it is all about bringing words of love and hope.”
Sister Rosanne, a nun at Benet Hill Monastery in Black Forest where the group rehearsed, concurred.
“Singing in this group to me is all about joy and positivity, and the faith that it will all work out if we come together,” she said.
The monastery was thrilled to host the choir, which also has practiced at the Universal Unitarian Church downtown, because it fits with its mission.
“This is what the sisters stand for, that every human being has inherent human dignity,” said Ruth Roland, vice president of Mission and Advancement at Benet Hill.
Along with the Raging Grannies and the Singing Resistance of the Roaring Fork Valley, the Glenwood Springs protest will feature protest dance.
“It’s a very creative area here so we have a lot of people who subscribe to the concept that you can protest through the arts,” said Lori Brandon, of Mountain Action Indivisible.
The choir groups contacted said they aren’t sure what to expect this weekend. Some are marching with No Kings protesters, others will lead singing in a park or at a particular spot along the march. Some have music to hand out; others are making giant posters with the lyrics. Others say they are choosing simple songs that can be learned on the spot.
They’re still gathering ideas about what comes next — local sing-ins or protests, joining other protests, fundraising for immigrant groups and others targeted by national policies. It’s all on the table.
“It’s not like we’re going to have peace on Earth tomorrow,” Pevec said. “We have to do things to keep making community.”
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