Last Saturday the US saw approximately 2,600 protest events nationwide rise up under the banner of “No Kings”. The collective protests reached a larger scale than the first No Kings day this past June, with an estimated turnout of 7 million. Demonstrations appeared in every state as well as abroad in the UK, Spain, and Portugal. Roanoke saw over 2,000 protesters gathered in Washington Park. No protest was held in Salem, Virginia.
In Spring of 2024, just over a year ago, another set of demonstrations was sweeping the country. These were campus protests, led by students to protest against the Palestinian genocide. Despite the continuation of large-scale violence in Gaza, the campus protests were fought fiercely by administrations, many of whom were receiving direct pressure to respond by the Trump administration. The rate of arrests during those campus demonstrations were the highest seen in the US since the Vietnam war. No protests were held on Roanoke College campus.
One of the many things I have learned of in my education at RC is the existence of a persistent mental dissonance caused by pursuing a liberal arts education in a deeply conservative area, and in an increasingly conservative country.
According to the philosophy of the College website, “And the verb ‘to educate’ means, in its Latin root, ‘to lead.’ […] It leads us out from small, safe worlds into larger, more interesting ones by training in us a dissatisfaction with partial knowledge, with sloganeering and with fixed ideologies.” Certainly, I’ve spent many classes both within my areas of study and within my INQ requirements being asked to critically examine modern ideologies and consider how my actions and future will impact that modern world. The dissonance emerges as students face their role in global ideologies and question how to translate what they learn into what they do.
If that’s not a question you’re asking yourself, I would urge you to start now.
Protests such as those organized by No Kings have clear political leanings, but multiple causes and millions of people were united under broader principles as well– in defense of America as a democracy and the right to peacefully protest. Regardless of the cause of protests, the right to protest is a virtue of our country, and one that is indelibly aligned with the liberal arts education. In the wake of nationwide turmoil and demonstrations, wading into another quiet week on campus, I find myself questioning not only the political leanings of the region I find myself in, but the quiet itself, and the acceptance it implies. My sincerest gratitude goes out to all community members who took the opportunity to exercise their right to protest this past week.
Maggie Raker
Opinion Editor
