U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill and N.J. Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin were among the notable speakers at the No Kings rally on June 14 that was organized by AFTNJ and the American Federation of Government Employees (AFGE).
Hundreds of sign-waving attendees gathered along Valley Road in Lyons, near the Lyons VA Medical Center, for about two hours. In her opening address, AFTNJ President Jennifer S. Higgins noted that the federal money being spent for an Army 250th anniversary parade in Washington, D.C., that same day — also Flag Day and President Donald Trump’s birthday — could have been used more effectively.
“As a country, we have better ways of spending $45 million to honor those who have served us,” Higgins said. “One in five veterans go to bed hungry. We could use $45 million to provide them food assistance, and that would equal 18,000 veterans for a year. There are [an] estimated 33,000 homeless veterans in the U.S.; with $45 million, our government could house 6,500 of them for a year.”
Here are choice quotes from select speakers who followed Higgins:
• U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill, a former Navy helicopter pilot: “We are a country that only takes an oath to a constitution. We are a country that doesn’t take an oath to a king. … I have friends who spent most of their life serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. … We should be able to make sure that they never lose their health care, that they never lose the ability to get the care they need. It’s the smallest price we can pay for their service — and to think that now we have a government that instead of doing that wants to throw a parade for the president is really unacceptable.”
• Dr. Kendrick Roberson, AFGE national VP who oversees its Women’s and Fair Practices Departments: “So as the president continues to parade the military around in his honor, just like a dictator, I strongly encourage us to remember we have no kings in the United States. … To protect the veterans we serve and the veterans we employ, we need Congress to remember that there are no kings in the U.S.”
• Bill Sullivan, AFT Local 1904 member and Vietnam War veteran: “Why are we here? This is a federal facility in the congressional district of Tom Kean. Kean has become a Trumper, and we have to get him out of there. … [What does] Trump want now? He wants to cut the VA.”
• Todd Vachon, Rutgers AAUP-AFT member and AFTNJ higher education VP: “Now we have someone who’s in the federal government who thinks he’s a king and wants to take away those rights of collective bargaining, wants to take away the funding for facilities like this … I say shame.”
• David Gonzalez, AFGE national VP for District 2: “Our members just want to do their jobs … free from political antics and free from intimidation from this Trump administration. The federal workers do not work for a king: They work for you, the American people.”
ABOVE: U.S. Rep. Mikie Sherrill speaks at the No Kings rally on June 14 near the Lyons VA Medical Center. (Photo by Chris M. Junior)
