“History has its eyes on the White House.” So said one sign, covered with googly eyes, at a protest Saturday afternoon in Portage.
Demonstrators expressed their opposition to many actions of the second Trump administration, as they stood along Westnedge Avenue near the Crossroads Mall with signs pointed toward the road. There was plenty of traffic, and whenever it was moving, the demonstrators drew honks of support.
Motorists honked for messages such as “No Kings,” and “First they came for Kilmar, next they can come for you.” Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported to a prison in El Salvador despite having permission to stay in the United States.
One car displayed what may have been an improvised sign as it passed by the protest. A passenger held a whiteboard with an anti-DOGE message out the window.
The official theme of the event was workers’ rights. But many signs focused on democracy and the rule of law.
Jim Brady of Battle Creek attended with his wife, Theresa. He said he came to protest because President Donald Trump is undermining 250 years of due process.
"He has actually thrown that out the window and has his own agenda and thinks he’s right, which he’s not," Brady said. He held a sign that name-checked Attorney General Pam Bondi, with the message, “no one is above the law.”
As the protest wound down, Heather Carr packed up a sign-making station she’d set up with her 14-year-old son Hayden and 12-year-old daughter Keely. Carr said it got plenty of use.
"There was a group of three teenage girls and they were helping an older gentleman make a sign for him and it was really cool. It’s nice to see how this is kind of bringing generations together," she said.
Keely Carr worked on several signs. She said she did not have a favorite.
"But there is one sign that I made, of Princess Celestia saying that she would be better a president," she added.
Keely explained that Princess Celestia is the Queen of Equestria on My Little Pony.
A young man who works at a nearby business, Uncle Ed's Oil Shoppe, said the protest did make things noisy. But the employee, who declined to give his name, added that he did not think the event would hurt business. If anything, he said, it might help.
"You've got more people driving around here, so a lot more people pull in," he said. "Usually we're kind of busy based on how many people are out and around the mall area."
As for politics, he said he and his coworkers try not to discuss it, in the interest of keeping the peace.
The demonstrators were not the only ones trying to get people's attention in the 6000 block of South Westnedge Avenue Saturday afternoon. A couple of people held a sign for the going-out-of-business sale at nearby Joann Fabrics.
At one point they seemed to poke fun at being upstaged, shouting about the sale and cheering as motorists honked, most likely not for them.
