By Jeana Edmonds
Throughout the U.S. and in other nations as well, No Kings 3 was a truly powerful tribute to our embrace of humanity and our love for our fragile and imperfect democracy. From large cities to small villages, like West Brookfield, crowds gathered on March 28, 2026 to speak about dignity, people power, courage, and the view that in the U.S. neither oligarchs nor kings will prevail. Each standout and rally expressed these ideas in its own unique way, and participants in the West Brookfield No Kings 3 Standout, organized by our sister group Brookfields Fight Fear, were no exception as they too created their own powerful event.
Two elements of the West Brookfield No Kings 3 event that contributed to how inspired I felt were the folks who walked six miles from East Brookfield to West Brookfield to show their dedication to the ideas embedded in the No Kings movement and the group of singers who added their beautiful voices to the words of the 500+ members of the crowd displaying their amazing signs.
The walk was organized by Danelle LaFlower and a total of ten people participated. Eight stalwart souls walked from East Brookfield to Brookfield and then two traded places with two new walkers and that group of eight walked from Brookfield to West Brookfield. Six folks, therefore, walked the full six miles and arrived in great spirits to participate in the West Brookfield No Kings Standout.
I asked Danelle what inspired her to organize this walk and she talked about how important motion is to her – moving has a message and always feels empowering. She elaborated on this by saying that walking is joyful for her and she also felt that having a group walking along Rt. 9 for the hours it took to cover the six miles made very visible the ideals of No Kings and the commitment of so many to this movement.
Two people accompanying Danelle on this walk were her sister and a friend. Both are part of a Buddhist group, associated with a pagoda in Grafton, New York, which holds many marches for peace. Throughout the walk they drummed and chanted “Namu Myōhō Renge Kyō.” I asked Sherry Zitter, who also participated in the full walk from East Brookfield to West Brookfield and who has journeyed with Sister Claire from the New England Peace Pagoda in Leverett, Massachusetts, what the chant meant. The meaning Sherry provided – Peace in every step – was profound in its simplicity and beauty and touched me deeply.
When I asked Sherry why she decided to participate in the walk she said she wanted to celebrate Danelle’s many creative ideas and that she also wanted to honor the monks who recently walked 2,300 miles from Fort Worth, Texas to Washington, D.C. to foster peace, compassion, and unity. It took them 15 weeks to make this amazing journey but sadly one of the monks was struck by a car on the walk and subsequently lost his leg. For Sherry, her participation in this walk was also a way to honor the extraordinary dedication to peace embodied by the walking monks and to express compassion for the monk who was injured on his journey of love.
Nancy Tame, another Grassroots member who participated in the walk, added a lovely touch of everydayness by claiming that the high point of the walk for her was enjoying the fabulous cup of coffee provided at the Joy of Beans Coffee Shop once she reached West Brookfield.
Once our steadfast walkers arrived and the standout participants began to assemble with their creative signs and irresistible energy, we were treated to yet another inspiring display – namely protest songs performed by the members of the newly formed Chorus for These Times under the direction of Nym Cooke. As one would expect, We Shall Overcome and Hold On were part of this group’s repertoire but other deeply moving songs were performed as well, with lyrics such as “I send my love, I send my care, I send my strength to those resisting everywhere” and “You gotta put one foot in front of the other and lead with love” and “No kings here, not in my America.” What added yet another dimension of joy was a group of flash dancers who arrived unannounced to the standout and began spontaneously dancing to the singing with abandon and jubilation.
Wow, what a day!
