Amy and I plan to march in New York City’s instance of this coming weekend’s No Kings protest. It will be my third march of the year.

Attending means backing out of a professional event I was looking forward to. But after I saw news clips on social media last week with the Speaker of the House describing the upcoming nationwide protest with language like “America-hating” and “terrorist”, I knew I had to go show up for my city and my country again.

As Greg Sargent wrote on X:

The correct response to Republicans widely depicting the coming protests as terrorism is to go out and protest. Each person should get 10 more people to do so. If Republicans are going to hint at state violence in response to legitimate protest, the only answer is bigger numbers.

This resonates with me because, as I write this, the federal government is running a pair of experiments that seem to head towards a common point. First, it’s having the military summarily destroy civilian ships in the Caribbean, baselessly boasting after the fact that they contained terrorists, and daring anyone to stop the government from killing anyone it wants to—though the experimental protocol restricts their targets to non-Americans in open waters, for now. Second, it’s been rolling military units into American cities, ostensibly to assist with domestic law enforcement—entirely at odds with those same units’ trained purpose of repelling foreign armies using lethal force.

These experiments aren’t happening without resistance. Courts have been blocking or at least delaying the full range of military movements that Trump wants. And right now, the brave (and sometimes bravely absurd) people of Chicago and Portland are meeting federal forces every day in the streets, refusing to bend, and letting the masked and cowardly kidnappers of ICE know that real Americans are not afraid of them.

I promised, at the start of the year, that I wouldn’t stand aside and let the thoroughly corrupted and power-gluttonous Trump administration harm my neighbors. By suggesting that the upcoming protests are an act of domestic terror—and by showing the world what they think they can do, with impunity, to anyone they call a terrorist—the Republicans’ words last week have at last directly targeted my city, my streets, my neighbors. And so I have no choice but to join my neighbors on those streets.

In my marches so far, I don’t bring any signs or supplies or prepare in any particular way, other than making sure I’m well rested, fed, caffeinated, and dressed for a long walk outside. I stay relaxed and situationally aware throughout the march. My only goal is to add my body and my presence and my attention to the mass movement, and for a couple of focused hours help remind the usurpers who really runs the place. I always come out of it feeling hopeful and energized, proud to help my neighbors stand strong and visible. It’s the least I can do, and I have to do it.

If you live in the United States, then I invite you to join me. My march starts in Midtown Manhattan at 11 AM on Saturday. You can find the march nearest you at the No Kings site on mobilize.us. You don’t actually need to register there; I don’t bother. You can just show up. That’s the whole of my plan, and it’s worked well for me so far. If it’s your first march, you’ll come out of it feeling charged, and changed. I need to feel that charge again too, and hold it, facing the long winter ahead.