There’s something happening here. And with apologies to Stephen Stills, what it is IS perfectly clear. People across the country are rising up in record numbers — protesting, packing meeting halls, contacting elected officials, donating billions…

Troy’s No Kings local rally in June was enormous. I think it was Troy’s BIGGEST turnout for anything ever!

I am buoyed by all the action being taken in small towns and large, staunchly Blue and traditionally Red. We’re all, across the board, saying — in no uncertain terms — that we care about our fellow humans; we care about social services; we care about the planet; we reject Tyranny.

It was simply incredible seeing the jam-packed crowd in Troy at a town hall meeting this July about all the cuts to programs people care deeply about.

A Handmaid’s Tale protestor stands in between the North and South bound traffic on Rochester Road. It was a truly extraordinary turnout for the Hands Off protest in just Troy, alone, back in April.

Then again, in June, more protestors and more Handmaids showed up to march in Troy.

It seems that my role in The Resistance has become focused on photography, telling the tale through my lens. When I was a working journalist, I wasn’t allowed to voice a public opinion on my political leanings. As a recovering journalist, my voice — my eyes — are allowed free rein. And it feels great.

Rhi, from rhi rush photography, snapped me snapping others during an April Hands Off protest in Troy.

Yes, we believed we were done with all the attacks on everything we hold dear — The Environment, Science, Medicine, Logic, Kindness, Peace … But then four years later, we’ve had to renew the fight. Okay, even though it feels like putting the needle back at the beginning of the record (or moving the cursor/scrub bar back to the start of the song), I’m back in the fight, along with dozens of millions of my closest friends.

There was a huge, standing-room only town hall crowd in July concerned about all the new cuts to services.

Michigan Senator, Mallory McMorrow, speaks to the assembled throng in Troy during a July town hall. McMorrow is one of the front-runners for the U.S. Senate seat being vacated by Senator Gary Peters in 2026.

These are a few of my favorite images — just since April — showing some of the beautiful people in this fight along with us. If you ever feel alone, yelling at the TV, know there are seething hordes just like you. Feel free to come on out with a sign or just a smile.

Troy protestors understood the assignment back in April.

Even outside, it felt like standing-room only.

The first major protest in Troy this year was the Hands Off protest in April.

It feels so good, so cathartic to be part of this movement.

My wife and I were excited about joining the incredible crowd during June’s installment of the nationwide No Kings rallies.

 

We better stop
Hey, what’s that sound?
Everybody look, what’s going down?

— For What It’s Worth, by Stephen Stills for Buffalo Springfield 

 

Rodney Curtis is a recovering journalist and author of four books.

Check out Rodney’s books here.