Protesters crowd together on the sidewalk in front of McMurran Hall, during the No Kings Rally in Shepherdstown on Saturday. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — For one young mother at the No Kings Rally in Shepherdstown, the protest was an opportunity to stand up for her hard-fought-for beliefs.

Charles Town resident Bethany A., who requested her last name remain anonymous out of fear that her husband might lose his federal job if it were published, said she grew up in a Christian nationalist home. Her family, who were devout members of the Church of Latter-day Saints (LDS), joined the Tea Party movement in 2007 and then, in the mid-2010s, began aligning themselves with the even further rightwing MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement. She spent a number of years unquestioningly supporting their political stances.

“I was taught that Democrats are racist and they are trying to keep the welfare system around, so that Black people can’t earn money and get out of it — those kinds of things,” she said of her family’s teachings. “Religiously, they may not preach it anymore, but it’s very much passed down from generation-to-generation the belief that Native Americans had to die, so that America could be what it is today and the Book of Mormon could come to be. They don’t talk about it as much anymore, but it’s very much a thing they believe. I had a lot of beliefs that were rooted in racism, and I didn’t know it.”

It wasn’t until the Jan 6, 2021 riot took place in the U.S. Capitol, that she began to question these long-held beliefs.

“I lived with my very, very MAGA family at the time,” she said. “I had to deconstruct my religion and my politics and find out who was lying to me. Turns out, both sides can lie, but one was very manipulative and the other was like, ‘We’re fighting for everyone.'”

Martinsburg resident Barb Taylor, right, and her partner, U.S. Navy veteran Tony McColl, peacefully protest together at the No Kings Rally in Shepherdstown on Saturday. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

That led her to the conclusion that she needed to change her religious and political beliefs — a difficult one to make, as it meant potentially alienating her family members. Yet it was one she made, with her husband’s support, all the same. She came to realize, over the intervening months, that there was little holding her family together, outside of the LDS faith and MAGA movement. Slowly but surely, communication fell away, with her last conversation with an extended family member being in Dec. 2024.

In spite of this painful experience, Bethany said she knows the decision she made was right — for both philosophical and personal reasons. She noted that her narcolepsy medication, which was previously expensive, has now skyrocketed in price. Without the medication, she would be falling asleep at inappropriate times and unable to hold down a job. She also finds the rise in insurance costs and the treatment of federal workers like her husband, particularly with the ongoing federal government shutdown, problematic. These issues and those affecting minority groups across the nation are of particular concern for her, as they underscore the fact that many of the core American values have been lost.

“We’ve all forgotten our American values. Every movement that we have had in America, from the very beginning, has been a marginalized group fighting to have equal rights. That is how we got here,” she said. “What’s wrong is wrong, and people are getting hurt. I think we have forgotten that we are all neighbors. The truth of it is, all sides — Democrats and Republicans and Independents, our neighbors — will all be hurt by the changes made by this administration, unless they have money. It’s no longer right versus left — it is up versus down.”

She felt it was important to participate in the rally, to fight for the futures of herself, her husband and their two children. The only thing she voiced concerns over with the rally — one of roughly 2,500 held across the country on Saturday — was that its name might lead to further polarization developing between those on opposite sides of the political spectrum.

“I am worried that the ‘No Kings’ terminology is causing more confusion and division, because of conversations I had with the other side — with my family — back when I could. They don’t understand this terminology, because they don’t consider Donald Trump to be their king,” she said, noting she interpreted the name to mean “no abuse of power.”

No Kings Rally participants cluster together on the sidewalk in front of MJ’s on German DeliCafe on Saturday. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

As she waved an American flag with her left hand and a “Stand Together” sign with her right, Bethany shared her story with other protesters, urging them to give grace to those in the MAGA movement and encourage them to consider the coverage of news from multiple professional sources, rather than simply accepting what they have been told by a singular media outlet.

“I know the rhetoric, the propaganda, that they are listening to,” she said. “When I hear people saying, ‘Trump supporters are stupid,’ I want to let them know that that is incorrect. They are not stupid. They are lied to. They are scared and they are mad and they feel like they finally have somebody to be mad at. They feel like they are on the winning team.”

Protesters in chicken costumes stand on The Wall, during the No Kings Rally in Shepherdstown on Saturday. Photo by Tabitha Johnston

Protesters of all ages cheer together at the No Kings Rally in Shepherdstown on Saturday. Photo by Tabitha Johnston