Indigenous voices speak loudly at Bismarck ‘No Kings’ rally

Protesters lined up along E. Boulevard Avenue, spanning almost half a mile. United Tribes Technical College students Selena Silk (Standing Rock Sioux Tribe) and Picabo Reeves (Standing Rock and Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation) shouted “Decolonize the system!” Reeves wore a ribbon skirt and held a sign that read, “Rejecting kings since 1776! Honor the Treaties.”

Reeves, who is studying Indigenous leadership and business, said she attended the protest not only to protect democracy, but also to bring awareness to tribal sovereignty.

Peter Taken Alive, a Standing Rock citizen, attended the protest with five of his friends and relatives. He said he’s “sick of everything the government is doing” and felt that it was his civic duty to protest at the No Kings rally.

Another protester, Lakota Pipe Carrier and Sundancer Carel Two-Eagle, has spent 28 years lobbying at the State Capitol, she said as she stood on its lawn, now, protesting. She’s been a spiritual guide for 40 years, but she said she’s loved the Constitution for as long as she can remember and urges her state representatives to uphold it and the human rights, including free speech, that it protects.

“Stop trying to tear things down,” she said. “Or leave.”

Next to Two-Eagle, Standing Rock citizen Maureen Marshall and her granddaughter, Adysen Star, who wore a shirt that said “No one is illegal on stolen land,” waved and cheered at passing cars as protesters started chanting, “Trump’s gotta go!”

Marshall said the policies of the Trump administration hurt Mother Nature. She said she came out to protest because “we are one people, one nation” and it’s her responsibility as a citizen to stand up for what she believes in.

“I’ll be out here, however I can help,” she said.

The protest was held from noon to 2 p.m. and was organized by the Bismarck-Mandan Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party.

Some local organizations joined the event, including the League of Women Voters and Sacred Pipe Resource Center. The center’s executive director, Standing Rock Sioux Tribe citizen Cheryl Kary, said Native Americans practiced democracy before colonists came to the Americas, so it’s only right that they protest now to protect that democracy.

“We never believed in kings,” she said. “And we still don’t.”

Protesters turned up in record numbers, said organizer Bob Valeu, co-chair of the Bismarck-Mandan Democratic NPL Leadership Council, exceeding the first Bismarck No Kings protest on June 14. The line of protesters stretched three-deep from 4th Ave to 9th Ave.

But Valeu said the action doesn’t stop here.

“Congress, take note. Listen to your constituents,” he said. “It’s time that things change.”

He said he urges people to vote in the November 2026 general election.