Recovering from colon cancer surgery, 75-year-old James Phipps says he’ll join Chicago’s No Kings protest, linking today’s immigration crackdowns and health-care fights to struggles he faced in Jim Crow–era Mississippi. The nationwide labor-led demonstrations—anchored by SEIU and the American Federation of Teachers—come as a government shutdown persists amid Democratic demands to address Medicaid cuts and extend expiring insurance subsidies. Republican critics brand the events unpatriotic; union leaders counter they’re a stand against abuses of power and soaring costs, insisting America belongs to working people, not politicians or billionaires.

Prepared by Lauren Mitchell and reviewed by editorial team.