Peaceful Assembly, Loud Message: NE Iowa Indivisible Holds Second Rally

DECORAH, Iowa—It's just past noon on a clear Saturday, and I'm standing in the bright green grass of Carl Selland Wayside Park, looking out at a crowd of roughly 250 people gathered for a HANDS OFF! Sign Rally organized by NE Iowa Indivisible. The sky is a brilliant blue. The sun hangs high and bright over the Upper Iowa River.. I wear my press name tag and carry multiple bags loaded with equipment, hoping that I don't lose my footing on the loose earth. Loud music pours from a Fender Passport PA system near the park sign — a mix of modern protest songs by artists like Flobots and Childish Gambino, alongside Vietnam-era voices like Bob Dylan and Buffalo Springfield, even reaching all the way back to 1944's Tear the Fascists Down by Woody Guthrie. The sound blankets the area and bleeds out toward the College Drive Bridge, where demonstrators have lined up shoulder-to-shoulder. Decorah resident Liz Rog stands on a sunken section of the grass surrounded by rally-goers, leading the crowd in song through a megaphone. The crowd flashes signs to passing drivers: "Support Immigrants & Refugees," "Resist Fascism," and "Public Education is the Foundation of Our Democracy." Some drivers honk their horns in support. Others respond with middle fingers raised. I move carefully through the gathering, documenting what I can until my camera battery runs dry. The energy is steady and focused. I see an organized group exercising its right to peacefully assemble — the second in a series of rallies planned by the group to promote solidarity and civic responsibility. I stand back on the slope of the hill and look out across the crowd one last time before packing up, a slight breeze playing across my shoulders as I scan slogans on cardboard signs and witness democracy manifest firsthand. The message from the crowd is an unambiguous one: People are showing up. And they want to be seen and heard.