‘Dissent Is Not Hatred’

Oct. 19, 2025 Editor, The News-Gazette: Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s denigration of the nationwide No Kings protests on Oct. 18 as “pro-Hamas” and “hate America” is grossly incorrect. These were peaceful demonstrations, grounded in our First Amendment rights to free speech and assembly. To denounce such protests is to ignore the power that protest has held throughout our nation’s history, from the women’s suffrage movement to the civil rights era. Exercising our constitutional rights is, at its core, profoundly pro-American.