• Thousands of Arizonans protested President Trump in Phoenix on June 14, criticizing his behavior and policies.
• Protesters expressed concerns about Trump’s actions, including his handling of immigration and threats to social programs.
• Organizers aimed to build community and encourage local activism.

While military tanks prepared to roll down Constitution Avenue in Washington, D.C., as part of President Donald Trump’s parade to celebrate the Army’s 250th Anniversary, a different army was building at the Arizona Capitol.

Thousands of Arizonans flooded the Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza and braved triple-degree heat on June 14. They gathered to protest Trump and draw attention to what they called his authoritarian and king-like behavior.

“He wants to be a pretend king, but he’s following all the rules of a dictator! And he’s slowing picking out people he wants us to villainize,” Randy Hamilton, 78, said.

Parents pushing their children in strollers and seniors with walkers chanted against the president and watched drag queens perform as music blasted in the background. They held signs that said things like, “Unpaid protester but I hate Trump for free,” and “No Crown for the Clown.”

At the same time, musicians and live entertainment took the stage in D.C. for the inaugural military parade.

The “No Kings Day of Defiance” in Phoenix was one of more than 2,000 planned events across the United States. The event was meant to poke fun at Trump as he kicked off an expensive parade on his 79th birthday.

Erica Connell, a liaison for the 50501 movement that helped organize the event, said it was meant to build community before the summer heat would make it too difficult.

“We’ll have more policy-driven events in the future, but right now, it’s just so broad that it’s about building the resistance. It’s about making sure that we have the numbers,” Connell said.

Elected officials like Phoenix Councilwoman Anna Hernandez spoke to the crowd from onstage, telling attendees “revolution” was the “acceptable response to fascism.”

“It is not for us to take a more moderate approach to policy. It is not to take a moderate approach to politics,” Hernandez yelled to an uproar of applause. “It is revolution, and it is to invest in our communities!”

‘I don’t want to lose our democracy’

Attendees almost uniformly gave the same response when asked what brought them out: opposition to Trump. He’s acting like he’s king, protesters told The Arizona Republic. Congress isn’t standing up against him. The courts aren’t doing enough to rein him in.

Swanson, 88 and from Ahwatukee, attended against the wishes of her adult children, who feared for her safety. Swanson said she felt like she had to go.

“I don’t want to lose our democracy. Something dramatic has to be done,” she said. Swanson’s neighbor, 66-year old Stephanie Drobatschewsky, felt the same. Drobatschewsky said both her parents were Holocaust survivors, and that Trump’s immigration round-ups reminded her of World War II Germany.

Robert Lang, 64, said he hoped the number of protests taking place across the country showed elected leaders that change was wanted.

Attendees repeatedly echoed each other in the changes they wanted to see: for Donald Trump to resign or be impeached; to stop threatening Social Security and Medicare; for more humane treatment of immigrants; to reject attacks against the U.S. Department of Education, PBS and National Public Radio.

Connell, a main planner of the Phoenix protest, said the overarching demand was to “uphold the constitution.”

Up next: resistance at the neighborhood level

Connell said organizers conceived of a carnival-themed event partially to “have fun making fun of (Trump) on his birthday” and also partially to attract families.

“We’ve had very specific goals in mind and growing the movement in our state by hitting those various demographics in what we’re doing,” Connell said.

Organizers planned educational events and wanted attendees to identify causes they cared about, then connect with groups working on those issues. They focused on “inspiring and teaching people how to become activists on their own corner,” Connell said, “because that’s how we’re trying to grow the movement.“

Hernandez, the Phoenix councilwoman known for fiery rhetoric, was added to the speaker list to give more of a rally feel. Her speech amplified the crowd as she spoke about Trump “hunting” the public.

“Let me be clear: He is hunting us,” Hernandez said. “From Palestinian protesters to students to immigrant communities, we are under attack. His ICE minions are in our neighborhoods, our stores, our workplaces and our homes.”

Parents: Protest can be positive and powerful at any age

South of the stage, kids played in bounce houses while grown men dressed in chicken costumes. They held signs saying “TACO,” a nod to the joke about tariffs that, “Trump always chickens out.”

Jules and Audra Nelson stayed near the stage with their three children, who were 10, 8 and 3. The Nelsons brought their two sons and daughter to show them that protest could be a positive and powerful force for change.

The kids had seen the protests in L.A. and Audra said she wanted them to understand “when people come together, it’s really positive.”

She said she wanted her kids to know they weren’t “bound by their age,” and that young people had been “key catalysts of the civil rights movement.”

“Resistance is little pieces at a time. It doesn’t have to be big. It can just be you saying, ‘I’m not OK with this,’” Audra said. “Sometimes we think we’re so small, but we are so big.”

Taylor Seely is a First Amendment Reporting Fellow at The Arizona Republic / azcentral.com. Do you have a story about the government infringing on your First Amendment rights? Reach her at tseely@arizonarepublic.com or by phone at 480-476-6116.

Seely’s role is funded through a collaboration between the Freedom Forum and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input.

OMAHA, Neb.—Getting to the College World Series requires winning a bunch of games against very good opponents. The eight qualifiers have shown their ability to navigate two weekends’ worth of tough competition with little or no blemishes.

But once the CWS starts, someone has to lose. Arizona was one of the vanquished, falling 7-4 to Coastal Carolina in Friday’s series opener, dropping it into the loser’s bracket and one setback away from elimination.

“It’s a familiar feeling being at the bottom,” shortstop Mason White said.

Arizona (44-20) will play Louisville (40-23) at 11 a.m. PT Sunday, the first step in what would be a tremendously steep climb to stay alive in the series. The Wildcats would have to win four in a row to reach the championship series, with three of those on consecutive days.

It’s not impossible, as several CWS teams have accomplished this feat. Oregon State won the 2018 national title after losing its opener, as did South Carolina in 2010 and a pair of UA national champions. The 1976 and 1980 squads started 0-1 only to run off five in a row to earn the program’s first two titles.

None of those were this year’s Arizona team, but the current squad has shown the ability to “flush” losses quickly. Last weekend the Wildcats were thumped 18-2 at North Carolina in the first game of the Super Regionals and then came back to win the next two, both of which they trailed in the 7^th inning or later.

That was the most recent example, while there were several during the regular season.

“They’ve done it all year,” UA coach Chip Hale said. “We’ve lost Fridays and won the series.”

The Wildcats lost 13-4 at Houston on May 15, a fifth loss in six games that eliminated any chance to host a regional and got them close to the NCAA Tournament bubble. But a day later they won 14-6, the start of an 8-game win streak that included perfection at the Big 12 Tournament (which was a trio of single-elimination games) and the Eugene Regional.

Arizona also won series against Oklahoma State and BYU after dropping the opener.

“I think this is a group we want to do it with,” sophomore pitcher Owen Kramkowski said. “This is all the guys we feel most confident doing it with. We’ve done it before, so it’s just taking it pitch by pitch and knowing it can happen. If we trust it it will happen. So just trusting everyone we’ve got with us is the biggest part right now.”

Arizona has lost its College World Series opener nine previous times, most recently in 2021. The Wildcats went 0-2 that year, but in four of the previous instances they’ve won at least one game after that initial loss.

Tom Brady is getting a statue of himself outside Gillette Stadium after his marvelous career with the New England Patriots. It’s always a fun sight to see for fans of a franchise who get to see their favorite players and team legends become immortalized forever.

Several amazing players and other football figures have earned such an honor across every team in the NFL. The Baltimore Ravens have a statue of both Ray Lewis and Johnny Unitas, the latter of whom won a Super Bowl with the then Baltimore Colts.

Speaking of the Colts, Peyton Manning has his for the Indianapolis version of the franchise.

Dan Marino has a monument for the Miami Dolphins. Jim Brown with the Cleveland Browns. Tom Landry with the Dallas Cowboys. Vince Lombardi with the Green Bay Packers. You get the idea.

An honor of such prestige does not and should not be handed out lightly. As insane as this may sound, not every Hall of Fame player for a franchise deserves a statue. I’m sorry, but I’m not wrong.

But it does beg the question of who is worthy of an honor like that. And although you would imagine the list to be massive, it isn’t and shouldn’t be.

NFL.com’s Adam Rank made a short-list of five players who are worthy of such an honor.

There were a few names omitted that I believe were snubbed (none more so than Drew Brees for the New Orleans Saints), but there was one player who deserves a statue as much, if not more, than any other player on this list.

Larry Fitzgerald.

We can start with this question: Does Larry Fitzgerald deserve a statue for the Arizona Cardinals? If your answer isn’t a resounding “YES!” then I’m afraid you are a bozo, at best.

Fitzgerald has been the face of the Cardinals since their move to the desert and even with the franchise’s previous stints in Chicago and St. Louis, he remains one of the biggest figureheads in its storied history.

The future Pro Football Hall of Famer, pending his eligibility becoming official, defined a franchise for nearly 20 years. During that time, he saw peaks and valleys, high and lows, and some of the Cardinals’ best and worst seasons.

And yet, he never wavered and never requested a trade. He just went to work every Sunday and put together one of the greatest career’s a wide receiver has ever assembled.

Rank made his argument:

“I wrestled with this one, because the Cardinals have a great tribute to Pat Tillman outside of State Farm Stadium, which really raises the bar high in terms of who else should enter such company. But Fitzgerald absolutely delivered. A class act both on and off the field during his 17-year career with the Cardinals, he finished with the second-most receiving yards in NFL history (17,492, behind only Jerry Rice), earned 11 Pro Bowl selections and won the 2016 Walter Payton Man of the Year award. This Cardinals icon is very deserving of such an honor.”

The Pat Tillman statue is special and beyond precious in a seemingly endless amount of ways, and that’s all that needs to be said there for the American hero.

But as far as Fitzgerald goes, he is worthy of such an honor. His career is a remarkable one full of greatness even in forgettable and even horrific seasons. When #11 was on the field, Cardinals fans tuned in to watch — he was the saving grace for a franchise that struggled to give the fans what they wanted most.

The accolades and numbers speak for themselves, but there is simply one reason Fitzgerald deserves to be immortalized, and it has nothing to do with his on the field production.

Fitzgerald should be given a statue in his honor is for the way he conducted himself.

As we mentioned, Fitzgerald stuck it out with one franchise his entire career — which is a rarity in sports including the NFL. Not only that, but he spent 17 seasons — almost two decades — with one franchise. Not even guys who are receiving or have statues like Tom Brady and Peyton Manning can say that!

It makes Fitzgerald one of one.

And in that timeframe, he never complained. In fact, he always embraced the team and certainly the fans who were loyal to him more than the franchise at different points in time. His big smile was always something that gave even the most depressed Cardinals fan hope of getting a win that day.

Speaking of which, he did that several, several times. Perhaps that was never more evident than when the playoffs rolled around. Arizona didn’t make many trips in Fitzgerald’s 17 seasons with just four appearances in that time and nine games played. But man did he make an impact in those games.

The 2008 postseason run to the Super Bowl was incredible by itself with playoff records for yards (546) and touchdowns (7) in a single run. No one will ever forget his 64-yard touchdown reception in the Super Bowl that dropped the jaws of everyone watching.

We also won’t forget his heroics in the 2015 playoff game against the Green Bay Packers including a 75-yard scamper in overtime before taking a shovel pass into the endzone for the win.

I’m not exaggerating — I’m getting chills just writing this.

But again, these are things that Cardinals fans will hold dearly forever — and they should. Fitzgerald gave a fan base that has known little success something to watch and enjoy. When the stakes were at their highest, he showed up. It was special

And that’s what makes Fitzgerald so special. He provided an endless amount of cheering, smiling, tears, laughter, and joy across 272 total games played. Even people who weren’t fans of the Cardinals knew who Fitzgerald was.

Not just that, they knew how great he was. Some may have owned his jersey simply because it was Larry-freaking-Fitzgerald.

He was, is, and always will be the face of the Arizona Cardinals and will be forever beloved by all who got to witness him. Perhaps it’s even more than that.

Maybe, just maybe, Larry Fitzgerald is the face of Arizona sports — professional, collegiate, amateur, or any other category — entirely.

Should he get a statue from the Arizona Cardinals? You better believe it, and you better believe that not a single player on Rank’s list or nearly any other deserves it the way that Fitzgerald does.

He’s more than a player… he is Arizona sports.