Drive past Douglas and Broadway at noon on a Monday, Wednesday or Saturday, and you’ll see them: a group of protesters waving signs and airing grievances with the current presidential administration.
They chant in unison. They wave at passing cars. They raise their fists in solidarity with motorists who offer approving honks.
Nearly all of them are over 60.
Street protests in Wichita have become much more common since President Donald Trump took office for a second term and started enacting controversial policies. One particularly well-organized group — Defend Democracy ICT — has groups out protesting four days a week.
What’s noticeable about these vocal bands of objectors, at least in Wichita, is that the most devoted of their numbers are mostly of retirement age.
Among them is Ron Neagle, a 72-year-old Vietnam veteran and retired business manager who takes part in the downtown protests twice a week, every week.
There’s Nick Bach, 66, a Navy veteran who’s retired from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and has been joining downtown protests every Saturday since February.
And there’s Cindy Hull, better known to most Wichitans as former KWCH news anchor Cindy Klose. Retired from her television career since 2016, 69-year-old Hull can be found standing on the same spot at Douglas and Broadway waving signs and chanting every Saturday that she’s not out of town.
Hull, who claimed her spot for the Oct. 25 No Kings protest in downtown Wichita, said that showing up and demonstrating just makes her feel a little less powerless.
“There’s nothing else I can do,” she said. “I write and call my congress people, but it feels like they don’t listen. So it just kind of makes me feel better.”
Some of the most active protesters admit that part of the reason people their age show up in numbers is that they’re retired and more free to put in the time on weekdays.
But that’s not the only reason, suspects Neagle, who attended his first political protest in 1967. Back then, he was 16, he said, and he was passionately opposed to the Vietnam War, he would often gather with like-minded demonstrators and march around Wichita State University.
“The protests back then really did have the impact of us pulling out of Vietnam, ultimately” Neagle said. “It wasn’t easy and it wasn’t the sole thing. But it became so unpopular and protests were so pervasive that politicians could no longer ignore it.”
Standing up when he doesn’t agree with something has always been a part of his makeup, Neagle said. He also was among the crowds nationwide that participated in the Women’s March shortly after the 2016 election. At the time, he was living in Texas.
He’s noticed that many of today’s protesters are older, but maybe older people just understand better what’s at stake, he said, adding that he finds it “worrisome” that the younger demographic isn’t more active.
Bach, who also was at the recent downtown No Kings demonstration, said that he protests because he doesn’t know what else to do. He’s disgusted with the state of the government and he’s disgusted that most Americans know more about their favorite sports teams than they do about what’s happening in Washington, D.C.
He’s always been “a loud mouth agitator,” he said, and he comes from a family of political protesters. As a Navy veteran, he said, he took an oath to support his country.
This is how he does it.
“I can’t sit still through this, and I won’t,” he said. “I know older people who can’t do this, who would love to do it. So I do it for them.”
The Oct. 24 No Kings protest in downtown Wichita was filled with people of all ages, but the over-60 crowd was among the most represented. Several were being pushed in wheelchairs by younger relatives while tightly clutching their protest signs.
Bruce Blank, 74, marched under a giant banner that read “Veterans Against Trump.” He’s also a lifelong demonstrator, he said, and he’s marched against nuclear weapons, for the protection of the rainforests and in support of saving Oregon’s redwood trees.
Nancy Hughey, a retired speech-language pathologist, walked through the crowd holding a sign that read “81 yr old nana & terrorist.” She said she worries about her 7-year-old granddaughter’s rights being taken away. She worries about the growing hatred in the country.
“My friends are all scared to death for their grandchildren,” she said, “for the future, for their grandchildren, for losing what we have.”
Neagle, who brought his wife to the No Kings protest and decided to participate by driving through the crowds in his sign-laden pickup truck and honking in support, said that being out protesting is sometimes the only thing that gives him comfort.
Though he’s doubtful it will change anything this time, occasionally, he said, he’s gone out and held up a sign in the evening, when no one else is out.
“I need to do something,” he said. “Do I think my tiny little voice and small efforts are going to make a bit of difference? No. But if millions of our tiny little voices speak up, it can make a difference.”
