One summer at church camp, we played the largest game of Capture the Flag that I’ve ever seen. The way I remember it, all of the kids at that particular camp participated with the counselors serving as instructors and judges. The rules of the game are pretty simple. At our camp, there was a large field that was free of trees but had a few obstacles, such as rocks. It was mostly grass, however. The way I remember it, we had at least 50 campers playing. We were divided into two teams, and a center line defined the territory of the teams. On each side of the playing field, there was an area designated as the flag zone and another area designated as the jail.

The goal was to capture the flag of the opposing team and return with the flag to one’s own side of the field without being tagged. If you were tagged, you had to go to jail. A teammate could free a player who was in jail if that teammate ran to the jail, tagged the jailed player, and the two ran back into their own territory without either being tagged by an opposing player. The rescuer rescues teammates one at a time. The flag zone was a safe area, and no one could be tagged in that area. If an opposing team member was in the flag zone, the defenders had to wait until that player left the zone to dash to their own side of the field before tagging that player.

I don’t know how long the game lasted. It seemed at the time to last a long time. I never got near the opposing team’s flag. We had a fast runner on our side who was good at rescuing those of us who ended up in the other team’s jail, and I think I was captured and freed several times. The game was pretty chaotic, and it was hard to remember who was on which team. I tried to use that confusion and stroll toward the flag, but got tagged on each try when I got close. Eventually, one of the teams succeeded in capturing their opponents’ flag and making it back to their own side, and the game concluded. I can’t remember which team won. I wasn’t the biggest or fastest at camp, and I wasn’t a huge fan of field games. In my memory, the game was moderately fun but not the best part of camp.

We were recalling the game and talking about it in the buildup to the No Kings rallies that were held yesterday. In June, organizers mobilized more than 5 million people at rallies in all 50 states to protest authoritarian moves by the president, such as detentions of citizens and immigrants by often-masked and unidentified Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, aggressive slashing of environmental and educational programs authorized by Congress, aggressive gerrymandering to manipulate elections, and defying court orders. The June rallies were peaceful. Speakers at the one we attended were careful to urge participants to be peaceful and not engage with counter-protestors. We didn’t see any counterprotestors and were surrounded by like-minded people at that event.

Since June, however, the administration has doubled down on its authoritarian tactics, recruiting and deploying additional ICE agents without proper training, sending National Guard troops into cities against the wishes of Mayors and Governors, firing federal workers despite court orders not to do so, and shutting down the House of Representatives to avoid swearing in a duly elected member.

In anticipation of yesterday’s rallies, Republican leaders, including the president and the Speaker of the House, called the rallies a “hate America rally.” They spoke of participants as “antifa people” as if antifa were a political organization. It isn’t. It is an acronym for “anti-fascist.” They tried to portray the rallies as violent events. On that score, they were wrong.

The numbers yesterday exceeded those in June, and there have been no reports of significant violence. Over 100,000 people participated in rallies across all five boroughs in New York City without a single arrest. News organizations were able to interview participants from both political parties, including veterans who emphasized that military service involves an oath to the Constitution and not to any leader.

Over 2,600 rallies in cities and towns across the nation were carried out without violence or arrests. The attempt at portraying the rallies as hate events did not succeed. News coverage of the events showed many people carrying the US flag. Marches in major cities were led by people carrying the flag. Others carried copies of the Constitution and signs with quotes from the Constitution. Looking at the news coverage following the event, the rally participants succeeded in capturing the flag.

Of course, there will be others who claim to have captured the flag. There will be plenty of flags in the background of the news conferences of administration and congressional leaders. There will be pictures shown of protestors carrying the flag upside down by those who may not know that displaying the flag in such a manner is part of the official flag etiquette for times of distress.

When I was a high school student, I was criticized for participating in a rally of people opposed to the War in Vietnam. I wrote a letter to the editor defending my action as that of a loyal citizen engaging in lawful action to influence the opinions of others. The paper ran my letter under the title, “I protest because I love America.”

It seems to me that there were a lot of people engaging in protests who love this country and who see their actions as defending democracy. The right to assemble for peaceful protest is guaranteed by the first amendment of the US constitution: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

The people have peaceably assembled and petitioned the Government for redress of grievances. It appears they have captured the flag.