By Guy Page
About 1,000 people gathered Saturday, June 14, for the “No Kings” rally in downtown St. Johnsbury, many holding signs expressing opposition to former President Donald Trump and support for various causes.
One sign in particular — carried by 7-year-old Imogene Riley of East Burke and a photo of it published in a June 15 news story in Caledonian-Record – has drawn sharp opinions on social media and on the venerable NEK daily’s own editorial page.
The child’s hand-lettered sign read, “F–K TRUMP, but all four letters were spelled out. The newspaper’s editor blurred the offending letters for publication to the paper’s family audience.
According to the news report by Amy Ash Nixon, Imogene’s mother, Carolyn Hawkes-Riley, told the newspaper it was Imogene’s own idea. Imogene’s 14-year-old sister Eloise also participated, carrying a sign decorated with flowers that read “Free Palestine.”
Other signs also attracted attention, including one carried by Amanda Frattaroli of Lyndonville that read, “Divorce your MAGA husband.”
The rally was peaceful, but the signage has sparked an ongoing community conversation about protest, parenting, and political expression.
Kevin Powers wrote in a June 18 letter to editor: “The Caledonian-Record and the reporter who took the Photo of the child holding a sign with a vulgarity/expletive about the President at the NO KINGS rally in STJ Saturday, should be ashamed! It was heartbreaking for me as a dad and grandfather on Father’s Day ironically, to see a child manipulated by the parent and then see it sensationalized and published.”
Comments by Caledonian-Record readers (yes, they too allow comments!) were mixed.
“Using a young child as your prop to hold up a sign with a hateful, divisive message, then attribute the sign to the little kid….shameful and disgusting,” one reader said.
But another reader saw hypocrisy in the criticism. “The pearl clutching over an insinuated sign is in direct hypocrisy to every “F Biden” flag publicly flown on the back of a truck or in the front yard of a Hatriot. I saw a man with a “F Biden” tshirt on at WalMart on Father’s Day. When the hypocrites grow up and become a mentor, get back to me.”