Lyn Dockter-Pinnick

Between 3,500 and 5,000 people turned out for the No Kings rally near Fargo’s city hall on June 14. It was organized by Lyn Dockter-Pinnick and other members of Red River United, the Moorhead chapter of Indivisible; its Fargo counterpart; and other FM activists. (Photo/Nancy Hanson.)

Lyn Dockter-Pinnick leads a protest near the Federal Building in Fargo.

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

When an estimated 3,500 to 5,000 thronged the grounds of Fargo’s City Hall three weeks ago – raising their voices in opposition to the president’s policies – the first voice they heard was Lyn Dockter-Pinnick’s.
The “No Kings” protest June 14 was one of more than 2,000 nationwide. Believed to be the largest such protest in Fargo-Moorhead history, the huge event was organized by the Moorhead activist who, along with a core group of like-minded residents, has spent much of 2025 creating peaceful platforms for expressing opposition to the current administration’s policies.
For Lyn, it’s part of a personal mission. “I’m a very purpose-driven person,” she says. “I really do believe in trying to leave the world a little better than I found it.”
That personal mission has involved organizing a series of public demonstrations on behalf of Red River United and Fearless, the Moorhead and Fargo chapters of the national organization Indivisible, along with other sponsoring groups.
The first brought a modest crowd to the Memorial Bridge two days before Donald Trump’s inauguration. Pushing back against his extreme agenda, the hardy group braved minus 37 degree temperatures there and in nearby Woodlawn Park. It was a start.
She again helped organize the May 5 “Hands Off” protest on the bridge and in the Moorhead park. A much larger crowd estimated at 3,000 gathered to protest corruption, the “billionaire takeover,” cuts to social programs like Social Security and Medicaid, and attacks on immigrants and other marginalized people. It was co-sponsored by Red River United, the League of Women Voters, and BadAss Grandmas for Democracy
Last month’s “No Kings” demonstration was, like the previous occasions, part of a nationwide resistance movement to the Trump administration’s authoritarian actions, including his Flag Day military parade in Washington, D.C. In all, an estimated 12 million like-minded men and women took part in events in all 50 states.
More are in the offing, including “Fired Up Fridays” beginning July 11 at Eighth Street and 24th Avenue South in Moorhead.
Lyn traces her activism back to her high school days on the family farm near Parshall, North Dakota. “Growing up, my parents and I watched the unfolding of the civil rights movement, Kent State and all the rest on television. On those long winter nights, my father – who’d served as a tail gunner in the Army Air Corps during World War II – would tell me, ‘I may not agree with you, but I fought for the right for you to say it.
“I want the country my father fought for. I may not agree with you now, but I’ll fight for your right to say it.”
After graduating from Minot State University, Lyn says, she expressed her activism through her work. She spent seven years at Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish College, the community college in Ft. Berthold, North Dakota, rising from teaching English to serving as its interim president. She went on to manage the Quentin Burdick Job Corps Center in Minot, continuing with the federal job training program for a total of 27 years.
During the last 17 years of her tenure, she worked from home in the Minnesota lake country. She and her husband Rick had followed their dream to establish what she calls “our glorious, wonderful hobby,” operating the Jewel of the Northwoods bed-and-breakfast between Park Rapids and Menahga. While she provided administration and training for Job Corps sites around the nation, Rick – a Vietnam-era Army veteran fighting health issues caused by Agent Orange – attended to the lakeside business.
“Three years ago, it was time to make a decision,” she says, smiling. “I could either work for the rest of my life supporting our wonderful hobby, or we could sell it and move to where our kids are.” Their youngest son and his family were living close to the Red River in Fargo. Lyn and Rick found their new home directly across the river in Moorhead. (Two older sons and their families live in Boston and Washington, D.C.)
Almost immediately, Lyn connected with other activists. She joined the League of Women Voters of the Red River Valley: “I’ve been on the board since almost the day I arrived.” Then she met Moorhead activist Martha Wheeler at book club, and several acquaintances introduced her to former Moorhead mayor Del Ray Williams. “When Del Rae started the Saturday morning sessions she calls Coffee at the Folly, I became a regular.
“After the election, we talked about the need to do something, to have our voices heard.” From there, the seed of the local demonstrations took root and grew … far beyond those initial conversations over coffee. “Action is the antidote to despair,” she reflects.
Like the “No Kings” event, each has emphasized both patriotism and nonviolence. American flags punctuated the grounds of City Hall, both on the podium and among the crowd. The program began with the “Star-Spangled Banner” and the Pledge of Allegiance. The mood was positive but determined, the spirit that Lyn is determined to maintained.
“At heart, what has driven me to action is listening to someone who’s the leader of our nation urging people to hate me and people like me, just because we disagree. When he tells his followers that we are to be hated, and when I hear all those nasty, horrible adjectives he throws at anyone who disagrees ….
“Never since the Civil War have we been so violently pitted against each other, and it’s coming from the top. That’s not the country my father fought for. Now, to be silent is to be complicit.
“I’m committed to peaceful, nonviolent action – not blocking traffic or damaging property or fighting with those who disagree. Civil rights, women’s suffrage, opposition to war … in our time, social change has only come through peaceful, nonviolent action of citizens exercising their constitutional right to free speech.
“Violence of any kind detracts from our message and actually becomes that message. We want to focus on the message, not the mess.”