Melanie Hood-Wilson is as opposed to President Donald Trump as anyone could be.

There was a time when she would be marching against Trump policies alongside friends she sees doing so on social media. She’s joined protests in the past, but now it is different.

She’s become more selective on when she practices her advocacy, and right now she doesn’t identify with movements like No Kings, which has attracted hundreds of thousands of people across the country to protest Trump administration policies.

While the movement has taken up issues such as immigration and federal job cuts, what is being largely ignored is one of the most important issues to African Americans like her: racism.

“I think it makes white people who are not MAGA, who are not fascists, feel like they are doing something. And that is my biggest problem with the No Kings movement,” the Fells Point resident said.

Look across the crowds of No Kings protests and you won’t see many Black faces. Those like Hood-Wilson are absent from some of the largest protests and other forms of dissent. They say the movement isn’t addressing issues they care about. Or they fear for their safety because they feel Trump’s rhetoric has emboldened people with racist and homophobic views.

Others say they are tired after decades of not getting sustained support for Black Lives Matter and other movements that mattered to African Americans. Much of the resentment started when Kamala Harris lost the presidency to Trump, who many African Americans said had racist views.

Some may think African Americans are apathetic or disengaged when it’s really exhaustion, self-preservation and a deep awareness that “we cannot keep pouring from an empty cup” that is keeping African Americans away, said Myoshi Smith, a relationship adviser who lives in Pigtown.

“There’s a feeling that Black women, in particular, continue to carry this country on our backs while not being protected, supported or even consistently shown up for in return,” Smith said. “We show up to vote, we build movements, we create pathways forward, and then we’re often left standing alone when it comes to our own safety, rights and survival.”

Marcus Johnson, assistant professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, said he has heard these sentiments across the country and through his students.

“It’s not stepping back,” he said. ”But it’s being more intentional about engaging in politics in the places where you perceive your impact, where there’s a likelihood that you’ll be heard and listened to. Oftentimes that means within the Black community and spending less time being concerned about stumping for the Democratic Party.”

Millions have gravitated to the No Kings movement since its first “No Kings” day in June and then another in October. Hundreds more events have popped up around the country, including some in the Baltimore area. Organizers of a recent Baltimore-area rally expected about 3,000 similar protests across states in late March.

Just because you didn’t see many Black people there doesn’t mean they are not interested in what is happening in the country, Johnson said. He cited the recent pushback by African Americans in Tennessee following Republican efforts to reshape a majority-Black congressional district as an example. He added that Black people are being intentional with how they are directing their attention.

“I just think it’s important to keep that in mind that [Black] people are not stepping back from democracy,” he said. Black people are stepping back from the Democratic Party and other “larger institutions that have captured Black political power in the past.”

Organizers with No Kings did not respond to a request for comment. The group has another round of events scheduled this weekend.

Arianna Paul, a Black 20-year-old junior at Morgan State University, feels this is not her time to fight.

“We warned everyone what would happen if [Trump] were to get elected in office,” she said. “And, I mean, we see we’re in the middle of a war right now. Gas prices are very high. People can’t afford groceries; people can’t find jobs. I feel like I don’t need to fight that fight right now.”

She said she wouldn’t feel safe at a No Kings protest.

“I’m always going to have a target on my back,” Paul said. “And in an environment like that, even though people try to keep it peaceful, we do see them escalate quickly because police don’t know how to deescalate or we just see people being targeted for no reason.”

Jordyn Allen, a 20-year-old junior at Morgan State, has not joined the No Kings protests because she said they feel performative.

“I feel like there’s a lack of substance,” she said. “I think you can tell a lot from just the simplicity of a poster. You see a lack of effort. When there’s a lack of effort, it just feels ultimately performative. It’s not really delving into the problem.”

And when she ultimately thought about the goal of the march — not wanting to conform to a monarchy — she admitted that’s the purpose of an election.

“This could have been prevented prior if someone else was voted into office,” the 2024 Harris voter lamented.

Chryl Laird, an associate professor of government and politics at the University of Maryland, College Park, saw how Black women started being more selective about their activism after Harris lost.

She remembers seeing on social media that 92% of Black women had voted for Harris, a highly qualified Black woman, when many people of other races had chosen Trump.

“The idea of a Black woman being president seemed to be so abhorrent to the majority of the American public. They would rather take a second chance on someone who has shown themselves to have a particular point of view in a particular style of politic,” Laird said. “So it is safe to say that some Black women saw that as a rejection.”

Emmanuel Williams — a popular Baltimore-based hip-hop artist who goes by DDm, or Dapper Dan Midas — believes the country needs a reset.

“In order for that to happen, everyone has to be uncomfortable and feel the effects of their biases — both conscious and unconscious,” he said. “I voted. I warned people who are no longer my friends. I watched how things went during the BLM movement and how my community was treated and viewed.”

Hood-Wilson thinks Black people need to be “extremely strategic right now” and “measure and weigh when we need to reenter the spotlight.”

“I’m not sure this is that moment. I don’t want to see us sacrifice ourselves or our lives.”