At the June 14th No Kings protest hosted by Indivisible Baltimore, an open mic became an unexpected turning point. With no notice and just ten minutes to prepare, Michelle Riley took the stage and delivered her first public speech on behalf of the campaign.

She spoke about the military photos that were deleted, the museum exhibits being censored, and the broader movement to sanitize American history—and how Visual Truth Matters is fighting back. And she named the stakes: rewriting history is one of the oldest tricks in the fascist playbook.

Watch the 3-minute speech here.

On the 81st anniversary of D-Day, thousands of veterans, military families, and supporters gathered on the National Mall for the Unite for Veterans rally. They were there to demand what veterans deserve: jobs, benefits, and healthcare.

Michelle Riley attended the rally to stand with them, hear their stories, thank them for their service, honor the legacy of her husband's grandfather—a WWII veteran—and raise awareness about the campaign fighting to preserve our full visual record of military service.

Most of the veterans she spoke with had already heard about the DOD’s mass deletion of historic military photos. Many were appalled by the purge and saw it as a betrayal of their service—especially the targeted erasure of women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ service members. But few knew there was a campaign actively fighting back.

This photo essay captures the heart of the day—from the crowd’s passion to the signs that said what so many feel. Some of the images below were also distributed to national media outlets via the AP wire.