A single photograph — President Trump standing before a sign reading 'Kennedy Center DEMOLISHED' — was enough to set thousands in motion, gathering along the Potomac to defend a building that has come to mean something larger than itself. Since 1971, the Kennedy Center has stood as both a memorial and a mirror of American cultural life, and the ambiguity of that image proved more galvanizing than any formal threat might have been. In the space between what was shown and what it meant, citizens found a reason to declare, publicly and in great numbers, what they believe is worth protecting.