I have written here about my family history with activism; where my courage was summoned from. That was my story. It is not everyone’s story.
I am organizing a
local Hands Off! Rally this weekend to coincide with the nationwide
day of protest initiative. At this time, there are over 1,000
rallies slated across the country for April 5. When I first began to
publicize the event, I had a handful of close friends – of my
vintage – whom I thought would want to be a part of this
groundswell. Initially it was all positive.
After weeks of President Dicktater Trump
administrations regimes "American Gestapo" ICE, carrying out unconstitutional arrests and deportations, vocal threats against anyone considered
and “activist”, labeling activism as “terrorism”, most all of
those friends have politely backed out of the event – citing just
an overwhelming sense of fear. Fear of being identified, fear of retaliation; maybe not
immediately, but down the road. I can’t, in good consciousness,
tell these dear friends “It will be okay!”, when… that okay is mostly uncertain. That I, myself, am having some rising fear for the safety of my family, if my black husband decides to protest with me - will he be opened up for attack just by the color of his skin? The best I can offer my friends is my sympathy and my
understanding of the decisions they… each of us… have to make to
stand up to dictatorship and authoritarian rule. That decision has to come from a personal place; and to respect that decision if it does not jibe with mine.
As Dr. Jordan Fields put it:
Stay safe.
Onward!
Rade
3 comments:
I'm sorry to hear about people backing out. I honestly doubt that the fear is justified. I haven't heard about retaliation or persecution aimed at people who took part in the Tesla protests last Saturday, and given some of the sources I read, I think if it was happening I'd have seen reports.
There's a limit to how many people they can go after; there's a limit to the number of enforcers available. There is already a problem with thousands of law-enforcement people being diverted from fighting real crime to work on deportations. I doubt there's much capacity left to expend on going after tens of thousands of people participating in non-violent demonstrations (violence or vandalism would be a different matter, but I assume you're not planning anything like that). There were a couple of incidents of pro-Musk counter-protesters getting aggressive, but I don't think anyone was actually injured.
The precautions you suggested earlier are wise, but to me such things have always just been second nature, long before I ever heard of Donald Trump.
This fight is not over. There are plenty of "lanes " to swim in as you quoted. If others see you being courageous and standing up to speak out, they will follow in their way. Resistance takes all forms; art, books, self care to avoid the negativity shutting us down. We come at this from a place of love.
Sadly, I can't get anyone to recognize and utilize my lane --- which is writing. So I have to be satisfied with protesting.
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