Last Saturday John and I attended a house party for the live stream of the ACLU’s People Power resistance training (full video below). This was no mere rally: This was a call to take action and persistently hit the streets in even greater numbers than have already been achieved. Executive Director Anthony Romero opened the program with a three pronged agenda, where he would lay out what the ACLU is doing, what we’re all up against, and what we members are going to do. We were given a specific task and a two-week deadline. People wanted guidance and a mission and they got it.
“People are motivated. They’re paying attention. They’re angry. They want to be deployed. They don’t just want to write you a check or sign a petition or send an email. They want to be engaged... We hear you. Let’s do this together. We need you to be protagonists in this struggle. We’ll do the work in the courts. You do the work in the streets. And failure is not an option.”
Executive Director of the ACLU, Anthony Romero
The ACLU Resistance Training Session, held at a sports arena in Miami, had two basic goals: First, to make sure that people are aware of their rights as protesters, and second, to urge organized public resistance against the policies of Dolt 45. Okay, they actually called him “President Trump,” which is the only time I’ll write those words. The event was live streamed to over 200,000 people who gathered at 2,000 house parties in all 50 states.
I was proud that our red little mountain town had 19 attendees, and the nearby Chico meeting was filled up. As we spent the first 20 minutes in small groups getting to know each other I spoke with two men who were life-long ACLU members who had risked their military careers in the 60’s to march against the war. Being around dedicated protesters with their rich history of personal resistance is always inspiring. I told my story of the harassment of a young Hispanic man I witnessed two days after the election and showed everyone the ACLU app for recording police conduct. Then the live stream began.
What the ACLU is doing: The Executive Director of the ACLU, Anthony Romero (starting at 2:30 in the video), acknowledged that the past four months have been remarkably challenging for the ACLU, but reminded us, “Our organization was created for moments like this.” The ACLU is scaling up rapidly. After the election membership went from 400,000 members to more than 1.2 million. With 300 litigators already in place across the country, they’ll be adding another 100 lawyers nationwide to fight this administration. Their priorities are immigrants, reproductive rights, the First Amendment and freedom of religion, civil rights and LGBT rights. Romero vowed to bring lawsuits on all these fronts, against all odds, no matter what.
What we’re up against: Romero acknowledged the vast legal firepower available to the White House and Justice Department. Jeff Sessions has 11,000 lawyers at his disposal, while resident tRump has 19,000. There will be actions we take that will not succeed and election officials that won’t listen. We are still the David to their Goliath, but:
“We must never despair. Even when we lose. Even when we lose we must take courage in the fact that this is worth fighting for, that there is dignity in entering this battle, that we will not cede this ground to ideologues or to his supporters who don’t believe or support the best of American values. We must never dismay from the challenges we confront even in our darkest moments, because Democracy must never be a spectator sport. Our rights — freedom of speech, freedom of protest, freedom to petition one’s government — those are not just rights. In the Trump era, those are obligations.”
What Members are being tasked to do: First, in the general sense, Romero urged all of us to hit the streets in support of the values we hold dear. People Power means that if immigrants are attacked we hold up signs saying “Welcome to America, new citizens!” If Muslims are attacked, we mobilize on the sidewalk outside a mosque with signs of support. A large part of the training that followed focused on knowing our First Amendment rights as protesters, knowing the rights of all people who live here, and knowing how to utilize public spaces to protest legally and safely.
Our specific task: Political Director Faiz Shakir gave out his email address repeatedly, promising a partnership and asking that we contact him with our proposals and issues. Though I wasn’t expecting to contact him so quickly, navajo’s diary about a clear First Amendment violation motivated me to email him the very next day, and I got two replies back within half an hour, where he expressed shock and promised to look into it. I was not expecting such a rapid response!
What we are specifically asked to do is contact our local law enforcement to set up a meeting with our local group within the next two weeks. At this meeting we will provide the ACLU’s 9 “model” state and local law enforcement policies and rules, which you can read about here.
Freedom Cities Action Guide Here
All 9 points are already accepted Constitutional practice. This is not asking law enforcement to do anything they shouldn’t already be doing, but is instead designed to help all of us defend our friends, families and neighbors from Trump’s mass deportation agenda on a local level. The point of the face to face meeting is to see if law enforcement will agree as a matter of policy to uphold the civil rights of immigrants. The goal is to politely but firmly inform law enforcement what we as the community expect of them, as they do after all work for us and serve us.
In many locales across California these meetings will not be an issue. In some cases law enforcement will get reinforcement and congratulations for already carrying out these policies. However, our County Board of Supervisors has already indicated they oppose the CA sanctuary state measure. And, like many people, I dislike interacting with law enforcement unless I really have to. It’s a small town we live in, and after the shooting and subsequent death of an unarmed man by Officer Feaster I thought twice and three times before demonstrating just down the road from the police station. All these thoughts went through my head as our host asked for volunteers to coordinate this meeting. So while I was eager to be deployed I was also cringing inside— Do I really have to do that?
Well, that’s the point now, isn’t it? Doing what’s uncomfortable. Fortunately, two women raised their hands to be chairpersons for the task, and I promised to join the group when the meeting with local police was scheduled. And I’m curious as to how and where we’ll be deployed next. But I did appreciate how this task separates the doers from the talkers, and I’m hoping we will become a strong local group by working together.
As the meeting broke up we met another fellow who, noting our Daily Kos T-shirts, said he read the site every day on Facebook. We promised him a personal introduction to the site if he signed up. Connect! Unite! Act!
What do you want to talk about today?
RSVPS
1. ColoTim
2. Leftcandid
3.
MAYBEES :
|
RSVPS
1. navajo
2. sidnora
3. kathny
4. belinda ridgewood
5. joanbrooker
6. aoeu
7. Denise Oliver Velez
8.
MAYBEES :
Missys Brother
kishik
Avilyn
|
RSVPS
1. Thinking Fella
2. Ojibwa
3. state of confusion
4. jakedog42
5. MotherMags
6. MTmofo
7. Done4nau
8. Boise Blue
9. Mrs. Boise Blue
10. Mhosz
11. Mrs. Mhosz
12.
MAYBEES :
pucklady
Simple
woolibaar
Back Porch
philosopher
bleedingblue
angry marmot
Kitsap River
Charles Curtis Stanley
paradise50
smileycreek
dsb
NormAl1792
Winifred
Maudlin
Mr. Maudlin
|
RSVPS
1. Bill in Portland Maine
2. Common Sense Mainer
3. navajo
4. markm667
5. vicki
6. vicki’s recruit 1
7. vicki’s recruit 2
8. smileycreek
9. paradise50
10. Ed Tracey
11. side pocket
12. Mrs. side pocket
13. Richard Cranium
14. YellowDogInGA
15. DebtorsPrison
16. brillig
17. mik
18. thatkid
19. K2
20. LuLu
21. moodyinsavannah
22. norm
23. Egberto Willies
24.
MAYBEES :
SanDiegoDem
|