Trump said "it felt like crossing the border" when he was forced to take an alternate route to speak at the California Republican Convention today, after protesters blocked off entrances to the convention.
Since hundreds of desperate people die each year crossing the border, Trump showed yet again how out of touch he is with reality.
I live nearby in Oakland, California, and I’d been at the protest since 9 in the morning. By noon, we were all excited to have delayed his speech. He hadn’t yet arrived, though his speech was supposed to start at noon inside a nearby hotel.
It all happened very quickly when he actually got there around 12:15. I just caught a glimpse of his motorcade going a direction none of the activists were expecting.
A row of people blockaded the street on two sides, chained together with lock boxes, and another row were standing behind part of a police barricade they had grabbed to block off a separate parking lot entrance. Every possible entrance seemed covered.
Everyone was planning to hold tight and keep it blocked off, when a few people started yelling and running to a fence on the side. We realized a motorcade was stopping on the highway. Trump got out with security, jumped a barrier and apparently ran into a back entrance of the hotel for his speech -- now over 30 minutes delayed.
While activists had hoped to stop his entrance entirely, this delayed and awkward entrance was also an exciting turn of events for those of us at the protest. The fact that even though he did get in, he and his security came late and literally hopped out of cars on the side of the highway... that was a victory. We came out in force and showed Trump (and his supporters) that we wouldn't stand for his hate.
This protest was organized by a number of local groups, including Anti Police Terror Project, Black Lives Matter Bay Area, Black Youth Project 100, and BlackOUT Collective. In a press release sent out before the protest, Robbie Clark, an organizer with Black Lives Matter Bay Area, said, “The RNC is spreading and encouraging a culture of hate and racism. Donald Trump represents the vile underbelly of American democracy by where Black people are both disenfranchised and disregarded.”
The groups listed among their goals: “Pressure Silicon Valley companies to divest funding from a Trump-led Republican National Convention.” Daily Kos was part of a petition delivery at Google’s headquarters yesterday in Silicon Valley, where a coalition called on Google and other tech giants to do just that: to not sponsor the Republican National Convention and Trump.
Hundreds of people came to today’s protest at the state Republican Convention. Other groups there in solidarity were Asians for Black Lives, Queers for Black Lives, BASAT (Bay Area Solidarity Action Team), Diablo Rising Tide (a group I volunteer with), and Greenpeace. Many Latino protestors at the event led chants in Spanish and wore or waved Mexican flags, and overall there was a clear feeling of community support against racist rhetoric. And there was a lot of love, laughter, and dancing — yes love Trumps hate!
Trump supporters were in attendance, however, and some tried to rile up the crowd, goading people on. Luckily, there wasn’t much violence, primarily some throwing of eggs and some quickly-dispersed tension.
There were some people risking arrest: Activists outside chained themselves together in lock boxes to block the street, and inside, people wearing suits (to avoid suspicion) deployed a banner.
One of my favorite moments was after Trump entered the building through the back, when one of the rows of people locked together had moved away from blocking the street to the front of the hotel. The people were standing in a row right across from a row of riot police. They began singing and dancing, chanting in celebration: “Whose side are you on? Whose side are you on, my people? We’re on the freedom side!”
One common line people were saying today, especially on Twitter, was: “California will not be Trumped.” Wazi Davis, an organizer with Black Youth Project 100, said that in a statement and added: “We’re sending Trump packing, along with his anti-Black, anti-migrant and anti-Muslim politics.”
Yep, that’s pretty much what we did! He had to leave the convention the way he came: racing outside and crawling over a wall.
I’m feeling tired from the protest, but so inspired by the people working together in movements to transform our democracy and our society. It’s what we so badly need.
For video of today’s protest, check out our video below. Check out some more of my photos here, if you’d like. And for more on the protest, check out jpmassar’s community diary here. #WeWillNotBeTrumped!