I know how we feel. We remain crushed. We are justifiably terrified. Today is so wrong. Some of us feel as if we’re in the middle of a nightmare.
But we can’t seem to wake up.
The travesty of the 2016 election won’t go away.
In Houston worried and frightened Democrats call the Harris Co. Democratic Party Headquarters to ask “what can I do?” “I’ve been too complacent.” “When is the next march or protest?” “I can’t watch the news anymore. I can’t stand watching Trump and his thugs on TV.”
A very close friend in Seattle told me “this election has destroyed me. I’ll do anything that it takes to stop or slow Trump.” The same holds true for another dear friend in NYC.
My sisters in Southern California, Ohio and their daughters, my nieces say the same.
I hear you, Sisters.
We are everywhere.
YES WE CAN.
I’ve heard “I have been too complacent” from among so many friends, neighbors, family and Democrats who call their Party’s headquarters, that I feel both profoundly relieved and energized by the fact that so many of us fully appreciate the horrifying danger that lies ahead in an authoritarian Trump Presidency.
Anything can happen with this administration. None of it good. We should already know this by now given Trump’s one-man rule and his Executive Action on a ban of Muslim immigrants from several Muslim countries.
The U.S. Congress, Senate and its Republican majorities are very quiet. Where is the Republican screaming outrage about the hated, “unconstitutional,” “bullying” Presidential Executive Actions and Orders now that the popular vote and Electoral College winner President Obama is no longer our President?
One cannot say the same of popular vote loser Donald Trump.
Silence is either cowardice or complicity. Pick your poison.
Meanwhile Vice President Pence stands behind the popular vote losing President, smiling like a string puppet on psycho theocratic drugs.
Fear, heartbreak and outrage are propelling us into action. Every time I hear or see “President Trump” I feel personally violated.
Again.
For twice in sixteen years (2000 and 2016) the majority of American voters have been robbed of our votes. Both W. and Trump lost the popular vote but won the Presidency.
We know about the carnage called W.
The Women’s Marches on January 21 empowered us. Together we are strong and influential. The marches, whether in Houston, Washington, D.C., New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, etc. represented a myriad more than groups of women and men marching down streets together, armed with signs.
The marches are in fact a wake up call to action. We pledge to vote. We will urge others to vote by becoming deputy voter registrars. We will run for office or we will recruit and support others who will run for office. We will participate in a daily action every day whether through Daily Action or other activist resources such as Indivisible.
Most of all we will resist.
Today my action consisted of mailing two post cards. One to Senator John Cornyn and one to Senator Ted Cruz. I wrote MERRICK GARLAND on both.
On Sunday I had received a text message from Daily Action. It was an alert about a Muslim ban protest in downtown Houston at 1:00 p.m. I looked at my watch. 10:30 a.m. Yikes. So little time. I immediately emailed the Houston area Kossacks’ Chris Love to give our group a heads up. Next I posted announcements on Facebook and Twitter. Then I texted nearby friends about the event. Despite the short notice, several of us participated, though we didn’t find one another at the protest.
When I finally arrived downtown the park, Discovery Green, swelled with Super Bowl activities. I groaned at the size of the crowds. The protest was no where to be seen. When I walked up to large groups of people, they were waiting in lines at food trucks. Damn! I finally had to text a friend of mine who could not attend because she had the flu. She learned the location had changed to a few blocks from the park, in front of the G.R. Brown Convention Center. The crowd was so pervasive that it was impossible to see or hear the protest.
Gosh. I wish as many people showed the same level of passion for voting as they do sporting events. One does not have to buy a highly priced ticket to vote.
But one does have to register and show up to vote.
I finally found the protest and joined a group of about 1500 of us. Though frustrated by the crowds it was actually a brilliant move to hold the demonstration at this bustling venue that busted at the seams with sports fans. We received a lot of attention.
We outshouted hecklers. No ban. No wall. We stand. This is what democracy looks like.
We are very diverse: brown, black, white, old, young, in between. There are Muslims, Christians, Jews and non believers. Energy, passion, a strong sense of community and determination fueled us.
Afterwards much of the group left for the Bush airport’s international arrivals building. This old girl headed home. But my activism did not end when I left the protest.
I had taken the light rail downtown and when I made it to the station to go home a transit officer informed us that the rides were free. He and I had a conversation, mostly because I told him about I problem we encountered last week at the Women’s March. The train’s ticket machines had run out paper for our rides back to our cars or homes. So we rode the train without tickets. A highly fineable thing to do.
The officer wasn’t concerned about our free, illegal rides last week. But he did tell me that he heard Muslim ban protest “was bad.” I responded that it was large but peaceful. The police had cordoned us off from the Super Bowl participants. Next he asked “what’s the big deal about the airports?” I told him travelers are being detained illegally. He frowned at me. I said imagine if your mother or grandmother arrived from overseas, after a 10-17 hour flight and found themselves unable to leave the airport because of an unnecessary and unconstitutional Presidential order.
Perhaps the officer’s mom or grandmother were born in another country but live here legally with visas or green cards. Or a US passport, like my immigrant husband. I suggested that the President’s executive action is punishing people who are here legally. All have been vetted. They have the documents to prove it.
The officer finally agreed that Trump’s move is wrong. He spoke English with a slight accent so I knew he would eventually come around. Chances are he and his mother may have been born in another country. This is typical in a widely diverse city as Houston.
Most of us get along and respect one another. Barring tea party nut jobs.
I am looking forward to the next protest because standing together means we are not alone. Groups of people can be a powerful force. As I explained to someone who defined herself as “too complacent” when massive factions of us protested against the war in Vietnam, politicians did pay attention. The war did not end as early as it should have but it did end.
We demonstrated because the stakes were high. They were personal. There was a draft followed by a lottery. Our brothers, cousins, classmates, friends and neighbors were called to fight in a war that few believed in. Some of us didn’t make it back home.
We were furious and we let Washington D.C. know it.
We should do the same with this travesty called Trump. We must come together to find primary challengers to any elected official who caves into Trump’s authoritarian rule. Let’s face it, most Republican lawmakers are cowards who, while hating big government, cling to their jobs in government. Losing their seats is almost as bad for them as death. Power is a powerful addictive.
And as I told my sisters and dear friends in Seattle and in NYC, we’re not ready for the rocking chairs, yet. Because we and our children, families, friends and neighbors are not at Trump’s billionaire table. But we are on its menu.
Vietnam War Protest, April 27, 1968
