What a swing of images in a day! In the morning the first graders danced at the May festival, two-by-two, sometimes looking each other in the face for our joy. These blessedly young eyes seeing the eyes of their classmates timidly, furtively, was what I will remember. They held both hands of the partner out in front of them, came forward lifting hands up high, then apart, then together in line to make a tunnel for each couple to move through, completely capturing our hearts.
In the afternoon we were at the Governor’s offices to support the brave people standing against the racist, un-American policies exemplified in the bill called SB4. The Governor and his congress, feeling themselves untouchable by reasonable voters, are likely passing the law this week that would force cities to prove that they are cooperating with ICE raids, no matter what the local police/mayors/city councils say about it.
Inside the building, twenty people were sitting on the floor determined to cause a spectacle, willing to be arrested. Around them, all day, were people interested or supportive, the press, students from the university, singing and chanting. At 5:00 p.m., closing time, the pinch came, and the law forced people to choose to leave or be arrested. The twenty stayed, and the rest were pushed gently down the stairs to the sidewalks. The witnesses were grown in number now, and we were pretty noisy in a modern protest sort-of-way. Makeshift drums (five-gallon buckets) hit with ping-pong paddles on edge are pretty impressive, and the chants were catchy.
None of us were leaving with our compadres being held within. The police were not in riot gear, but all wore sunglasses in the shade to keep from inadvertently connecting with us. Several trolls were grouped first here and then there, wearing obvious shirts “L(iberty) G(uns) B(eer) T(its)” (no Q for some reason), just asking, by their presence, if anyone wanted to fight them. Naturally some did.
There is every kind of person at a protest. BJ & I represented the bourgeoisie. What unified us was our interest, our willingness or need to not be home when others were here caring. When people you respect are out there caring and expressing and resisting, it is tough not to join, at least to witness their bravery.
Lawyers arrived about an hour after the arrests, but were not allowed in the building. The police, not being expressly told that lawyers have the right to be present during questioning, or rather, not believing they had that right, because we all were telling them quite loudly and clearly, made them stand with the rest of us. “Let Them In, Let Them In,” and, “Who Do you Serve, Who Do You Protect?” and, “This Is The People’s Building” rang convincingly. Eventually one was allowed in, eliciting cheers and then, “All Of Them, All Of Them.” All we got was more force, more police.
Things got serious a couple times, once when the anti-fascists were filming the pro-fascists and the pro-fascists, or “actual” fascists, got ticklish. They have been feeling oppressed for a while now, since the Nuremberg Trials, and they don’t like being filmed without hoods. The other tense moment was when the police, getting tough, pushed the group off of the bottom step of the building, and one cop pushed a bit too forcefully. A lawyer stumbled and twenty bodies bent at the waist as a “WOAH!” went up from everyone else. We tried to get a look if anyone was hurt, and I saw the face of this young woman. She and all of us were yelling, “You Say Step Back We Say Fight Back,” fiercely, quite loudly and forcibly, and her face an inch from the face of a sunglassed cop was the most vividly beautiful, powerful sight I have ever seen. I have no idea who she was, but there she is in my heart now forever.
The cops saw us today, kept trying to figure us out. “What are those old people doing here?” is what our presence made them think. Something’s happening here. Let’s don't miss it.