A Day At The RNC Protest!
Except for the part where I may have cut out early to get a gin and tonic.
Given that we are spending a week with some of the most horrid people on earth, it seemed like a good idea to kick things off … by avoiding them entirely and going to the RNC protest instead.
So naturally, these were the first folks I ran into upon entering.
That guy also had a lot of poignant things to say about anal sex and diapers, but I couldn’t really stick around to see what that was about. I then ran into the Code Pink people, with whom I was inadvertently coordinated (by which I mean that I was wearing a pink dress).
There were, of course, many different factions — union workers, abortion rights groups, pro-not-killing-all-the-Palestinians, pro-normalizing-relations-with-Cuba, teachers, anti-poverty activists, socialists, anarchists and everyday people who simply could not face another four years of Trump.
The Coalition to March on the RNC, which included at least 200 different groups, agreed on the five following points of unity for the march.
1. Fight the racist and reactionary agenda of the Republican Party.
2. Defend women's, LGBTQ, and reproductive rights.
3. Defend and expand immigrant rights.
4. Peace, justice, and equity for all.
5. Stand with Palestine.
A statement released by the coalition read, in part:
The Republicans have long attacked the rights of working people, particularly Black, Chicano, and other oppressed peoples. They have concrete plans to continue the erosion of our freedoms. Their agenda knows no bounds. Encouraging police to kill with impunity, vilifying immigrants, overcrowding prisons, appointing reckless judges, restricting reproductive rights, siding with corporations against workers and their unions at every turn, and accelerating the climate crisis are just some ways the Republicans have directly made American working people’s quality of life worse. Our Coalition stands united. We are marching to let both the Republicans and the whole country know that their hateful, anti-people agenda will not be tolerated.
Cheri Honkala and Galen Tyler of Poor People’s Army were there to support the march, and then also had a march of their own later in the day, against poverty, hunger and homelessness. Honkala is the founder of Poor People’s Army (also known as the Poor People's Economic Human Rights Campaign) and an absolute badass.
I also spoke to Jared Berg of the Chicago Teachers’ Union, who told me, “We’re here to protest Donald Trump and the Republican agenda. We remember Betsy DeVos — wasn’t that long ago — and the defunding of public education is criminal. The people need to stand up for their unions and for education.”
Another teacher, Kobi Guillory of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, told the press earlier in the day that “for decades Republicans have been on a mission to deprive the majority of people in this country of their basic human rights. Their attacks on Black and brown people, on women, on immigrants, on the LGBTQ community, and on the working class have destroyed the lives and livelihoods of millions of people. Defeating the Republican agenda is a matter of life and death for working and oppressed people.”
“The Legalization for All (L4A) Network is uniting to march on the Republican National Convention,” said organizer Carlos Montes. “Defending immigrant rights is among one of our key uniting factors. Other uniting pillars of our network include: legalization for all; no racist border wall; no border militarization and no more deaths; stop the exploitation of undocumented workers; stop the deportations and separations of families; and stop the sterilizations and sexual violence against the undocumented.”
Other speakers spoke about the need for unions, reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights — in particular the issues affecting our trans brothers and sisters — health care and, of course, the serious danger of another Trump presidency.
Heavy on everyone’s minds was the recent murder of D’Vontaye Mitchell by several security guards at the Milwaukee Hyatt Regency, during a mental health crisis. The rally itself was held in Red Arrow Park, where, 10 years ago, 31-year-old Donte Hamilton was shot and killed by police officer Christopher Manney (who was fired but never charged), also during a mental health crisis.
The biggest issue, by far, however, was the Palestinian genocide — and while attendees and speakers were highly critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the ongoing attacks, they were also aware that things would definitely get exponentially worse under Trump.
Along with many wonderful, wonderful people, I did have the misfortune of running into none other than self-identified “pro-life progressive activist” Terissa Bukovinac — the founder of Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising, the group that “occupied” a healthcare clinic in Washington DC and stole all of those fetuses. Bukovinac was walking around waving a fetus doll in the air (sadly I couldn’t get close enough to determine if it was one of those “reborn” monstrosities) and accusing Trump of being a baby killer because he’s now pretending to be slightly less horrible about abortion.
Ain’t she a peach?
Lunatics aside — and, thankfully, there actually were not all that many of them — it was heartening to see how many people came out and how passionate they were about making the world a better, more peaceful, less violent and far less Trumpified place.
PREVIOUSLY:
"The biggest issue, by far, however, was the Palestinian genocide — and while attendees and speakers were highly critical of the Biden administration’s handling of the ongoing attacks, they were also aware that things would definitely get exponentially worse under Trump."
The perfect way to handle it
Lets not forget, most democrats can walk and chew gum at the same time...two things can be true
Just a reminder, because we tend to forget this, but there were actual spontaneous street parties when Trump lost the election.
People literally danced in the streets because he'd been told to fuck off.