I Had To Be There!

When I was 15 years old my high school French teacher asked for volunteers to join him at a near-bye Woolworths for a sit-in at their food counter to protest the fact that those who were called Negros, at the time, were not allowed to sit there. I am ashamed to say I did not join them. Probably mostly out of fear, but maybe also that I did not want it to take up my Saturday! Until the Saturday before last, I continued to avoid demonstrations out of fear of crowds, whether celebrating or protesting.

On No Kings Day, I finally found no excuse sufficient to keep me from participation ... and what a lesson it was for me in civic pride and sociology. Here in Santa Fe, there was some police presence in front of the Capitol, but none visible when the body of protesters marched onward to loop around and into the Plaza (our central public square). There the entire demonstration was peaceful, orderly and there was a feeling of camaraderie.

The temperature was well over 90 degrees, and since I am 80 and walk with a cane, my wife and I opted to wait on the Plaza for the crowd to arrive. There was a positive communal spirit all around. A lady who saw me with my cane immediately offered me her seat on one of the few benches in the shade. A gentleman, around my age, joined us and purchased water from a vendor. Without our asking he brought us some. Nearby was an unofficial, old fashioned folk singer with guitar and harmonica, who sang some protest songs from long ago and others where he wrote his own lyrics to known tunes. Here is a video of him singing and one of his verses ...

This is for all the migrant people ...

Livin’ in fear from day to day ...

Don’t give up, cause you got the support of many ...

Who don’t want you to go away ...

Demonstrators carried all kinds of homemade signs mocking Trump and protesting his policies, but many also had American flags. This was a great relief to me as I have been so distressed to see the recent misuse of our flag as a symbol of the far right, the white supremacists and the fanatical religious right. It should be a symbol of pride and love of our country.

Crowd size is often used as an indicator of the strength of popular sentiment. The City of Santa Fe has a population of close to 90,000. Although it was difficult to count the number of protestors since they were spread out downtown, based on the numbers in previous demonstrations that were more centrally located, the No Kings turnout has been estimated around 5,000. That would represent more than 5% of the population.

Erica Chenoweth, a political scientist at Harvard University, has come up with the rule that says that when 3 ½ % of the population demonstrates it can lead to real change. We didn’t reach that threshold nationwide, but we did in our town!

In the range of statements expressed in the demonstrators’ signs, the two-sided one my wife made was in the middle of the spectrum, with few milder or much stronger.

I had to be there!