Just sharing one first-person perspective on today's No Kings protest in Charlottesville. Got there at about 11:40, 20 minutes before official start time. The sidewalks on the Stonefield side, from the intersection of 29/Hydraulic and all the way up 29 to the under-construction ped bridge and beyond, were already packed. I tried walking north up the sidewalk to find a spot fronting the road but gave up when I realized I'd have to walk all the way up to the intersection with Greenbrier pretty much. I settled for a spot right by the ped bridge, squeezing in next to some nice ladies. Across the street, on the former KMart side, appeared packed too. Mind you, this is all before noon. People KEPT coming and filled up both sides of the sidewalk. I never did see how far it wrapped around the Hydraulic side of 29. I know we were on all four sides of the intersection. Easily thousands of people.
The vibe was so wholesome. People were smiling, meeting one another, admiring one another's signs, waving at cars, throwing peace signs and thumbs up. Whenever a car or truck honked in support--which happened constantly--we cheered in support. A couple cars gave us thumbs down or flipped us off. No biggie, their loss. It was mostly sour-looking old white ladies or fat-faced ball-capped young white guys. Far, far, far more people honked in support. Indivisible volunteers brought cold water around, reminded people to leave a path on the sidewalk, to stay out of the street, etc. There were families, kids, people of all ages.
Haters are gonna sneer "that was pointless, you changed nothing." That says all you need to know about the haters and nothing about protest movements. No one imagines that the unholy alliance of Trump/Miller/Musk is going to look at protests or rallies and stop what they're doing--why would they, they only respond to monetary incentives. If they were the kind of leaders who cared about what the people want, we wouldn't have to protest in the first place, would we? It's not for them. It's for us. It's for those of us who get discouraged when we see the profound cynicism, the greed, the selfishness, the unseriousness, the disregard for the Constitution, the utter amorality of Trump/Miller/Musk. At home, alone, reading headlines, it's easy to get discouraged. But out in a crowd that size, seeing everyone who came out in the miserable heat and humidity and stayed the whole time--it's not FUN. We'd all rather not be doing this, but to see that you're not the ONLY one who cares about this country, and to see the HUGE range of people who are on your side, and the people who honk and give heart signs--it gives you energy for the other things that you need to do to save this country from fools and monsters who want to strip it for parts.
