To commemorate the passing of John Lewis, a series of “Good Trouble” rallies were held throughout the country on Thursday, July 17. In Western North Carolina, more than a hundred folks turned out in Hayesville; there were good sized gatherings in Franklin, Waynesville and Brevard; and I joined a group of about 50 people in Swain County from 5 - 6 p.m., then headed over to Sylva and joined more than a hundred folks there. The week night timing and threat of rain kept the crowds smaller than past rallies but there was no shortage of strong emotions/
Here I am in Bryson City with my new friends, Patty on my right and Adele on my left. They kindly allowed me to share their bench and the hour passed quickly. We were located at the main intersection in town and elicited some favorable reactions from passer-byes, but also had people scream at us or try to scare us with their loud trucks.
But why were we sitting there in the July heat, next to a busy road, with our signs and shirts? What could we possibly hope to accomplish? Why do we rally?
1. We Rally to Send a Message to the Government: There is power in collective action that surpasses individual abilities. “We the People” are guaranteed the right “peaceably to assemble and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The main message being delivered is one of dissatisfaction with the current administration, especially with abuse of power and dismantling of programs relied upon by millions of Americans. The “No Kings” rally on June 14 was likely the largest collective action in our country’s history and deliberately delivered this rebuke to the President to counter his own birthday celebration and military parade.
Within the collective framework, there is a lot of room for people to deliver their own individual message. The homemade signs people bring are interesting as they provide windows into their motivations. As an attorney, my signs tend to focus on due process and equal protection of the law. For the “Good Trouble” event I repurposed a campaign sign for North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs. My rather esoteric message was: “Keep Justice For All Reform the Supreme Court.” Someone asked me what that even meant, and I explained that basic code of ethics and better financial disclosures would be a good start. I don’t expect that my message made it back to Chief Justice Roberts and the rest of the court. In fact, I doubt many people across the country were even aware of our small rallies in Western North Carolina. So again, why do we rally?
2. We Rally to Send a Message to the Community: Rallies are typically planned for locations with high traffic and visibility. When over a hundred people turn out in a small town to protest anything, they are bound to garner some attention. Most people don’t pay a lot of attention to the day to day machinations of politics, so we are alerting them to some of our serious issues. Any one who is interested is free to join in and find out more. Most rally participants are pretty normal looking, if perhaps a bit on the older side, so we are not threatening, except by our existence which really seems to annoy some people. So part of our message is that we won’t be intimidated and we will continue speak out on the matters that are important to us. Sometimes people can feel outnumbered or alone in their beliefs When I was campaigning, folks would sometimes whisper to me; “I’m a Democrat too.” This is my motivation for continuing to travel to the different counties and participate in these protests. Plenty of people supported me throughout the area during my campaign. It is important to me to show them that I remember and appreciate them.
3) We Rally to Stick up for One Another: I have lived a pretty privileged life and I am now retired and without many traditional problems. It is unlikely that most of the terrible things happening in the country will directly affect me, or many of the other protestors. So I’m not out there for myself, and neither are most of the others. We are there for the forest service and the park rangers who have been laid off. We are there for the scientists who have seen their research grants terminated. We are there for the immigrant communities who are now living in fear. We are there for our friends and neighbors struggling to obtain basic health care.
It is alleged that Ben Franklin said: “We must all hang together or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” My crystal ball is murky but I believe tough times are coming. Now, more than ever, we need to stand up for one another and stick together.
