By Pete Rockwell
I’ve been to three protests in Culver City in the last three months and they keep getting bigger. There was one April 5, another on May 1, and the biggest one yet (five million people nationwide) was on June 14. Thousands of people with homemade signs came to downtown Culver City to let the world know their opinion of Donald Trump and his minions.
When is the NEXT protest?
Another nationwide protest is being organized for Thursday, July 17. To see where and what time the protests will be taking place, there’s a map of the U.S. showing places where they’re being organized. To see the map, go to https://goodtroubleliveson.org then scroll down. The Culver City protest will be along Culver Blvd. near City Hall, from 4:30pm to 6pm. There will also be a candlelight vigil from 4:30-8pm at 200 South Spring Street in downtown Los Angeles. The event in downtown Culver City hasn’t been added to the map yet, but it will be. The first three held here turned out thousands of people, and everybody seemed glad to be there. (Also, I didn’t see any cops at the first three demonstrations.)
Good Trouble Lives On
So far, the theme or title of each protest has been different. April 5 it was Hands Off, May 1 was May Day, and June 14 it was No Kings. July 17 is the fifth anniversary of the day the civil rights hero Congressman John Lewis died, and the title is Good Trouble Lives On. Lewis said, “Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.”
I found the following on the Good Trouble Lives On website:
Good Trouble Lives On is a national day of nonviolent action to respond to the attacks posed on our civil and human rights by the Trump administration and to remind them that in America, the power lies with the people, and we are rising to prove it.
Join us for a powerful evening of action by candlelight as we honor Rep. John Lewis and demand an end to voter suppression, anti-immigrant and anti-trans legislation, and attacks on working-class communities. This event is part of a national day of nonviolent protest with topics that include: The John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, The Freedom to Vote Act, The Native American Voting Rights Act, The DC Admission Act.
Why do we protest in the United States of America?
Why are we doing these protests? One of the best answers to this question was found by my wife and co-editor Cynthia Hart on a YouTube video by political historian Heather Cox Richardson:
“Protests indicate whether or not a government is legitimate. That’s why they matter. … you’re protesting because the people in power are putting in place policies that you do not support. … you’re saying to your neighbors, who are not involved, ‘I don’t support this government, and you shouldn’t either.’ … In American politics, what changes things is getting those people who are not otherwise on your side—either because they’re apathetic, or they’re a little doubtful, or whatever—to join you. And the way that you do that is by looking non-threatening; by demonstrating that you stand for American values that they share. … I urge everybody to carry the symbols of American democracy—to wear pins, to carry American flags, to really deck yourself out as the people who own American democracy—because we do. And to really recognise that what the protests are designed to do is to say ‘we are America. These are the values that America should stand on. Please join us.’ That doesn’t mean that you’re going to agree with everything the people around you think, or that they are with you. … The minute, in the United States anyway, that you start to demonstrate violence; you lose all those people you need on your team, because they were kind of apathetic to begin with, and they just don’t want to have any part of it. … The fight here is for public opinion. It’s to demonstrate that the Trump administration is not popular. … We are the Americans and those people who are ripping children away from their parents are not representing our values.”
“Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America”
—Congressman John Lewis