Salem Protest

As an antidote to this week’s rants against he who shall not be named, I attended a rally at the state capitol in Salem today. When I arrived, maybe a half hour before the noon starting time, there were 200-300 people there, most with signs, many with flags. We gathered near Center Street, and here came the crowd. In ten minutes, the crowd doubled. In ten more, it doubled again. In no time, there were thousands. My guess was the multitude peaked at maybe 5,000. Cars honked, people waved at us, and we chanted. “TELL ME WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!” and we answered, “THIS IS WHAT DEMOCRACY LOOKS LIKE!” One little lady, maybe close to 80 years old, turned to me and asked, “Does this make you feel any more hopeful?” I told her, yes, it does. She said, “You know, we heard all of these rumors about this rally, that there would be violence, you know, all of these things to instill fear into us. But then, I looked at my husband and said, ‘Well, we made our signs, so fuck it. Let’s go.’” I liked her moxie.

This is my first protest since probably 1970, and it felt great. I felt alive. And what I really felt was a collective energy from our throng that gave me hope that we can defeat this fascism, this racism, this oligarchy, and restore our democracy. We have miles to go before we sleep, and it’s going to be damn tough, but we have to fight the good fight. Today’s rally gave me the inspiration to do just that.