The Right to Assmbley

It was a stiflingly hot day, but I was prepared, or so I thought. I had two umbrellas to stave off the sweltering sun. One for myself and one for my mother! I had all the essentials for a hot day, a canister of water for possible dehydration, large-rimmed sunglasses to fight crow's feet, and a safe coat of 50 SPF slathered on my face and arms. I was feeling confident and prepared as I left the house in my protest-T on the way to catch the bus for lunch downtown with my mom. Right out the door, I got a compliment on my umbrella, things were going great.

This reaudeavue with my mom for June 14th was planned days before I realized there would be a 'No Kings' protest at the state and city government buildings. Our time together was still going to be mainly lunch with my mother but I requested permission to wear my protest T-shirt in solidarity with all the people who would be gathered downtown with their signs. This specific T-shirt has been gathering protest slogans since 2017, it seemed the perfect moment to add a new one to the collage. After a 10-15 minute walk I made it to the bus stop where I noticed protestors waiting at the stop with me.

Me and the retired couple waited and waited. When the overcrowded bus did show up it was announced that the driver would not be accepting any additional passengers. Knowing I was on a schedule I decided to walk to the next bus stop to see if I could catch an alternative transfer bus. Again after a prolonged wait I witnessed the scheduled bus dropping all their passengers off at the light before our stop and taking a left instead of going straight. That is when it became abundantly clear that this was going to be a walking situation, so I redeployed my umbrella and headed for downtown. It was a solid three miles and I was on a clock.

Each bus that passed me got to the bus stop ahead of me then unloaded all their passengers and turned around. Piles of people crowding onto the streets all at once. The energy of the situation started creeping into the atmosphere when I ran into the retired couple at the first stop but I felt tears well up in my eyes when I crested Capitol Hill to the view of hundreds to thousands of people crowding into an already full plaza. I walked amongst the throngs of sign carriers and patriotic Americans. I heard the car honks and the conversations, as the energy welled up I left my individuality and became part of the collective. the temperatures were already in the 90s and it wasn't yet noon, people were huddled shoulder to shoulder to stay hidden in the shade. The organized march had already begun. People who had already made the round were leaving but there were still thousands of people flooding into the city.

Once I was amongst the crowd I still had to figure out how to get to my mother who was at Union Station. Police had blocked off roadways and were more concerned with directing traffic. All seemed relatively calm and well-contained. So I kept on, forging my way to reach my mother and find a place to get some food cause I was not nourished enough for the walk this entailed.

When I located her it was right at the crossroads where the march passed through the 16th Street Mall. I, on one side she on the other. I swiveled my way through the crowd chanting "Hey-Hey, Ho-Ho, Donald Trump has got to go", to the other side where I found my mom sitting in the shade in conversation with a resident of 16th st. These short moments and commute were my acts of participation in solidarity. Like so many others it wasn't all about the march itself, but being there to support freedom, liberty, and due process. I believe in the gathering because I believe in State's Rights, Limited Government and our constitutional goal of establishing Justice and insuring domestic Tranquility. Which this administration, in my diagnosis, has outright trampled on.

We are a Republic if we can keep it, made of various branches of federal government supported by 50 State governments. What I had been seeing regarding the weaponization of the DOJ, FBI, and DHS. The renditioning of citizens off the street by masked thugs with no accountability is in direct violation of Article IV of our constitution. Such a move is motivated by the desire to establish fear among citizen. Creating a sense of violence within the community setting constituents up to be worried that if they appear as any color other than white that every law enforcement interaction could turn into them losing their civil liberties. This environment of distrust does not make the public safer and overwriting a Governor's right to oversee his National Guard is kissing cousins with tyranny.

In California, the deployment of the National Guard to the Los Angeles protests resulted in the LA Police force working overtime to protect the actual soldiers who were supposed to be there to protect buildings. It relocated thousands of deployed Guardsmen who were doing their rotations at the Mexican Border assisting law enforcement fight illegal immigration and drug trafficking cartels. On top of that the police who were pulled in to protect the military personnel were no longer in their designated districts which gave criminals the opportunity to loot, steal and vandalize businesses. All because a President didn't want people talking about his involvement in the Epstein Files.

People are not pawns of the rich to demean and dehumanize. We all have people we love, friends we rely on, places we call home, jobs we frequent and communities we belong to. No single man and his Gestapo of hoodlums has the right to put their boot on the throats of any other. If a crime has been committed then due process must be followed. The wheels of justice may turn slowly but a country without laws is no country at all. There were many slogans of disapproval from thousands of people on numerous subjects. There was no resounding theme other than disapproval with the state of the current administration's actions.

After sitting down for lunch strolling the crest of the river and lounging in the park it was almost time for my mother and I to call it a night. I intended to be home by 5 pm so we slowly wrapped up our picnic near South Platte River. That is when I noticed a caravan of heavy police vehicles in a convoy. Attached to a couple of the trucks like aphids were riot police. What the hell they were there for? Other than to exhaust tax-payer money on overtime, I don't know. It was concerning to see, this militarization of our supposed 'Peace Officer' force. I have witnessed up close events like May Day in Berlin where cops did need to bring their shields out, but they never approached the public with such a blatant disregard for public safety. We were also about a mile or mile and a half away from the Civic Center where the rally was being held and about a mile away from the march as it passed through the city.

Why were they in the area? The only protestors were the ones trying to catch the train to head home. But that didn't stop the force from over arming. Heading into the station I was looking forward to finding a way home. I knew that the bus I planned to take to the station was not in service due to numerous road closures. But I am a savvy traveler, I know my way around disruptions. This situation turned out to be beyond a disruption. As a big fuck you to all the First Amendment lovers that came out that day to be part of the solution instead of the problem, our transit authority cut service to all lines coming in or out of Union Station. They either did this at the request of police to keep all protestors from leaving if there was an issue, which there wasn't. Or they did it out of spite for all the workers that day who actually had full buses. There were zero safety issue regarding transport out of the station.

This meant that a long day on my feet in the hot sun wasn't over just yet. As mentioned even my mother's regional transit bus had been cancelled. As of 5 pm she had no way of getting home. How is that for safety? Without having to walk the almost 6 miles home I was determined to find a bus route that was still active. I had to leave my mother near the station, she was hoping that the bus would continue service as the evening went on. She did not want to venture too far from the station. I had to set out on my own for another mile or so trek to a line I knew was outside the radius of the event. On my way there, people were still protesting, and motorcycle cops continued shutting down roads to accommodate the protest movements.

Eventually, I found my way to a bus stop in the shade. It was pushing 7 pm at night, luckily here that means it was still sunny. I had my 'European hoof' on all day and my feet were in for some solid respite. Exhausted and sticky with sweat I sat on the bench and thought about the day as a whole. It wasn't just about standing in allegiance with so many of the other attendees. It was about interacting positively with one's landscape and having the right of assembly. Where were you on this day? Was it just another day of errands and housework? Were you in DC for the military parade? Were you watching on your TV wishing you could be there? Looking back now was it really that big of a deal or is it just another day in the life of American Politics?