Went to protest Friday, just before shit hit fan in LA. Made a sign "Cat lady for science and democracy".
Anyone else going to No Kings protest tomorrow? Saw map with dots in all the cities and towns where protests are scheduled. You can hardly see the country for the dots. LA could have half million. Reports Trump is upset. Forecast is rain on his parade. If I weren't an atheist I would pray for downpour.
Just back from Hayward protest. I arrived about 10 minutes before it was due to start and already sidewalk completely full, overflow on other side of street nearly full. I wore Rip City T shirt because it was on top of clean T shirt pile and matching cap. As soon as I arrived a woman said oh my God, Rip City! She was wearing a Blazers cap. We started hugging. Later saw another woman in Blazers cap. Anyway. I would guess around 500, a lot for community action. There was big protest in Oakland and also San Francisco but I think it's important to be in communities. There were speakers but they were on opposite side of street, cars honking nonstop, protesters cheering and ringing bells, I couldn't hear a word! Some signs Make Orwell fiction again Picture of toilet with Only throne in White House Latina woman in nurse uniform, My parents crossed a border so I could save lives Many American flags, Mexican flags, several pride flags, a Black Nationalism flag, Ukrainian flag. Totally peaceful. Minimal police presence Dear Lord my feet!
Russian asset Tulsi Gabbard said there are ads on Craig's List offering to pay people thousands of dollars a week to protest. I am sending my resume. Dear Craig's List In regards to your ad for paid protester, I am eminently qualified. I respectfully request you view my resume. I realize it is lengthy but that is the result of more than 50 years experience in the field. I attended my first protest before my 13th birthday, in 1967, when President Johnson spoke at a fund raiser at Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles. I went with aunt, uncle, and cousin. We brought a picnic basket, that's how threatening we were. Despite the peaceful nature of the protest, the cops went crazy, beating the crap out of everyone they could reach. Were they afraid I might throw a kosher chicken leg at the president? We were at the back of the march so out of line of fire, but my blood was boiling and I wanted to run over and fight the police. I had to be physically restrained. Hey, hey, LBJ, how many kids did you kill today? The No Kings protest showed the LAPD has not changed. In high school I participated in the 1969 Moratorium to End the War in Vietnam and the 1970 student strike. I was suspended for handing out Moratorium black armbands against school rules. I regaled the principal with a lengthy quote from Thoreau on the necessity of civil disobedience. All we are saying is give peace a chance. I attended UC Berkeley, which should put my application at the top of the pile. I joined the Student Mobilization Committee to End the War in Vietnam, Female Liberation, and Gay Student Union. I helped build the gigantic April 1971 antiwar rally of 500,000 people in San Francisco and the first ever national demonstration for abortion rights. I attended Pride before it was called pride. Back then it was Gay Freedom Day Parade. I drove from Berkeley to LA with a carload of Berkeley lesbians to march in first ever Gay Freedom Day Parade in Los Angeles and the next weekend we drove to San Francisco for that parade. Say it loud, gay and proud! I spoke at rallies in Sproul Plaza. Somewhere around this time reached voting age. In January 1973 Roe v Wade was decided. By this time I was chair of Berkeley Female Liberation and got calls from two local reporters for my reaction. I said we had to celebrate but also defend. In fact it was 50 years of defending before court decided women were after all just incubators. I went to DC for national abortion rights rally in 1989 and met up with a friend from Brooklyn. Wherever we went, my friend said "I'm from Brooklyn and she's from Portland, Ary-GONE". But I get ahead of myself. Also in January 1973 most US forces were withdrawn from Southeast Asia, although the war continued two more years. It seemed we could run out of causes? But that September was US backed and financed military coup against democratically elected government of Chile. The military regime raped, tortured and murdered tens of thousands of its own citizens and others, including Americans. (Missing is a true story.) We protested US involvement and fought for asylum for whoever could be rescued. El pueblo, unido, jamas sera vencido. Later in the decade I demonstrated for Equal Rights Amendment, Unfortunately, male legislators did not believe that equality of rights under the law should not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex. When President Carter reinstated the draft, I debated misguided feminists who thought including women was a step towards equality. Men and women have an equal right to not be drafted. Hell no, we still won't go. Then washed up singer Anita Bryant launched her antigay crusade. The idea that legal equality for gays and lesbians, which we still don't have, somehow were "special" rights we don't deserve. The moribund Pride parades were reignited. Sadly, we lost state after state. Until the good people of Seattle (later the first to vote down anti marriage equality initiatives) and California said no. I participated in Seattle Coalition Against Thirteen (Prop 13 was the antigay measure). Some in our community thought we should be silent and invisible so as not to upset people. But we demonstrated and picketed and spoke and we won. The 1980s were the decade of brutal military dictatorships in Latin America and the contra war in Nicaragua. The contras, who President Reagan compared to the Founding Fathers, killed 50,000 Nicaraguans, in a country whose total population was 2.5 million. The Portland Central America Solidarity Committee held protests against US support for contras and for dictatorships in Guatemala, El Salvador, and others. Then the contras killed Portland engineer Ben Linder. I did not know Ben but I had met his parents and knew his brother John very well. Back then, before Internet, when phones had dials, we had phone trees. if something needed urgent response. Five or so core activists each called 10 people. Each of them called 10 people. And so on. As clunky as rotary dial telephones but we still, in 24 hours, put together a memorial/protest. Ben esta presente! And there was AIDS. No happy people on TV talking about living with HIV. It was a death sentence. Health care workers refused to care for patients with AIDS, leaving them in their own shit and vomit. We had to fight to get it seen as a health issue. The widespread view was it was a moral issue and those queers were finally getting what they deserved (although lesbians have very low rate of HIV). The first federal government representative to speak on AIDS was the Attorney General, who talked about "innocent people" with AIDS. Innocent people were children with hemophilia and babies infected in utero. Guilty people were gays, sex workers, drug users. Because we fought, federal funds helped develop the drugs that now enable happy people to show up on TV. Those same federal funds for research are now eliminated in order to get tax cuts for the rich. The 90s were a less active time due to a good deal of turmoil in my personal life. But I did protest first Gulf War. Now back in California, I met at a protest my old friend, the late Kitty Cone, a founder of the disability rights movement. After 9/11, the second Bush administration went to war against a country that did not attack us and had no illegal weapons. Protests were weekly. No blood for oil. The next decade worked mainly in gay and environmental groups. I coordinated Genentech contingent at Pride and was gifted a rainbow flag. In first Trump administration went to women's march, several years. The local yarn store almost ran out of pink yarn. The unwritten rule was make two hats, one for ourselves, one for a woman who did not know how to knit. Also went to science march and climate march. COVID shut everything down for a time. In 2025 went to protest against plans to turn Dublin jail into immigration detention facility. This past week went to immigrant rights protest and No Kings protest. I realize you might think a younger person more qualified. But don't discount us boomers. We've been at this a long time and we aren't done yet. Were I getting paid for all these protests I would now be rich enough to buy the Portland Trail Blazers. But if I were that rich I would not be protesting. Thank you for your time and attention. I look forward to starting my new job. I would be happy to provide references. Respectfully, crandc
