Ed. observe: Please welcome Vivia Chen again to the pages of Above the Legislation. Subscribe to her Substack, “The Ex-Careerist,” here.
YOU BET I WENT to the “No Kings” protest.
Regardless of all of the sage recommendation on the way to keep beneath the radar, I’m outing myself. I’m telling you I used to be there in Bryant Park, proper smack in the course of Manhattan, holding my handmade signal within the drizzling rain on Saturday, June 14.
I might not have missed it, although a lot of of us in my pal group sat it out. “I’m getting a facial, then a mani-pedi,” one pal introduced after I requested her whether or not she deliberate to go to the protest. One other mentioned, “Sorry. Gotta go to Costco!”
I wasn’t shocked by the I-have-better-things-to-do perspective of my liberal cohorts. I type of anticipated it. (I’ve bougie associates, okay?)
However what shocked me was the worry voiced by others in my circle – those that pulled me apart, lowered their voices, and warned me to not go.
“Try to be very, very cautious,” one pal whispered, as if she anticipated somebody to be listening in. She jogged my memory how Donald Trump had known as up 4,000 Nationwide Guard troops, plus 700 Marines, to quash the anti-ICE demonstrations in L.A. “You don’t need to be caught in one thing that turns violent,” she warned, as if I used to be contemplating operating into a sprig of bullets.
At Pilates that morning, an acquaintance gave me the look of a nervous mom. “There may very well be agitators. And, you realize, Trump may use that as an excuse to order capturing.” One other cautioned: “Security first, then protest.”
I do know they imply effectively. However nonetheless.
How did we develop into such chickenshits? As lately as seven or eight months in the past, I doubt anybody would have regarded collaborating in a political demonstration as a harmful act. I imply, we’re not in Hong Kong, proper?
Not but, anyway.
However Trump has forged a spell, and he has us the place he needs us: scared. Even earlier than a baton is raised or an order issued, we’re already doing the work for him – gagging ourselves, curbing our actions, hiding our faces or retreating to our houses. It’s acquiescence borne out of worry, analogous to what we’re seeing from firms and regulation companies which are paying Trump billions of {dollars}, cancelling DEI packages or contorting themselves to align with this administration’s priorities.
And the left is complicit in stoking this tradition of worry too. One instance is the protest ideas discovered on social media. Whereas the ACLU gives a good primer, a few of the recommendation supplied by self-designated experts strikes me as alarmist:
- Deliver a burner telephone to keep away from surveillance and information assortment by the authorities.
- Don’t put on something distinctive — no logos, no vivid colours.
- Cowl tattoos. Cowl your face or put on a masks.
- Don’t put up pictures of demonstrations on social media, until faces are blurred.
- Don’t throw away private trash which may comprise your DNA.
Critically? That final bit in regards to the trash made me snort uncontrollably.
Except you’re a assassin on the lam, planning an rebellion or prepping for the following version of Mission Unattainable, these precautions really feel absurd. And counterproductive. They don’t put together individuals; they terrify them. They make protesting sound illicit and dangerous — one thing that requires concealment. (However someway protecting your face whereas carrying an enormous “Fuck Trump” signal, just like the man beneath, is working towards discretion?)
Name me naive and cavalier. However I consider in the event you’re going to protest, personal it. Frankly, my endurance wears skinny with the hedgers, those who simply need to “mix” into the gang, those who need to make an announcement – however solely in hushed tones. Isn’t the purpose of protesting to be seen and heard?
Let’s be clear: I’m effectively conscious of how far Trump has pushed this nation towards an autocracy, and I’ve my own reasons to be fearful. I’m additionally absolutely conscious that none of those protests will make one iota of distinction in how he governs (is “governing” the proper phrase?) this nation.
The objective was by no means to alter his thoughts.
I protested to train a primary proper. Like voting. Like saying no matter I rattling please. Like scripting this opinion piece. And the extra these rights really feel imperiled, the extra I really feel an urgency to make use of them.
So till we descend into full blown authoritarianism (six months, a 12 months, subsequent week? I’m taking bets), I’ll be on the market holding my little signal. Unblurred. Uncovered. Unbowed.
And you may put that on the report.
SCENES FROM THE NYC NO KINGS RALLY:
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Vivia Chen writes “The Ex-Careerist” column on Substack the place she unleashes her unvarnished views in regards to the intersection of labor, life, and politics. A former lawyer, she was an opinion columnist at Bloomberg Legislation and The American Lawyer. Subscribe to her Substack by clicking right here:
