I’m a day late writing about the rally against Trump on the UA Mall Monday night, and four decades too old to be an age-appropriate witness to the student-organized, student-led and student-centered gathering, but that won’t stop me from saying a few words about the event which, for me, ranged from positive to inspiring.
I arrived around 4:30pm when there were a few dozen people milling around on the grass and a handful of organizers setting up the stage. By the time the rally began at 5, the numbers had grown to a few hundred. I was near the front, so I couldn’t get an accurate read on the size of the crowd, except that I saw the arc of bodies surrounding the front of the stage swelling as the event progressed. The Star, which isn’t known for exaggerating numbers at events, wrote that there were thousands of people. I’d say that’s about right.
The vast majority of the crowd was college-aged. There was nothing “professional” about the organizers or the crowd, contrary to the accusation from Trump that the people on the streets since he was elected have been “professional” protesters. Seven UA students planned the event and got all the necessary permissions from the university, and the crowd was dominated by young-adult faces with younger and older folks mixed in. I’m guessing many of the participants haven’t attended a whole lot of protests before this rally.
The rally on the Mall lasted two hours before the crowd headed to Catalina Park. Mostly, people took turns talking onstage. That’s a long time to listen to speaker after speaker, time enough for people to get bored and drift away. But the crowd stayed, and grew. I was surprised to feel its energy increase with each speaker.
The early speakers embodied the youthful idealism of Love, Peace and Righteous Pain and Anger. I enjoyed being in the midst of all that energy—it took me back to my college protest days—but I have to admit I’m too old and jaded to feel like I was a part of it. But as more people came to center stage and spoke, something gripped me which was more important and visceral than a condemnation of Trump and a celebration of the speakers’ values. The people who came to center stage one by one or in twos and threes represented a rich tapestry of races, ethnic groups, religions and sexual orientations. If I remember correctly, most of them were female, with straight, white females in the minority. Many spoke of their fears. They felt targeted directly or indirectly by Trump and his followers. They felt unsafe. A country that seemed to be leaning in the direction of tolerance and acceptance over the past eight years was threatening to turn angry and vicious, with Trump and his allies who will soon run the country leading the way.
Many of the speakers were new at this. Most read prepared remarks from papers they held in their hands. They admitted they had stage fright. At times, their voices quavered. They revealed more about themselves, their lives and their fears in front of thousands of strangers than might be considered “safe.” The crowd, to its great credit, was attentive, welcoming, supportive. When a speaker stumbled, the crowd applauded and cheered their efforts, urging them to keep going, and they did so with renewed strength. When someone spoke with courage and resolve, the crowd replied with a steady stream of applause and cheers. My sense is when the speakers left the stage, even if they left in tears, they felt a greater sense of belonging thanks to the crowd’s embrace. They may have felt just as vulnerable, but I think they felt a little less alone.
I keep referring to the gathering as a rally, not a protest, because the center of the event wasn’t so much a hatred of Trump and what he stands for as it was a sense that people can get through this together. People who criticize the “protests” as too early—”Wait until Trump does something before you protest!”—are missing an important aspect of the gatherings. They’re as much for the participants as they are for the media and Donald Trump. People may be shouting “Dump Trump” and “He’s not my president,” but many are feeling, “I’m not alone. We’ve got each others’ backs.”
This article appears in Nov 10-16, 2016.
A pity party.
How pathetic.
I don’t know what has happened to the Tucson Weekly, but y’all completely missed the thousand people who were downtown last night demonstrating against the Dakota Access Pipeline.
http://caucus99percent.com/content/nodapl-…
#NoDAPL
blaze_mason – the weekly also missed this – another liberal myth exposed.
Remember when the most deceitful president in history and his flock of liberal lemmings used to say the U.S. consume more than 20% of the worlds oil but have less than 2% of the worlds resources. to justify sending Americans back to the cave?
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2010/0927/politics-socialism-capitalism-private-enterprises-obama-business-problem.html
Oops
One portion of the giant field, known as the Wolfcamp formation, was found to hold 20 billion barrels of oil trapped in four layers of shale beneath West Texas. Thats almost three times larger than North Dakotas Bakken play and the single largest U.S. unconventional crude accumulation ever assessed, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. At current prices, that oil is worth almost $900 billion.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/article114931993.html#storylink=cpy
Well the author really shows his true colors now don’t he? The part where says the white women were in the minority, is code word for the place was full of lesbians and all the attractive women were still supporting Trump. I don’t think that was necessary at all.
How do you judge someones sexuality by looking at them?
And the part about this “rally” not being paid or organized? You said it wasn’t a protest. Craigslist Portland has ads offering pay to protesters. They were not willing to pay rallyers. 70% of those arrested did not work and did not vote. These people in Tucson are not idiots because they did it for free. There are many other reasons.
Are you absolutely sure that all of those white women in the photo are not straight? Or is that not the actual photo from the “rally?”
You went to a rally where they held up signs that said “she won the popular vote?”
I went to the one where the signs said, read the !?&*ing rules. You can only win with electoral votes because slaves had no right to vote and the south could continue slavery.
Oh and there was one other sign. It said “he won more states.” Doesn’t that just make you crazy?
What, Again:
It doesn’t matter how much oil there is still in the ground. If we extract it and burn it, we will kill the planet and our descendants. Why do we have to destroy things in the name of “progress” and “technology”? Just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you SHOULD. We could instead focus on more sustainable energy for jobs, for building infrastructure, and for the future environment.
the Native people protesting in ND keep reminding us: you can’t eat money, you can’t drink oil. Water is life giving and life sustaining — and if we pollute the air and degrade the water by burning more oil and coal , we will all suffer.
I don’t want that for my loved ones, and I don’t want that for yours.
Blaze, buy a bicycle.
Petroleum tires. It would cause him to vomit.
blaze_mason – stay away from my loved ones. I want prosperity. Energy = prosperity. It’s what brought us out of the cave and sent us to the moon and you have NO business deciding for my loved ones.
Thank you David for reporting on this. I have not paid much attention to what is going on because of my devastation about the election. There are way too many paid to demonstrate hate and some are here regularly. I appreciate what you do David.
Do the girls need a hug from their Hillary Doll? There, there snowflake.
What, Again, stay away from my loved ones. Climate change will make Tucson as hot as Phoenix by about mid-century. There are alternative forms of energy that will require no sacrifice from you so just get out of the way and let us fix it.
bslap, or should I call you God – people in Phoenix are doing just fine and the price of ocean front property just keeps going up.
This is, according to Tucson Weekly’s classification system, an “education” post? Sorry, but I’m having trouble understanding why it qualifies as education reporting. Perhaps because the rally was held at the U of A?
This blog piece doesn’t touch on any of the issues of substantive importance to the quality and affordability of education offered to students at the University of Arizona — for example, escalating tuition costs or the Arizona Medical Association’s vote of no confidence in the leadership of the U of A Medical Schools,
If Safier is having trouble thinking of real education-related topics that need covering, here are some ideas:
–In addition to the two U of A issues mentioned above, there’s the governance of Pima Community College, where the board candidate the local Democratic party backed was rejected and a reform-focused candidate was elected by a hefty margin. Will the reform-focused new Board member be able to get anything done to improve the quality of services delivered to students?
–Recent developments in TUSD magnet schools, where failures to achieve integration have caused the Special Master in the desegregation case to recommend that six magnet schools lose their magnet status. Whether TUSD has actually done what the desegregation plan requires them to do in these schools at risk for de-magnetization would be a good topic to look into.
In general, I look forward to a time when the media gets over its need to vent about recent national election results, stops shooting fish in a barrel by providing lazy, obvious Trump-related commentary, rolls up its sleeves, does some REAL research, and actually starts covering some of the issues that relate directly to whether social justice is being served in our communities.
bslap-I made a call to Phoenix to see if everyone was dead. They are not. If you take a look at the link it will show you that Phoenix has been warming since record lows in 1899. But the record high temps have already passed. What is it that makes you warn people about something that “might” happen in 34 years? The last record high was actually 2003 or 13 years ago. What is going on?
http://www.intellicast.com/Local/History.aspx?location=USAZ0166
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2013/12/16/nature-proves-al-gore-wrong-again/
Don’t believe the pollsters.
“How do you judge someones sexuality by looking at them?”
Well, ya look at who they be holding hands with… that’s how!
“How do you judge someones sexuality by looking at them?”
Well ya be looking at who they be holding hands with… that’s how!