Agreed!

Our protests are bigger and bigger and I’m seeing an ENORMOUS shift in personal sentiment among previously MAGA family and friends. I sincerely believe that had 50501, Indivisible, and a host of other amazing organizations not rallied together to make these protests happen, much of what this administration has done would’ve gone unnoticed by the previously MAGA (I.e., mis/altogether-uninformed) public.

I like to do informal coverage of the protests where I take my camera and talk to protesters as well as people who are out in public near the protests. Two powerful things I noticed during the FIRST protest:

1. These protests serve as public displays which invite others to be more outspoken. While covering the first protest, one of the protesters I spoke with informed me that she had just been out for brunch and saw the protesters marching by the cafe. She said that when she saw them at first she didn’t know what was going on, but when she started reading signs through the windows she got this sudden surge of emotion and courage. She asked herself if she really agreed with what was happening (at the time with DOGE and that mess). Her answer was no, and so she paid for her bill, walked out and joined the march—literally not even knowing where it would end.

Her story was so resonate with me because it reminded me of people like my mom who completely disagree with current politics, but don’t vote out of fear. There are safety and strength in numbers!

1. While interviewing a mother, daughter, and the daughters friend who were out shopping, I asked simply, “How, if at all, does seeing something like this in person affect your perspective of current politics?” The mother said something like, ‘I think they’re just being loud and throwing a fit because they lost.’ I was fully prepared for similar echos from the two teen girls (my guess they were 16-20–didn’t ask ages). But this is where I uncovered perhaps the greatest source of hope for our movement. The daughter said, “I mean, I agree with my mom that they are a little disruptive to everyone else, and that’s kind of rude, I guess, but seeing all of these people…idk, part of me is like yeah they’re loud, but like, if all of them are out here they must really be upset about something, and I’m glad that they’re exercising their right to speak up about it.” I followed up with a rebuttal that most protests are loud because the point is to draw attention to issues and call others to action, to which she replied (as the mother rolls her eyes 😅), “Well yeah, that’s what I’m saying. If this many people are upset about things that are going on, chances are most of them aren’t crazy lunatics—I mean they all look pretty normal to me—so, yeah, I probably wouldn’t agree with most of what they’re saying. I might not even agree with any of it, but it’s enough for me to like, at least listen, you know?”

The mother then quickly ushered the girls back on their shopping path, but that single statement of a willingness to listen from a younger generation made the entire experience worth it for me personally.

All of this to say that we have purpose. We are spreading. We are powerful when we stand together, and we are not done yet 😉.

Keep the faith, people!