I’m marching in the Cesar Chavez march today. I’ll wear my FitBit, set it to “march” and see how many calories I lose and arguments I win. There’s a protest in this town so often, every craft store south of the Gila River is out of poster board.
Last January, dressed in Thirties gangster garb, I wandered over to check out the women’s march from my “Dillinger Days” stint at Hotel Congress. The scale of the protest was astonishing and heartening. Scores of protesters, wearing pink yarn caps, filled city block after city block after city block. Exuberant and energized, they marched, waved American flags and chanted, “This is what democracy looks like.” If that was what democracy looked like, Pete Seeger and Susan B. Anthony were dancing a jig in Paradise. On that day you learned that if you were not happy with the status quo, you were not alone. By a long shot. Among the protesters was a young pink-haired woman carrying a handwritten sign that summed up their collective purpose: “Grab ’em by the midterms!”
Later in the season, Tucson turned out in huge numbers to march against the message of the tiki-torch trolls. Tucson is a beautiful multicultural haven. We’re a UNICEF poster with saguaros. The Old Pueblo marched for e pluribus unum.
Millions who favor sane gun laws followed the lead of the Parkland students and joined the March for Our Lives. On that day you learned that if you were not happy with the NRA perspective, you were not alone.
And this week, on Wednesday, we saw an energetic protest by teachers who favor sane education funding and a living wage. The governor has offered educators just enough change to be able to afford a bus ticket to a more progressive state that will pay its teachers a living wage. In this showdown with the Republican skinflints, I’d go with the teachers. They know how to organize a field trip to shut this state down. And, thanks to decades of budget butchery, they have nothing to lose. As the protests continue, they will learn they are not alone.
Today it’s all about Chavez. Before heading to the Chavez march I’ll review my checklist:
Sunscreen: Check.
Political buttons: Check. (“But, it’s a dry hate” is my favorite.)
American flag: Check. Protestors are patriots.
Find my friend Jaime Tadeo: Check.
Jaime is a great kid, a “dreamer,” a longtime Tucsonan and one of the rally organizers. Trump declared DACA dead this week, pushing thousands of kids like Jaime to the heart-pounding edge of the deportation cliff. Today Tucsonans will march in solidarity with the dreamers and their families, neighbors and friends.
I’ll find Los Viejos who knew Cesar Chavez. They’ll be telling stories of the struggle, the fasts, the prayers and the protests. And the backs bent by the fields of Yuma, Imperial and El Centro. “And today we’re second-class citizens under the SB 1070 regime.” “Do I look like a rapist to you, amigo?” “We’re scapegoats!”
Ellos no olvidarán. They will not forget.
The teachers who marched will not forget those who have betrayed them. The women who marched will not forget those who mocked them. The students who marched will register and they will vote and they will not forget the fools that dismissed them as puppets. The Latinos and Latinas who marched will not forget the racist insults. A reckoning is coming, from the streets up.
Whether it’s pro-lifers, NFL players or the tea party, civil protest is reassuring evidence our democracy is vibrant. When I hear a citizen carp about protesters I think, “O, ye of little faith in our democratic republic. Why so afraid?” Our nation was forged in the hearts of fearless radicals, revolutionaries and refugees who adhered to an abiding truth: We are enriched by the differences that liberty welcomes. Our founding revolutionaries had faith in that ideal as surely as they knew tea taxed by a tyrant was tastiest when it was thrown overboard and steeped in a cold Boston harbor. Nations that fear dissent wither and die in darkness. Nations that welcome the questioning voice to their national dialogue thrive.
With so many marches and protests cluttering our calendars, I want to make note of one event that stands out: Nov. 6. Mark your calendars for that one. On that Tuesday millions will march to the polls. Join your fellow Americans. Should be quite a day. Wear sunscreen, leave your political buttons at home and, as you mark your ballot, you may think to yourself, “This is what democracy looks like.”
