Jun 29, 2020
Tulsa - I infiltrated a Trump rally
Last Friday I woke up, had a free weekend in front of me. I started to look at fun hikes, maybe some camping, then I caught a heading about Trump’s rally in Tulsa. I had been following how he chose June 19th in Tulsa for his rally, that couldn’t have been more tone deaf considering the George Floyds protests/riots popping up all over the globe — Juneteenth is considered the date that ended slavery in 1865. Plus Tulsa is home to the obliteration of “Black Wall Street” in 1921, one of the worst racial massacres in US History. In the back of my mind, I was like wow that is quite the intersection of civil potency. Out of curiosity I looked up flights, all flights were in excess of $1000 for a two-day trip. Then I checked how long the drive was. Nine hours, not bad, I love driving anyway, I decided right then I’d go regardless if anyone could join me or not. I invited a few friends, but understandably no one was ready at the drop of a hat to head to Tulsa in an hour. I had never been to Kansas or Oklahoma, I had a blast driving through Kansas, encountered a wild rainstorm once it got dark, lightening strikes every few seconds enveloping my entire field of vision, white knuckle driving following the tail lights of a semi-truck, during that time sheets of rain soaked my vehicle. By midnight, I made it to Wichita to settle in for the night.
The following morning I made my way to Tulsa, checked in at the Holiday Inn a block from City Center. My goal was to have an open mind, learn as much as possible from all sides, to gain a comprehensive understanding of the current political moment. All the while I’ve seen many videos of couner-protesters being spit on & punched at Trump rallies, so the anticipation was intense. I grabbed my skateboard & headed into the action.
Right away it was obvious how much police presence there was in the city. Within one block of leaving my hotel I encountered dozens of National Guard troops decked out in full combat attire rocking their semi-automatic weapons. I glanced around the rooftops, saw snipers, militarized police, private security, regular street cops. It was already a pretty rowdy scene. Yikes. I sniffed my way to where all the action was. A good eight blocks of downtown was completely barricaded off surrounding the BOK Center, the venue for Trump’s rally. All four sides of the barricaded area had a large entrance, the north entrance is where all the action was; street vendors, tons of Trump merchandise for sale, t-shirts, keychains, bumper stickers, pendants, and of course, stacks of MAGA hats. The deeper I went, a big concentration of Black Lives Matter protesters were mixed into hardcore Trump supporters.
To back up a little bit, I should say I lean left in my political views, but I wasn’t there to waive a political flag or assert my personal opinion. I was there to see the Trump rally up close for myself. I also wanted to witness & support the Black Lives Matter movement, & make my way to Greenwood District aka the “Black Wall Street” neighborhood. I personally know people I respect that voted for Trump, I wanted to open my thinking to any potential engagement of Trump’s supporters to hear them out. Because I will say after seeing the Lafayette Square Trump Bible photo opp, of which he used pepper spray on US Citizens, it revealed Trump’s inhumanity & authoritarian mentality. This event incited my motivation to be an “activist” in Tulsa.
Once the line was crossed of using pepper spray on US Citizens for a photo opp at a church, Trump oozed dictator vibes, straight out of a developing country type of stunt & declared himself a President of Law & Order, threatening to enact the military against US Citizens during a human rights protest — this is next level authoritarian society scary, something previously I didn’t think Trump was capable of, an Amercian Mussolini in making. To me that is worth activism. Not to go scream “vote Democrat”, but to call attention to dictator type inhumane behavior from a President is imperative. Democracy is at stake.
Back in Tulsa I was pretty shocked to immediately encounter Trump supporter’s yelling “All Lives Matter” directly to BLM activists, watching a group of five grown men chanting “KKK” to a young black woman to her face, etc, it was startling to say the least. Right away I was taken off guard by Trump supporters blind opposition to the entire BLM movement. They would blindly chant “USA USA USA” to all BLM activists, a very bizarre standard behavior for the entire experience in Tulsa. Seeing people chant USA to US citizens that were in fact exemplifying Americanness by protesting for their civil rights seemed shortsighted, it was infuriating.
To reflect for a moment: black people many times over in US history have reached a breaking point, after the Floyd murder it took an entire week to arrest the primary responsible officer for George Floyds death — that is when the riots erupted. Black people were screaming for swift justice, it didn’t happen. That is beyond the fact that an officer slowly murdered George Floyd for almost nine minutes. Kaepernick, four years ago, peacefully protested police brutality on black people, only to be me called a “son of a bitch” by Trump, further, “get him off the field” & was black balled from the NFL ever since. An Army veteran green beret met with Kaepernick in 2016, suggested to kneel in protest to honor the flag, to peacefully raise awareness to the police brutality.
I observed a few hours of BLM activists declare their message, as well as Trump supporters. I will say that BLM typically had very easy to interpret messaging calling attention to being sick of being killed by police officers using excessive force. While Trump supporters had no message other than “USA USA USA” for the most part. I skateboarded around the perimeter of the blockade, it was pretty quiet besides the presence of National Guard on every corner. All the action was at the North entrance, of which was monitored very closely by militarized police, National Guard, & riot police. Intense.
By then it was approx 5pm, Trump was to speak at 7pm, so I skated back to my hotel to get a bite to eat, charge up my phone battery — going to be a long night. I made my way back to the barricaded entries, this time the plan was to see if I could make it all the way to the BOK Center for the Trump rally. I easily made it through the barricade entrance, didn’t require a ticket, I was provided a Trump sticker & a Trump wristband. I walked a few city blocks to the BOK Center, encountering two large TV monitors with audio, a live feed from inside the rally. It looked like guest speakers were already giving talks inside the arena leading up to the Trump 7pm main event. Again, so much security presence, all I could think of was how much money it must have taken to produce this event, American taxes paying for the National Guard to be at a Trump rally. Unreal. I made my way towards a big outdoor stage, it was completely void of a crowd, but another giant TV screen was set up, I listened to the current speaker for a moment while I assessed my next move. Everyone was casually walking into an entrance of the BOK Center, I made my way towards the entrance, my plan was to just fake a ticket on my phone, I didn’t anticipate making it all the way into the rally. As I approached the entrance, the door person, an African American women, took a look at me, I was dressed in all black, clearly not a Trump supporter, she just scanned a ticket in her hand, “have fun” she said as she waived me in.
Within moments I was in shock as I walked towards seating, suddenly I was looking at the real deal, a live Trump rally in the flesh. First thing that crossed my mind was how empty the stadium was, the floor was fewer than a quarter full, the stands were 1/3 full. Tons of media, they took up half the floor imprint. I definitely think all the coverage Trump gets at his rallys lend to the perceived support of his base larger than it actually is. I tried to make my way to the floor, I encountered a large security dude that gave me a look over, “floor is full”. I said but it’s kinda empty, “floor is full!”. Ok ok ok. I went up and down a few aisles trying to find a solo seat that was up close to the action. Finally amidst a bunch of people standing I noticed they left some wiggle room to claim the aisle seat, I just took up the space, stood firm, & asserted my presence. The guy who’s seat I was sharing at this point since it was standing room only, turned & looked at me, he was decked out in Trump 2020 gear. He had a Trump sign & all, but I didn’t flinch. I just gave him good relaxed eye contact that sent the message, “I ain’t going anywhere.” But I also made a point to give off a kind vibe. I was there to peacefully observe.
Within moments the arena was notified Eric Trump was coming up next to speak. They blasted Tom Petty “Won’t back down” (which Petty’s family issued a cease & desist to the Trump team to not use his songs, in total, twenty artists have issued cease & desist to Trump for using their music at his rallys, including the Stones, Elton John, Rihanna, Queen, Neil Young). Eric Trump, Donald’s son, rolled out to the mic, made an uninspiring talk that mentioned “God’s plan” for four more years. He also called the entire BLM movement “animals”. The BLM protests (all 50 states & dozens of countries) is the largest cumulative civil rights protest in modern history — to hear Trump’s son be so dismissive, to hear the entire crowd cheer like crazy to the “animals” statement, that startled me.
Up next, Mike Pence took the mic. He made remarks about Trump’s “visionary leadership”, also “God’s plan”, & under his watch everyone will “stand for the flag”. To which the crowd went wild. Again, so shortsighted. To see Trump’s fans in the street is one thing, but then you see the Vice President of the United States make standing for the flag a rallying cry was troubling. The disrespect to the BLM movement to say such an ignorant thing. To not address the issue of police brutality. Quite the contrary, Pence went on about how Law & Order will be established, “Defend the Police not defund the police” & “Blue Lives Matter”. Mass applause. Surreal.
Once Pence wrapped up it was just about 7pm, the atmosphere was thick in the BOK Center, after 15 minutes of people watching, the music turned down to voiceover of Trump soundbites. Then the spectacle of live Trump himself walked out. This time, I couldn’t help myself, I had to drop the observer role & I publicaly asserted my distaste with many thumbs down gestures. He started speaking, after the “USA USA USA” chants died down, repeatedly he singled out the media, called them fake news as the entire arena booed. I get it, virtually all media is profit based, if you watch left or right wing news, it’s going to be sensationalized, but to call all media “fake news” at a presidential rally, hear the entire arena boo the world media was totally bonkers.
To the ecstatic applause of the crowd, Trump proceeded to call Coronavirus, “kung flu”, a blatant racist attempt to scapegoat China for his epic mishandling of the current health crisis. As a small business owner, I have been going through the process of meticulously studying, adhering to State, County, City guidance on how I can operate my business in regards to social distancing, signage, employee protocol, masks, etc. Millions of small business owners across the Nation are working tirelessly to be compliant to protocols in place to responsibly conduct their business. Yet the President of the United States produces a rally to stoke his base, not address any of the civil unrest in the world, all the while instituting absolutely zero protocol for social distancing & wearing a mask. Again, unreal. The small business owners of America have to adhere to strict reopening protocol, yet Trump follows zero of it.
Trump recited the same rallying cries, “God’s plan” of four more years, stand for the flag, Law & Order, Fake news, then laid into Biden, there were no substantive critiques. Trump just made fun of his Democratic opponent the way a 5th grade school yard bully would. The furthest thing from Presidential.
Biden gets a D- grade. I’ll admit Biden’s not an ideal candidate, but he is the first step out of the Trump mess. Activism works. We need to continue to lean into Biden just like BLM has screamed for change. Since the BLM protests have broke out, Colorado has passed a landmark law against qualified immunity for police, LA Council has reduced their police force to less than 10,000 officers & shifted funding (defunded) of 130 million to job programs, mental health counselors, housing, & other social services in predominantly black neighborhoods with high arrest rates. Activism works.
Biden is an imperfect part of the establishment, but Trump fails. He lends to much civil unrest. Sprinkle in his reversal of 100's of environmental protection reversal policies, his international relations catastrophes, his reduction of corporate taxes which enabled Wall Street at large to buyback stocks at a historic level, perking executives and CEO bonuses, record shareholder returns — all the while the average worker did not see anything trickle down. His ridiculous wall. The windmills. His handling of Coronavirus — “It’s going to disappear, one day it’s like a miracle — it will disappear”. His inability to provide his tax returns, his track record of bankrupted businesses leaving thousands of disgruntled contractors that never got paid. He promised to “drain the swamp” of Washington lobbyists. Instead, he’s put them in charge of health, safety, & environmental protections–which has endangered most Americans while increasing corporate profits even further. Trump promised to bring down America’s trade deficit “as fast as possible.” Instead, the trade deficit has hit an all-time high. He has made health care less accessible & less affordable for millions of Americans. He has demonized & attacked immigrants, separated families, while doing nothing to actually solve the issue of illegal immigration. To date he has gone golfing 119 times to the tune of $134,000,000. The inability to get healthcare workers appropriate protective clothing while the civic police force looks like Robocop 3000. During his presidency he has lied or said misleading things 18,000 times. Etc., Etc., Etc.
If you haven’t watched the documentary “13th”, it spells out how black people are mass incarcerated, making prison labor an extension of slavery. If you shared Candace Owens George Floyd martyr video, it is shortsighted to point out one man’s questionable character to avoid the topic of the root of the protests that is police brutality. At the end of the day it all boils down to the baseline: 1) there is systemic racism in this country that is as old as the country itself & 2) what happened to Floyd is a National Emergency- we need to prevent this from happening again- then we wouldn’t witness more rioting, more deaths, destruction of property, the good, the bad & the ugly aftermath.
During the Watts riots of 1965, the plea for justice from the black community was dismissed by Police Commissioner William Parker who called rioters “monkeys in a zoo”. In 1992 President Bush during the Rodney King riots, Bush: “rioters must be condemned & maintain respect for law & order”. Now Trump constantly dismisses BLM movement as “thugs & criminals”. These leaders decided to define the entire scream for equality from the black community, condemn them, instead of condemn the repetitive violation of their civil rights. Even now, with Trump passing an executive order imposing mandatory 10-year prison sentences for any destruction of property. He should sign an executive order stripping qualified immunity for police across the nation.
America is amazing in many respects, but it has progress to be made. One of those things is the whitewashed version of history that is taught. The USA is going through a big transition. I really wish the President would unify the Nation. Instead he fans the flames of divisive actions & language — just yesterday he retweeted a video of a man clearly saying “White Power.” Appauling.
When the President values property more than black lives & black civil rights, it only if fuels the movement with more passion — more motivation for the oppressed to be as visible as possible, which unfortunately, can mean burning of buildings, rioting, violence. Trump did not make a single comment to validate the screams of the black lives matters protesters at the Tulsa rally, only implied they were all criminals. Trump positions himself as a defender of Second Amendment rights. He has also failed to distinguish between peaceful protesters, whose right to assemble is protected by the Constitution, & violent looters, some of whom were responsible for vandalism & fires that broke out during largely peaceful demonstrations across the country expressing outrage over the killing of Floyd in police custody.
During Trump’s talk, I started to get bumped into, elbows, & aggressive stares, strong distaste for my presence, I relocated five times. As I mentioned, I was the only person wearing all black, an obvious non-Trumper. I was there to peacefully observe, but I’ll admit I grew increasingly frustrated with his shortsighted messages. I felt like being disruptive, but didn’t want to be placed on a federal watch list. Trump went on & on for 1 hour 44 minutes. During his remarks, he mentioned the reason why the arena was empty was because unruly protesters were blocking the entrance to the rally: SIMPLY NOT TRUE. Ever since, his campaign manager has echoed those remarks to the media; again, far from the truth, to watch a dictator vibes US president lie, then hear his campaign manager lie, & his White House spokesman be asked directly about it, & to have all of them unanimously say the same thing, unbelievable. But it’s par for the course. I remember the day after Trumps inauguration his press secretary remarked in a press conference it was the most attended Presidential inauguration in history, when it was clearly one of the lowest attended inaugurations — dictator vibes from the start.
I made my way out of the BOK Center back to outside the barricade boundaries with the rest of the public & protesters. I joined BLM protesters, walked the streets of Tulsa for a couple of hours w BLM, I observed much hate from Trump supporters engaging the peaceful BLM protesters. It shook me to have a front row seat to racisim & ingnorance.
I ducked into a little pub for a cold beer to decompress. It was a pub full of Trump supporters, they all gave me the once over since I was wearing all black. I met all their stares with eye contact back. I am sick of Trump supporter types being used to asserting their presence & views. It felt good to assert my peaceful presence of opposition. I ordered a beer, I was asked if I was a Trump fan by a woman speaking closely to me w/out a mask (FYI, I had a mask on for the entire Tulsa experience), I think I was maybe one of twenty at the entire rally that had a mask. I told her I was there to observe, see Trump’s rally in person, & support BLM movement. She gave me a side-eye & walked off. As I was sipping my beer, I noticed on TV they were live from the Greenwood District, it looked like a street party. By this time it was approximately 11pm. I set my beer on the table & headed out the door, started skating towards Greenwood, wherever that was. I asked a few people downtown where Greenwood was. “Couple miles that way”. I skated towards what sounded like an outdoor concert on the other side of the railroad tracks. I kept going towards the music, finally made it to Greenwood. I encountered a massive street party, a makeshift DJ, speakers blaring, people smiling, celebrating. I joined in til 2am. It was amazing to see the Greenwood community meet that moment in history to celebrate their culture, their community. I am grateful I could be present. The party was void of police, void of Trumpers, just Greenwood gathering peacefully.
The Floyd protests have felt more passionate than any other protest since the Vietnam War era. They’re happening after a decade of viral footage that has made Americans painfully aware of how different police treat black people. They’re also happening during a global pandemic.
The Donald administration has never seemed immediately interested in stopping the spread of the coronavirus but does seem interested in stopping BLM protests. When mostly white protesters showed up at statehouses around the country, armed, yelling about stay-at-home orders, they were greeted with noticable restraint by police officers. But when much more diverse BLM protesters protested police brutality, they were met with noticable violence. Similarly, Donald was clearly hesitant to mobilize the military to provide protective equipment for health care workers for the pandemic but seemed willing to mobilize the military to suppress protests. We love to romanticize outlaws, anarchy, punks, lawless cowboys, civil disobedience, “don’t tread on me” culture until black people do it — then it’s criminal.
I used to think it was likely that enlightened/intelligent types were sitting behind the curtain that would step in if any major shit went down & enough was enough, but those people either got fired by Donald or they’ve just simply been my hopeful imagination that smarter people were actually at the helm when really important matters came up. It’s clear that was a fantasy.
In Tulsa, from Trump supporters, I encountered anti-George Soros conspiracy language. I’ve looked into it, there is a big effort to make Soros somehow responsible for the Floyd protests & the Black Lives Matter movement & “Antifa”. I am glad there are at least some attempts by figures like George Soros to build a countervailing leftwing political infrastructure & wish there were more billionaires acting in this way, even if they made their fortunes questionably. The manipulation that Soros is being accused of is exactly what a cabal of far right billionaires have been doing for decades, e.g. the Koch brothers, the Mercers, etc. They developed disinformation tactics for the fossil fuel corporations which have tried to hide the impacts of climate change by funding climate change deniers. They support think tanks & intellectuals who provide intellectual cover for attacks on social services. Right now we are facing near-term ecological collapse because of this forty-year campaign engineered by energy companies & right wing tycoons. These are the kind of people we should be calling out publicly. The $2 trillion bail out agreed to by Congress & Trump was yet another massive atrocity against the US population — another massive pay out to the wealthy at the expense of the rest of us. This is where people should be focusing their anger & public rants. Trump routinely demonizes Antifa, it’s not hard to find the experts that are in clear opposition of the current narrative. Mark Bray, PhD, historian at Rutgers University and author of “Antifa: The Anti-Fascist Handbook.” Bray claims President Donald Trump’s labeling of Antifa as a terrorist organization is a cover-up for police violence, delegitimizing militant protest and deflecting attention away from the white supremacy and police brutality. Bray writes that “Trump’s misinformation aims to mislead us all.” It is through blaming Antifa, “the shadowy boogeyman Trump rails against,” that Trump is able to avoid “the root causes of Floyd’s death.” Another bizarre theme I have encountered is the term “virtue signaling”, which is a way the Trump supporters dismiss empathy.
We used to tax the richest class in America drastically higher, along with a 50% corporate tax. Those tax dollars went towards education, social programs, infrastructure, etc. Stuff that keeps a super power running like it should. The wealthiest class started doing everything they could to avoid paying personal & corporate taxes. On top of that, we increased our budget for military spending exponentially, while, little by little, our education system has deteriorated into a horrible state. A healthy democracy is as good as how well educated its citizenry is.
We have to wonder how the US was once considered the world’s most advanced society. Now we are led by, hate to say it, incapable morons & religious zealots. For poor people, cognitive decline was caused by the combination of the American diet (fast food, cheap beef saturated in pesticides & antibiotics, etc.), the assault on mental & physical health by pharmaceutical companies (antidepressants, etc.), & propaganda from Fox News. Unfortunately, this seems a terminal condition, an evolutionary dead end, for many millions. For the wealthy class, hyper-capitalist ideology plus the ideal of the technological singularity led many to abandon any humanistic impulses in favor of self-enrichment. For the smart, young upper middle class, entrepreneurship has become the new religion. Many lost any sense of social cohesion in the quest for self advancement.
Trump did show that a person that isn’t a career politician, not part of the establishment, can be elected. But, he is the wrong person. His supporters frequently say, “But his jobs rate”, to what extent will people turn a blind eye to the danger of Trump because of jobs & economy. The expense of global civil unrest, global warming… it’s like building a giant mansion out of all the trees near you, taking all the wild animals to make a massive feast, void of guests, void of soul. That is not the version of jobs & economy to justify Trump. Good news is activism works. Just eight years ago the common themes from Bernie Sanders were considered radical, excessive corporate interests in politics, climate change, inequality of distribution of wealth, are now top of mind for many Americans, especially the youth.
I’m hoping July 4th will be a symbolic turning point for the country. Let’s point the ship in a better direction, unite, & move forward with the intent to vote Trump out in November. I think people are inherently good. I think his base is undeniably tolerant of his racist & ignorant behavior. Although I acknowledge his base got him elected, he is going to lose in a landslide. Everyone that stayed home that just assumed Hillary would win, they’ll come out. Young people will come out, Bernie voters will come out, everyone is going to come out to vote Donald out. Unless he enacts a martial law, delays or postpones the election, which I certainly don’t put past him. Lets all move towards July 4th with a smile (& vote him out in November). My hope is that we will achieve deep systemic change in the United States, not just by defunding the police but also bringing about a redistribution of wealth & a renewal of non-establishment democracy.
I’m grateful I was able to be in Tulsa for such a explosive moment of civil & political history. Trump & his supporters rub salt in the wound of the urgent call to police brutality; dismissing silent protest of kneeling for the flag, demanding all Americans will “stand for the flag”, the “thugs will be met with Law & Order”, signing an executive order to imprison anyone destroying property rather than get rid of qualified immunity, the ultra bizarre & offensive “God’s plan” of four more years of a Trump presidency. Seeing all of this up close for myself gave me an unshakable perspective. I urge you to elect Biden, be an activist to pressure Biden to do the right thing. In 2024, let’s elect someone much better than Biden. This is a call to elect humanity, not left or right.
I call for more people to assert your opposition at Trump gatherings. See for yourself the Trump base is the underbelly of America, the ugly undercurrent of a past we’re transitioning from, it’s their last gasp. Please help extinguish it.
To watch my entire Trump rally weekend experience, watch my “TULSA” instagram highlight: instagram.com/juliancarr
