Protest

Huge crowds of mostly young people of all colors are demanding change. They will not stop demanding until the change has come, REAL change, BIG change.

The first time I was arrested at a protest, I was in my 20’s. My best friend Sydne convinced me to meet her at UCLA to expose animal experimentation being performed on dogs and cats in their labs. The signs we held up with photos were unbearable to look at. Dogs and cats with square metal things screwed into their furry heads, sad eyes looking downward and hopeless. The thought of these helpless animals living such unloved lives made me sick and I wanted to help expose the senseless cruelty.

We marched with our signs calling for an end to vivisection at UCLA. We blocked entrances to labs and finally stormed the Deans office, where we were promptly arrested. Civil disobedience for animal rights, I found out, does not warrant a trip to jail. That was a relief. We were handcuffed with plastic zip ties and given citations. At the time, we couldn’t foresee that my friend Sydne would become a District Attorney and run for Superior Court Judge. She still believes in the right to peaceful protest and in civil disobedience.

A few years later my vigilant friend and I joined a nationwide animal rights protest in Washington DC. It felt empowering to give a voice to the voiceless

In 1992 the verdict came in acquitting the 4 cops who beat the crap out of Rodney King. I was on Sunset Blvd listening to the play by play on the radio making my way home when the city erupted. The black community was enraged and who could blame them? Fires were being set, businesses attacked, looting, rioting, yelling, death and destruction. Innocent people were pulled out of their cars and trucks and beaten up. We watched the news chopper footage in horror while no one came to help, no police no paramedics. There were no peaceful protests. Only carnage and rage at the injustice of the acquittal.

In 2016 I joined hundreds of thousands to protest in Los Angeles with our pussy hats for the Women’s March. We were largely concerned about the threat to our reproductive, civil and human rights, especially for women. Our new President was a misogynistic, womanizing man that made crude comments regarding women, minorities and immigrants. It was the largest single day protest in US history. No arrests, just peaceful protesting.

Right now, my town, my country, the world is beyond the boiling point. Huge crowds, of mostly young people of all colors are demanding change and they will not stop demanding until the change has come, REAL change, BIG change.

We’ve been cooped up staying home, working from home, not working from home, schooling from home and eating at home for months now. For some this has been a staycation. For others, struggling to feed their families and pay their bills, it’s been bleak and stressful. Anxiety and too much time to think are side effects of Covid 19.

When George Floyd was murdered at the hands of a white cop, the environment was ripe for an explosion, ripe for marching in the streets, ripe for a battle cry to action, a new normal. So many are fed up and the time was right to show it. Along with the peaceful protestors, I do not believe in violence, looting, property destruction or defunding the police. It’s reform and education that’s needed.

Was George Floyd the perfect candidate for martyrdom? Maybe not. Should worldwide protests have erupted when Trayvon Martin, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Philando Castile or Breonna Taylor were killed? George Floyd was the unlucky one who lost his life at a time that our country was at a tipping point. The video of his death was long and painful to watch. Unfortunately, we have leadership that divides instead of unites us. Leadership that thinks it’s ok to unleash tear gas and rubber bullets on peaceful protestors, leadership that doesn’t really appear to give a crap about humans and can’t acknowledge injustice, helping to spark the outrage.

I know as a white girl I’m being told to shut up and listen. They’re right, I am listening and learning. I’ve learned what white privilege really means, I’ve learned that systemic racism is a huge and prevalent problem and I’ve learned that police brutality exists with horrible consequences. I believe it’s our right to use civil disobedience in protest. But I could never TRULY know what it’s like to be black in America.

Now this white girl will shut up and learn some more.