Friday afternoon as I was walking out of the Love Rally in Washington Square Park, I heard a little girl ask her father “what’s a protest?” as she looks out over the crowd of people with their signs and flags. It would have been an easy enough question to answer, this is a protest, look around you, you’re in one. But her father replied thoughtfully, “Well, a protest is when you disagree with something and then you get together with a lot of people who agree with you and you all disagree together. So you’re not disagreeing alone.” The little girl seemed to find this answer satisfactory, so she went back to watching the protestors chant.
Perhaps in the future, that little girl won’t remember that time her father took her to protest for love and acceptance and against the man who will become our president in January -- probably the first president that little girl will remember. But maybe she’ll understand a little better why it was so important that he did.
The foundational principle of America is freedom, particularly freedom of speech. The first amendment gives us the right to freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom to assemble, and freedom to address the government about issues the public finds. In short, we have the freedom to protest. And protest we should.
Most of the arguments I’ve seen online against the anti-Trump protests are that protestors are millennial cry babies who need to grow up and accept Trump as president because nothing they do is going to change the situation. I’ve also seen it called un-American and undemocratic. It is exactly the opposite. The people who are protesting – a significant portion are young, but I’ve seen people of all ages — know that standing outside of Trump Tower or blocking major roadways isn’t going to change the number of electoral votes Trump received. I don’t think any of the protesters think that Trump is just going to come out onto a balcony, apologize, step down, and magically let Hillary Clinton take his place.
But critics are missing the point. Protesting really isn’t about ousting Trump before he’s been inaugurated, however implausibly wonderful that would be. The protests are about voicing fear, about accountability, and about making sure that the new administration hears the voices of those they have tried to drown out. It’s about making sure that Trump knows he doesn’t just get to start over or have the sins of the campaign immediately absolved. If Trump is ever going to be a president within the bounds of an American democracy, he needs to learn to take criticism from his people.
Going back to the words of that father in the park, protesting truly does make people feel less alone. You can still be sad and scared and angry in a crowd of thousands, but it helps to know they are all feeling the same way. For those whose bodies and livelihoods have been threatened by the new administration, voicing that fear and anger alongside those who they know support them may be where they feel the safest. I was upset after the election, fearful for my friends who could be truly hurt by Trump’s policies, but after a day of wallowing, marching up 5th Avenue surrounded by protesters made me think that maybe we could get through it together.
