Today, I had some postcards for pickup in Petaluma (some lively alliteration there, eh?) -- and in the process, drove by a BLM demonstration at Walnut Park, smack dab in the middle of town.
By the time I got back around to it, the whole group, a few hundred or so, had already completed 8 1/2 minutes of kneeling and had moved on down Petaluma Boulevard toward Washington Street, which is where I caught up with them. We demonstrators took over all four corners of this main intersection in town, eliciting much honking, waving and a quite a few Black Power salutes - you know, right fist in the air, with slight bend to the elbow, all action. I was impressed by how people kept their social distances, how all were wearing masks, that most people were carrying signs to stand-in for shouting and chanting. And the number of young people. Teenagers, high schoolers, early college, parents with youngsters. This is when a movement gets strong, when it's no longer just us grey hairs waving signs and carrying on, looking like cranks to the general populace who have to get to and from work, who have to finish papers, study for exams, make meals, dress children. Today there were whole families in this demonstration and march, staying in small pods as the whole protest gathered up, and walked, in separated small groups of twos and threes, down to the police station.
It was over 90 degrees that day in a town more famous for the cooling effects of the marine layer. I was already feeling overheated and lightheaded and I knew the walk was not only two miles down the main drag but another two miles back to retrieve my car. I walked until we left the shade of the park and sidewalk trees. I took some pictures, I clapped my hands and then I reluctantly returned to my car. But I would be no good to anyone if I fainted from sun and heat and certainly didn't want to risk being shuttled to a hospital in the Time of Covid.
It was worth it to add my body to the protest, even that short bit. The murders of black citizens have me unnerved and restless; I want to be able to add my weight to the uprising, to the the rumbles of history. I want the world to acknowledge the horror of the actions of that callous cop; I want those in this country who defend his cold-blooded actions to be shamed. And shut down.
This restlessness and unease and desire to make it known is rooted in the horror of this Administration's tacit and outright support of white supremacists. It's wrong and we know it. This is one way to channel that unease, one way to yell at the Republicans and let them know we're not going to take it any more.
