We stood with many others (I cannot guess a number) along busy Route 20, carrying home-made signs, chanting slogans, waving to passing cars, and acknowledging one another in a very upbeat atmosphere. We were all ages and conditions of folk, mostly white but a few Black. The signs we carried decried many aspects of the Trump administration. A few contained personal attacks on him and others.
There were a few Trump signs in our crowd, carried by people who seemed willing to engage in conversation with anyone who approached them. I heard no raised or angry voices.
Other than a sign stating that “Jesus would be a socialist,” I saw or heard nothing about socialism, one way or the other. Across the street a speaker with a huge sign about sin and damnation tried to bring some folks to Jesus. I would love to have heard a conversation between those two!
A memorable thing happened when a good-sized, red pick-up stopped right in front of us. The older man who was driving got out, and the woman who was with him slid into the driver’s seat. For a moment I feared what they might be up to. He walked around the truck, took a sign out of the back seat, and then somehow got himself into the bed of the truck, where he stood displaying a sign that said something about the USMC (Marine Corps) and liberty. I wish I had a picture of it, but I believe he was a veteran expressing his dismay at what President Trump’s administration and party are visiting upon the land he defended.
The drivers of many of the vehicles that passed by honked their horns or raised their fists in support of us. Some of them had signs, too, and when they passed us more than once I realized they were part of our crowd. A few drivers flipped us the bird or gave us a thumbs down; we responded with peace signs and waved flags. Most drivers just drove on by looking straight ahead, trying not to get involved. I understand that.
There were quite a few American flags in our crowd, and since no one tore them out of anyone’s hands, or stomped on or burned them, I am quite sure I was not in a “Hate America” rally. Nothing I saw or heard indicated anyone around me was pro-Hamas, or pro any of the other things Speaker Johnson warned us about. He, like many of his cohorts, is living inside the Beltway bubble that only believes what serves their particular political interest, and who have little contact with day-to-day American life and Americans ourselves.
Ours was an orderly crowd, and as far as I experienced it, a passionate one, too. We love America and fear losing her. I dare to hope that we will all continue to find ways to demonstrate America’s truth to the powers that threaten our way of life. I trust that, with sustained effort, we will be able to get back to the business of securing liberty and justice for us all.
We observed similar positive America loving crowds with us in Sandusky and a small percentage of silent and only a few negative gestures and signs driving by!
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