solidheron

cross-posted from: https://sh.itjust.works/post/53257330

I Joined a group of protestors in support and solidarity of one of our own being murdered and having horrendous things happening to them

I like putting memoirs of the protests I go to on Lemmy in hopes that it inspires others to go out, do things, explore, and take action. I had fun and who knew waving and dancing at traffic like an idiot could be so entertaining.

**Intro: ** I heard about the protest at a meal share that PDSA was doing the day before and I actually wanted to reach out to them to inform them of the Flock cameras that were next to the bridge. Then I wanted to get more involved since they were coming to my city and I could take my e-bike to protest.

Meeting up: So it was awkward getting to the meetup location. I knew they were getting lunch beforehand and I showed up early to the point and kinda waited for them with my book bag. I even walked into the restaurant asking the staff if I was meeting up with a party who I had no idea what they looked like or how many there were, so I had to go back outside and wait. Eventually they found me and we met up.

Early part of the protest: The original group of 4, including me, got set up and I erected the flagpole I carried in the background. As we got onto the bridge the wind picked up which was good for the flags but just murder on any signs. The sign I brought got ripped out of my hands and fell into the harbor and made its way into the Gulf of Mexico. The sign read "ICE MELTS in FL". More people trickled in and I see more signs in memory of Renee Good and two inflatable costumes (one Cookie Monster and one baby Trump). I did come across the woman I met from the first No Kings Day protest (I recognized her from her oxygen concentrator) and apparently she has been to all the No Kings protests. I told her I was the guy that had the Palestinian flag. Two men showed up with three flags: Dominican Republic, Honduras, and I think Colombia was the third one. I tried my best to get their flags to show off what colorful flags these countries have. I tried to give him a DSA pin I have so that he could pin part of the flag to his shirt, but he ended up wearing it. I showed off my megaphone I brought and when I set it up the Spanish speakers asked me to say "Chinga la Migra" and I gave them several takes and kept saying "I'm trying my best." (I looked it up and it means fuck the border patrol/ICE lol).

Response from the traffic: Apparently it is mostly positive but I never know if a honked horn is positive or negative, but I treat it as positive anyway. Some people put their hands out to wave or waved in the car. I did hear a bit of cheering from the cars. I am gonna say the negative attention was way more hilarious. I could not hear everyone from their cars because of the wind and traffic, but one couple was red in the face and yelling at the group. People were flipping us off from their car cabin as I waved and smiled. My favorite was the guy who pantomimed turning the car into the group even though there was a concrete barrier in front of us, so I kind of wished they did just for the adrenaline. The craziest thing was when I separated from the group to take pictures from the top of the bridge with my LGBT flag held high and some guy on the passenger side of the truck called me the f-slur then threw a metal handle to a fishing reel at me. The handle never hit me but it made a ping sound and it was left on the bridge. I wanted to believe it was a metal pipe and they could not get any more drugs.

Later parts of the protest: I came across a pedestrian and bike rider who thanked me for protesting, and I tried to say thanks for the support and after an awkward pause they told me Jesus died for me (definitely was a hard thing for them to say). Then some teenagers came and took some pics. I thought they were the same guys who threw the handle, but they were interested in what everyone was doing and I posed in the picture. The rest was me throwing my heart at people and waving until everyone wrapped up and said goodbye.

protest was in a deep red area that consistently goes to republicans in elections