We don’t find any of this funny
Peacefully protesting in an age of chaos
Editors note:
Tonight at 6 pm, please join us for our GENERAL MEETING. Get an overview of what we’re doing right now, how we got here, and where we think we’re headed.
You have to sign up for the link.
And on June 14, please STAND WITH US along Farmers Lane. Read more about What We Are Doing on June 14.
This week
By Sabra Briere, editor
When encountering wanna-be Nazis, heckling is absolutely the correct reaction.
When anticipating a wanna-be police state being imposed by the people who run your country, peaceful demonstrations coupled with parody are tools to use, and use wisely.
It’s all about attitude. We have an attitude.
We’ve been waiting for Martial Law since 2020. In the face of thug energy, we must remain peaceful. Focused. Determined.
It started smallish. One student kidnapped from her university campus. One group of accused criminals rounded up and sent to a foreign prison, without a lawyer, without a trial, without a conviction.
We could almost ignore it. Almost.
But there was more. The kidnappers? They wore masks. They didn’t have warrants. The judges? They determined the government was breaking the law. And instead of doing things the right way, the government just got worse.
Arresting 4th graders.
Arresting people who were following the law — tourists, legal immigrants, green-card holders.
Service members as they were honorably discharged from the military. Hardworking and respected community members.
Entire neighborhoods rose up to object. These masked men in their body armor who refused to identify themselves or show any warrant — why should the neighborhood believe that they were really ICE? They followed them and took photos. They shouted. They stood in the way.
Nonviolently. Civil disobediently.
In Boston. Chicago. New York. San Diego. Los Angeles.
Now the current president has ordered about 2000 California National Guard to show up in Los Angeles in response to what he considers a riot. Interference with law enforcement.
Both Governor Newsom and Mayor Bass made it clear that the state did not authorize or want the National Guard deployed. Under normal circumstances, the president cannot federalize a state’s National Guard without the governor’s consent unless the Insurrection Act is formally invoked, which Trump did not do. Instead, he used a Title 10 to activate Guard units under federal command, something that is constitutionally dubious and violates the Posse Comitatus Act, which bars federal troops from engaging in domestic law enforcement without proper authorization.
This maneuver also clashes with the Militia Clause in the U.S. Constitution (Article I, Section 8, Clause 15), which gives Congress, not the president, the power to call forth the militia under specific conditions like insurrection or invasion. Without those conditions being met and without state consent, Trump’s move amounts to a clear violation of constitutional limits and federal law. In my opinion.
I won’t hold my breath for Congress to object.
For almost 25 years, I’ve seen how more and more of us have been triggered in all the bad ways by fear of immigrants. It wasn’t funny in 2001, when people beat up Sikh men because they didn’t understand, well, anything about Islam and not-Islam. (Which isn’t to excuse anyone being beaten.) It wasn’t funny in 2017, when children were separated from their parents at the border and sent to live with American couples … with no records kept of where the children were. And it’s not funny now.
But tragic isn’t the word, either.
We can watch the law try to catch up with events, and sincerely hope that, eventually, sanity will rule and the law will make things right. And maybe that will happen.
In the meantime, while we wait, two real things will happen.
Individual lives will be diverted and damaged, sometimes irreparably.
And the fabric of our nation, that relies on our willingness to follow the law, will be frayed and worn, and torn through. And quite possibly weakened beyond our ability to understand, or mend, or make it whole again.
This is why I protest. I could wait. I can watch. But I cannot be quiet.
No Clowning Around
The theme of this protest seems lightweight to some of us. It’s not.
Indivisible National points out that we do not have a king. We do not give unlimited power to one person to rule over us. And we know, here in Sonoma County, that it’s not only one man in the White House that’s our problem. There’s this whole group of enablers and boot lickers who prop that man up and use him as a tool to get what they really want — a country that runs as a religio-fascistic state; an autocratic state that will control every aspect of our lives and our government; a country of the rich, by the rigid, for the few.
This is not the country previous generations fought to build. This is not the country that listens to the better angels of our nature. And that’s why we roundly reject what they want to impose on us — all those clowns that think they can take over our country.
You don’t have to look too far to see what their purpose is. They turn us against each other.
Their masked thugs invade our neighborhoods and businesses, targeting people with dark skins. They are careless about rights and laws.
When confronted, they lie.
Our power comes from our determination to stand together. To resist. To be strong.
We show our strength every week, and we demonstrate our determination when we come together to protest.
ICE is in our community. But it isn’t only ICE we are fighting. We are fighting for the rights of every person living in our country. We are fighting for our dignity, our health, our children, our planet, and our future.
Each protest you attend is important. The Santa Rosa protest on June 14 will be the most visible protest to date. That’s why we’re on Farmers Lane, one of the busiest streets in Santa Rosa — a Federal highway that runs through our heart.
Bring your solidarity.
Bring your outrage.
Bring your determination.
Bring your flags
Next Saturday, June 14, is almost upon us. Whether you are a veteran or standing shoulder to shoulder with one, bring a flag or two. Draw them on your sign. Wear them in your hair. Celebrate Flag Day.
Whatever flags you want, including Old Glory.
Click here to donate
From Indivisible National
Last night, the Trump regime activated the National Guard to crush peaceful protests against brutal ICE raids that’ve been taking place throughout Los Angeles County.
“Peaceful protests” is not just our phrasing. The Los Angeles Police Department issued a statement last night commending protesters for remaining nonviolent. That stands in stark contrast to the behavior of ICE, which has marauded through the streets in full tactical gear, launching gas at protesters, disappearing community members, and injuring California SEIU President David Huerta as he exercised his right to record them. Huerta remains in detention as we write this.
Clearly, the deployment of military forces was an unnecessary abuse of power by this regime intended to chill dissent against its attacks on our rights, our families, and our communities. They want to sow fear, to escalate, to provoke an emergency that will justify the exercise of ever-greater authoritarian powers.
But we will not cower. On June 14, we are going to rise up all across the country in defiance of this administration’s authoritarian agenda.
More than ever, it is critical that we come together to show we will not submit to Trump’s fear tactics. He can roll tanks through DC, he can deploy the military to LA, but we can mobilize millions in large cities and small towns from sea to shining sea.
If you have friends who’ve been alarmed about the events unfolding in LA, urge them to join you next Saturday.
But knowing that tyrants aim to provoke violence as a pretense for enacting emergency powers and further crackdown, it’s essential we all commit to a central tenet of the No Kings mass mobilization: Non-violence.
We strongly encourage all No Kings participants to attend the ACLU’s Know Your Rights Training, this Tuesday at 7pm ET / 4pm PT, which will prepare you to handle any encounter with law enforcement and de-escalate tense situations at marches and protests (en Español a las 5:15pm PT).
And for folks in LA, please know we’ve been in touch with No Kings event organizers and offered additional resources to keep these events -- which are going forward as planned -- peaceful and productive.
Let’s all draw inspiration from the folks who bravely showed up to peacefully protest heavily armed ICE officers this weekend. People who came out to defend their neighbors, their communities, and their sense of what this country is supposed to stand for.
See you on June 14.
The violence in our communities - in response to non-violent resistance
We challenge authority through our resistance. That makes them … nervous. Nervous people get uncomfortable. Uncomfortable people can become hostile.
Hostile people can be violent.
We need to deal with our reactions when someone becomes violent in the face of our non-violence.
It’s not easy. Here’s a simple guide. I’m using it. I’m sharing it with you.
Sign up here for Santa Rosa’s No Kings
Guest Editorials
Heather Cox Richardson’s
10 Steps to Revolution
Journey to American Democracy examines how ordinary people worked to make the principles the founders articulated in the Declaration of Independence the law of the land. This series, Ten Steps to Revolution, explains how the king's American subjects came to oppose monarchy and, over the course of only thirteen years, to embrace the right to govern themselves.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2dS6uX1RkUyIQKUhI72xmstYGNpN_k1B
Today’s Edition Newsletter
Robert Hubbell
Trump is engaging in a slow-rolling coup designed to undermine our Constitution. He has hijacked the news cycle by provoking anger and scattered violence over militarized immigration raids. We must redirect the protests to focus on the unconstitutional actions of Trump. The ICE and DHS agents are bait. Ignore them. Focus on Trump's unconstitutional actions. Those unconstitutional actions include deportation of immigrants without due process—but much, much more. DOGE. Travel bans. Illegal layoffs. Retaliation against universities, law firms, and states. Weaponizing the DOJ and FBI. Redirect the protests to Trump's actions.
Read more here:
Letters from an American
Heather Cox Richardson
Governor Newsom posted that he has “formally requested the Trump Administration rescind their unlawful deployment of troops in Los Angeles county and return them to my command. We didn’t have a problem until Trump got involved. This is a serious breach of state sovereignty—inflaming tensions while pulling resources from where they’re actually needed. Rescind the order. Return control to California.” The Democratic governors issued a statement standing with Newsom and calling Trump’s order “ineffective and dangerous.”
Read more (almost a minute by minute account, which I had been waiting for) below:
For more actions, click here:
Check our website for more information and to learn more about Indivisible. Don’t forget to bookmark our calendar (yes, it’s on the website!) Every protest, rally, action, postcard party, phonebank, and letter writing campaign we hear about we share with you. Rely on our calendar to get you started. Rely on us to keep you engaged.