Walking along the Queer Liberation March, Jennifer Flynn passed me a flyer.
I stuck it in my pocket.
A few days later, I pulled it out, taking a look.
“We won’t back down,” said the flyer. “Abortion is just the beginning. We’re fighting to stop them. Join the largest civil disobedience action for reproductive justice and freedoms in Washington, DC. June 30th.”
The teenager and I looked at the flyer, calling for civil disobedience, getting on the phone with Kate and Jennifer, planning our trip, inviting as many friends as possible to join.
Julia Peter sent me info regarding:
“Participation in the nonviolent civil disobedience on 6.30.22…We are deep in the planning for the rapid response, massive civil disobedience action. We apologize for being slow to get information. Given the nature of this action and the current climate, we needed to undertake more security measures. Please do not share this information with people whom you do not know well. On Thursday, we are encouraging everyone to WEAR WHITE SHIRTS……We are asking you to meet at 9am on Thursday, June 30th, Lutheran Church of the Reformation, 212 East Capitol St NE, Washington, DC 20003, There are buses from NYC leaving at 4:30 a.m. from union square, South/East corner of 14th St and 4th Ave. near the Walgreen's. Thank you for your participation!... See you Thursday…”
The plan was simple enough. We'd meet in DC, march past the Supreme Court, where the new justice was being sworn in, sit down at Constitution and block traffic.
I’ve always felt like action is the best antidote, thoughtful, theatrical, emotional engagement. This is why I support direct action. It’s how I fight despair. Registering people to vote, to organize, to block injustices, to fight for what's right, to dance, to feel, to be part of the solution, to care and connect, this is what it's all about.
In the back of my mind, the lingering question: what’s the definition of insanity?
Doing to same thing over and over and expecting a different result.
Some years, we get a lot of results from civil disobedience.
Others less.
In recent years, this has been the case.
A year ago, to this day, my brother and I drove down for me to pay my fine for crowding , obstructing, and incommoding for asking the US senate minority leader to stop obstructing the US Senate from moving on a voting rights bill with the votes to pass in the senate, house, and exec branch of our govt. Blocked by the filibuster.
Stokely Carmichael may be right.
Non violent civil disobedience only works if opponents have a conscience.
These days I’m not sure if they do.
Nonetheless we act, hoping to match our gestures with a bit of theory, knowledge of history, and common sense.
Zipping to the 430 AM bus, I thought of Tim Lunceford, who usually held a seat for me on these rides to DC. Tim is no longer around.
Yana, who joined us for the direct actions around Amy Coney Barret’s confirmation, texted, saying she was on her way.
Yana had just posted a note about her work.
Yana linked to the CPD action page:
“We Won’t Back Down: Bans Off Our Bodies
Yana and I talked about this moment in history and what brought her here.
“I remember coming to DC in 1986,” she recalled. “That's when women from all over the country came to DC to protect Roe. I remember being inspired. It was my first year in college. The big thing is I wanna put my body on the line, for women’s rights, for dignity and respect as human beings, and standing and solidarity.”
Yana and I talked about the feelings related to what was happening, the sadness, the hostility of the Trumpers at Amy Coney Barret’s hearings, screaming and coughing on opponents during the height of the pandemic.
“There is so much polarization,” said Yana. “Us and them, torturing anyone who identifies as female; its forcing women to be incurbators. It's not valuing life.”
Yana and I are festive revolutionaries, in a vast tribe. She talked about her friends.
“My friends are vast. Many support my work. To make that possible, many believe in my work. They encourage this work. I see most everyone as my friend. My core art is participation. It's interactive. In my art, we build friendship together. I remember being in the streets, defending trees on Ave A. And in Occupy building actions, connecting together, coming together. This is the kind of thing when we have each other’s backs. We’ve built shared knowledge and skills that support new people, dedicated passionate new people, such as those joining Extinction Rebellion.”
Yet, the conflict is everywhere.
“I don’t argue,” says Yana. “I stand up for what I believe in. I do more than talk. I listen. I try to communicate. I find I fade in contentious groups. I wanna respect the conflict and the passion,” says Yana. “Last time I was here someone was mad at me about abortion. I talked with her and found a way to communicate with her.” While disagreeing about the policy, Yana was able able to see herself in the other. “I connected with her about god. I think we have to do other things than dehumanize. That's how wars happen, when we don’t see each other as human. We argue. We are less open. We have boundaries. Not seeing others as human creates stress. I believe in restorative justice. Non-violent communication is so important. Violence hurts us all.”
Yana recalled a demonstration from years prior.
“During the first Gulf War, I experienced it,” said Yana, referring to the kind of antagonism we see more and more of. “Seething red during a march, we were like a mob. I felt myself. I had to stop. It was like a crowd with pitchforks in Frankenstein. Pacifism is hard. Men are born to kill. I come from a generation of pacifists. My grandfather was a conscientious objector in WWII. He was a doctor. They put him in a TB ward where he was exposed to TB. It was the shittiest job. He was punished for it.”
Its been a hard few years. We had a president who sewed division, anti immigrant, anti worker, anti trans biases.
For Yana, the antagonism of the era has deep roots. “It's a kind of brainwashing,” she says, referring to George Lakoff’s Elephant book. “They undermined the 1960’s message,” with language such as pro life, as opposed to women’s health. Before that, women’s sexuality was viewed as positive. That was during the Pre - Code days, before the Hays Code in Hollywood. Pre Code cinema was seen as progressive and open. By the mid- 1930’s Hollywood pushed back. Religion and censorship changed the storyline. “It taught us that using sex and power we would suffer,” said Yana. “I am aware watching these pre code films how I’ve been shamed for my sex. Its power. Women can make life. So its power.
And we are more divided than ever.
“Now we are in our silos,” says Yana, separated. “Watching Fox news, fearful, caught in a vision. 9/11, the more we are full of fear, the less we are able to see. With the Vietnam war, when the papers showed what was happening, we turned on it. Now it's so much manipulation, keeping us away from each other.”
It's a violent culture we live in. Kids are taught violence from a young age. “In Florida growing up, there was corporal punishment in school,” said Yana. “My parents said you can’t touch my kid.”
Chatting away, we were getting close to DC, more announcements, more plans for the day of action.
“I am glad you are here,” said Jennifer Flynn, welcoming everyone when we arrived. The church was full of activists from all over the country. There was Nellini from Occupy Wall Street. And David, from North Carolina, who's been at it for decades, literally since Chicago 1968. He was arrested dozens of times during the successful fights to save the affordable care act. And Charles King, my direct action mentor from Housing Works, who stopped counting his arrests at over 100 in 1992. And Elizabeth, carrying a sign explaining: “I am a labor and delivery nurse! I am here to protect my patients.”
“We are more powerful when we are all together,” Jennifer explains. “We need to stay together, to march. For this we are going to stand together, to engage in non-violent civil disobedience this afternoon. This is one of the darkest periods of my life.”
Our of the darkness into the light, we move.
“I have taught many in nonviolent civil disobedience,” Flynn continues. “We saved the Affordable Care Act when we acted. We can’t let this go. We have to remind people not to take it. We will support you. Non-violence exposes the violence of the state.”
Flynn asked that we all make a commitment to non-violence.
We all pledged.
“I commit to sit and engage in nonviolent civil disobedience.”
The leadership in Planned Parenthood were engaging in nonviolent civil disobedience for the first time.
Look around, make a buddy. Introduce yourself, Flynn followed, walking us through the plan for the sit in on Constitution Ave after our march.
There is a chance you might be put through the system, said Flynn, reminding everyone that people of color are picked up all the time, and held for days without changes, missing picking up their kids for schools, losing jobs, etc. Its torture.
Yet, there is also a chance we get a post and forfeit, leaving on the spot after the arrest.
One in four women get abortions.
We can win this.
We can be ungovernable.
Speech after speech followed.
Legal training.
Dr. Rev. William J. Barber stepped on stage to remind us to think about our work a larger context of struggles against poverty. Pride comes before the fall. We've been here before, in 1857. Like Dred Scott, This decision will only intensify our nonviolent agitation. This is an attack on the 14th Amendment,that saved the constitution. From Voting to civil rights all related to equal protection under the law. With people dying of poverty we know this isn't about life it's about the power of six men. Its minority rule. They want us separated. We have to come together.
Lets look out for each other, many implored. Take care of each other.
Walking over to the action, Yana tied a bandana over her eyes, abortion is a human right...said Yana.
Walking, we were joined by
@katebarnhart1975, who pointed out, the abortion ban is just the beginning of the religious attack on freedoms, equal protections, equal rights... taking a bust for justice with hundreds of friends…fighting for reproductive autonomy.
Abortion is healthcare. Healthcare is a right. We are sick of minority rule.... it's not a time to be quiet.... it's a time for trouble…
The arrests were quick, some 180 of us.
News reports quickly detailed our efforts.
As we were being processed, across the street from the court, someone noted the Scrotus aborted the EPA the same week they said women cant take care of themselves, while telling states they can't choose their own gun laws. It's like a rampage - destroy the country in one fell swoop, a judicial shooting spree. Rev barber said Dred Scott hastened the insurrection. Feels like that now.
Kate and King gave Yana and I a ride home, chatting about years of civil disobedience along the way, busts with ACT UP, with Yell, CPD and Housing Works for decades, story after story, of actions and judges and lawyers, villains and board of education security guards and comrades well into the evening.
Later that day, Dr. Rev. William J. Barber and Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis posted a note:
“....as we reflect on our nation’s history, it is clear, now more than ever that we are in a moral, economic, and constitutional crisis. Last week the Supreme Court decided against important decisions on women’s rights, environmental regulations, gun safety, immigrant rights, indigenous rights, housing, public health and protections from police violence that reveal a deeper crisis of legitimacy facing this country. The essence of the Third Reconstruction is to center those who are most impacted by the interlocking injustices in our laws, policies, systems and structures, in order to ensure we can all thrive and realize the nation we have yet to be. Our current crises are rooted in the myth of scarcity and demands that we ask who we are willing to exclude. Our answer is simple and clear: Our Third Reconstruction will build a nation that lifts from the bottom, and everybody will rise. Everybody in, nobody out!...”
This is a fight that has been going on a long time.
July 3rd, Sarah Schulman posted:
“When the Supreme Court ruled in 1986 in Bowers v Hardwick that sodomy laws should stand, even in the middle of the mass-death experience that was AIDS -in my view- it re-politicized the gay community and made possible the rise of Direct Action AIDS activism, which in turn created a progressive cultural shift. Of course it took 17 years for Sodomy laws to ultimately be overturned. Abortion was made legal nationally in 1973, but the 1979 Hyde Amendment took away Medicaid funding except in 7 states. So since 1979 abortion has not been available to poor women in 43 states, and in many of those states there were limited or no providers. So, the crisis has been ongoing and long term. Right now the frontline is legal - with our favorite organizations fighting tooth and nail on multiple fronts. There are legislative strategies (more successful on state by state basis than federal), alternate legal strategies (privacy, anti-discrimination etc) and of course private funding (there is no public funding in most states for abortion) creating infrastructure for travel to abortion facilities out-of-state and for dissemination of medical (pills) abortion. So, it is a chaotic field, confusing, filled with opportunity, disaster, and everything breaking down to local and organizational accomplishments.”
Anne-christine d'Adesky reminds us ·
“...keep remembering: we are the majority—we being progressives, in the Dem, GOP and as political independents. SCOTUS has gone rogue, but we are not in Putin’s Russia either. I write this because I’m hearing friends who are in despair, doomscrolling, planning their future outside of the US. none of those responses is wrong 🙂 but it’s critical to balance fury and outrage and sorrow with positive emotions. The majority of Americans are good and support common civil rights. Faith is not an enemy: it helps people cope with an overwhelming world. Imposing an orthodox religious doctrine on others is a serious problem. Everyday children are being born, friends are made, art is dreamed, the bees pollinate flowers, the oceans and nature offer simple beauty. Everything may feel imperiled but there is so much to love and like and fill your heart with gratitude. You are alive for the good fights of your time. How lucky you are for that simple fact. If you are able-bodied, of sound mind, you are triply blessed. Rest and rage, smile and rant. Keep the positive energy from souring your spirit to the point where your enemies would be happy. Love your community above all and find support during these hard times. And yes—free Brittney Yvette Griner! Make more noise. Keep her in the hottest spotlight. — peace out all my FB friends. We’re in for a long fighting stretch here. Pacing is critical. — ac
On the bus to DC to pay our fines, Kate Barnhart posted:
"Heading to DC to pay last week’s ticket for “incommoding” Activism involves a lot of early mornings, not my favorite, but we - I- cannot stand silently by while this darkness envelopes our country. Staying and fighting is my antidote to being swallowed by despair as our rights, our democracy, our health and that of the planet, are stripped away."
From FP:
dear friends,
we would like to share a new poster fierce pussy has just released today July 4.
it is attached here as a pdf and as a jpeg.
please print it out, put it up, share it widely via email and on social media.
PDF available.
Carrie Yamaoka
Joy Episalla
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