March 26 Blog: No Kings & Don't Miss the Many Good Things Happening

Dear Friends:   

The regime’s horrors continue, but it is spring, which always helps me keep things in perspective, at least a little. And I’m looking forward to being part of one of the many No Kings III events nationwide this Saturday.

But before I get to No Kings, I recommend that you check out the very positive perspective of Rebecca Solnit, which you can explore in The Interview podcast or read about in The Guardian. Many of my readers will likely be familiar with Ms. Solnit, or remember her as the person who came up with the term “mansplaining.” She came up with the term after being in a conversation with a (typically) arrogant man who started explaining a book to her — unaware that she had written the book. In sum, she talks about how very far we have come in her lifetime, which is that of myself and most of my readers, I think. This tumult we are in is yet another backlash to advances humans are making, but it will not prevent those advances in the long run. It’s an important perspective and underscores the importance of history and memory.

Meanwhile, in our present, this Saturday’s No Kings III is on track to be the largest mass demonstration ever. There are over 3,100 different events registered as of a few days ago. In April, for the Hands Off event, which originated the No Kings events, there were about 1,300 registered events, and about 3 million people came out. For No Kings I, last June, there were 2,100 events, and about 5 million people came out. No Kings II brought out about 7 million people. How many more can we get out on Saturday? These events help build a common identity and spread courage. The flagship event Saturday will be in Minneapolis. I hope all my readers can participate in some way, wherever they are.

There are many events to choose from locally in Arlington. There is a LOT going on! If you haven’t decided yet what you will do, the WOFA website has a great spreadsheet of events to choose from. I think the Hands Across Arlington event along Glebe Road will be notable. You can sign up and pick where you want to stand from 1–3 p.m. If you’d like to come by the Fairlington bridge, we’ll be there from 10 a.m. to noon with music and some fun costumes. There are many other bridge protests, which you can find on the WOFA list.

Along with nationally focused messages, we will be promoting the Vote Yes campaign for the redistricting referendum here in Virginia. The Democratic Party in Virginia was pretty slow out of the gate on this issue, and there is a lot of misunderstanding about the referendum. Many people don’t know about it at all, which I covered in my last blog. One of my readers, Steven Anders, is part of a group doing training for those interested in learning how best to talk to other people about the referendum. There will be a virtual training workshop on April 7, from 7:00–8:15 p.m., with Elizabeth Chur, author of The Joy of Talking Politics with Strangers. Elizabeth will share practical strategies for building rapport and earning voters’ trust, demonstrate how to explain this complex issue in clear, understandable terms, and offer approaches for helping voters work through any mixed feelings about the proposed amendment. The training has good carryover for any political conversation, not just about the referendum. You can sign up on Mobilize here.

As always, I hope this has been helpful to my readers. These are dark times, but also exciting and inspiring as we build community while defending our democracy.

Yours in peaceful resistance,

Libby