No, I will not be protesting

Thank you for your concern, but it's the protesters I'm afraid of

A dear friend of mine from North Carolina wrote me an email yesterday. He was very concerned about me and my mom, as he had heard that ICE is coming to Philadelphia, and that the military may be called in. He said he assumed I would be protesting this Saturday and that he and his wife will be. He hopes that my mom and I are safe.

That’s sweet. I really do appreciate the concern.

That being said, let’s unpack this for a minute.

First, my mother lives over an hour away from Philadelphia and while she faces challenges, neither ICE nor the military are among them.

Second, I am an American citizen. I am a white woman. I have a passport and a driver’s license. So I’m not really the target here… at least, not of actual American law enforcement of any kind.

Third, where I live is dangerous as it is, now, largely because of decades of failed liberal policies in what has long been a dark blue city. Crime is rampant on a good day, cars run stop signs and nearly kill me, and I don’t leave my apartment at night. I’m not a scaredy cat white woman - I’ve lived and taught in urban areas that most white people would never walk into. But I am realistic. I know I am a defenseless target. My friends urge me to get a gun. I will not. I do not believe that a gun would make me safer. However, I was grateful for the mini-taser flashlight a reader gave me - I’ll be carrying it! “May you use it in good health,” she wrote on the gift card. Gotta love that.

You know who I am afraid of? The protesters. Why? Not just because of what I’ve seen and read, but because I HAVE KNOWN THEM. I was involved in 2000 in the aftermath of the protests at the Republican National Convention where 420 people, most of them completely innocent of any illegal activity at all, even civil disobedience, were arrested, beaten and raped in jail, and held in long court proceedings that could have ruined their lives. I did press, ran errands, housed innumerable protesters, cooked vegan stews, did jail support and courtroom support. I enforced the policy on what people could wear to support others at trial. Leave your freak show at home, dress like a normal person to come to court cause the jury is watching you too. Even in times of trial, literally, I am the fashion police.

Back then I knew Black Bloc anarchists. Some of them were quite well read, thoughtful, in great shape and hot. The tale of one I picked up from jail who needed a place to stay need not detain us.

What I saw then and have seen grow is that some people see political violence as not just acceptable but as a positive good. These people have gradually taken over. Meanwhile, foreign influences of all sorts appear to be present, agitating and adding to the mayhem.

I am a strong supporter of peaceful expression. I’m probably one of the only ones of you who has actually been arrested in a civil disobedience action. I risked my Yale diploma to take over the Yale President’s office in 1996 in support of striking union workers. We were entirely peaceful, did not disrupt anyone’s education or harass any students, and were arrested. We went to court and did our mandated community service dutifully, painting the New Haven Courthouse (the prosecutor said, “These kids love to volunteer at homeless shelters! That’s not a punishment! Let’s make them paint the Courthouse!” It needed it too.)

I do not support political violence and I am really concerned about those who do. Too many of my friends have not thought much about it but go around praising assassins and rioters. Real people die. Real people are hurt. Real people lose their husband and father.

If you say you are okay with political violence, then you’re okay with it when they come after you too.

From what I have seen, quite a few among these protesters intend violence. They are using normal people who just want to come out and exercise their right to peaceful free expression as human shields. They do not care if you get hurt or arrested or tear gassed. You’re collateral damage, no more important than the families of the police officers whose cars they set on fire.

And let us not forget how many of our “friends” on the Left are willing to let us be hurt if we don’t come out as “As a Jews” and put on a keffiyeh. Remember how they threw us under every moving conveyance they could find?

The last time there were political protests, the looters took to the streets of my neighborhood. They smashed the windows of the local liquor store and stole all the booze. They smashed locally owned, mostly Asian businesses that have been here for decades and looted. I walked over glass on the sidewalk to get anywhere for weeks after, maybe months.

Loviefluffy and I hid in the dark in our apartment, hoping no one would notice us. You see why I don’t put an Israeli flag in my window? These crazies would throw a brick through it.

White liberals are afraid of the military. To me, this is performative nonsense. The military is not coming after white registered voters, unless they are being useful idiots/human shields for rioters. Stay home and you’ll be fine. While home, engage in some meaningful expression, such as writing your congress people or submitting letters to the editor. I’ll even hook you up with my editor at Splice Today who may publish you. Btw, hysterical posts on Facebook are not meaningful political expression, though I suppose they feel good or else people wouldn’t keep doing them. My feed is all flowers and cats.

Leaving aside any question about immigration, an issue that I may touch on at another point or I may not, going to these protests is a bad idea. It is not safe, and it will not send the message you want.

If you are a liberal, progressive or Democrat of any stripe, please be aware that these protests are an ad for the Trump administration to the rest of the country. Law and order and immigration: two big issues. Normal people do not want their highways to be shut down by rock and firecracker throwing maniacs. If Democrats can’t control the chaos and the President calls in the military to do so, normal people will think that’s fine. So if you’re trying to win the next election…. which at this point I don’t think the Democrats are… shut down the protests and restore law and order!

I live with the consequences of policies pushed by people in nice houses who’ve never had to wonder how they would pay their rent. I see the mass chaos, the incivility, the danger, the glass on the sidewalk, the trash all over the urban classroom and the city street. How many empty bags of Doritos do you have to see per day in locations other than a trash bin to realize that something has gone wrong? How many gangs on motorbikes jamming up a busy city intersection putting everyone in danger do you have to see to want something to change? How many times do you have to walk to the corner store and get harassed by people begging for money who clearly need to be in an institution? How many times do you have to get off the subway because, yet again, there has been a violent incident or someone has taken a lethal substance and passed out on the train?

No, I will not be protesting. My life experience has changed my mind. Talking to hundreds even thousands of people all across the country, including hundreds of registered Democrats in Southern California, has changed my mind. I am no liberal. Not anymore. The Party of Performative Meltdowns and Violent Wacko Anarchists can live without my vote unless it wins it back.

I hope you enjoy your - hopefully protest-free - Saturday.

If you don’t like it, talk to the hibiscus.