I was in New York last week for a wedding and took the time to visit the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island for the first time. At the base of the Statue reads a quote, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Unless we find out that the election really was rigged by Russian hackers or Wikileaks, we will all be using the words, “President Trump” for the next four years. Let me make one thing clear, most of the protesters know this. We know that the election will not be overturned but WE WILL show the world that not all Americans agree with it!
We protest because the next president of the United States WILL NOT be a bragadier of sexual assault. That IS NOT OK. That IS NOT acceptable!
We protest because making fun of people with disabilities IS NOT OK!
We protest because we stand up for the 11 million parents, kids, brothers, cousins, and friends who are within the boundaries of this country “illegally” who are working three jobs to put their kids through school just like everybody else. They WILL NOT be rounded up and deported and separated from their families. They deserve a path to citizenship because they work hard and play by the rules. Americans should believe in bridges not walls.
We protest for the more than 3 million Muslims living in this country peacefully and the millions more who are trying to flee for their lives from the war-torn region in which they live. Any time throughout history a single religion has been singed out … well, lets just say it never ends well.
We protest because climate change is real, it is happening, and WE NEED to rise to the challenge. If we don’t the consequences are nothing less than the destruction of civilization as we know it. No, that is not an exaggeration.
We protest because we WILL NOT stand for all the many other blatant racist, sexist, illegal and backwards things this person named Donald Trump has said and DONE.
We protest the lies that were told.
We protest because we believe America ALREADY IS great!
And above all, When we put all these things together, we protest because we are unbearably sad that the United States of America is no longer that Beacon on the Hill. That shining light of hope for a better world and more perfect union. We protest because the gears of democracy are failing us.
Now we protest. For the next four years we will protest. We will protest in every way we can. We are and will continue to be and grow in all the undercurrents of society. We protest on every level until it bubbles up and busts out the top of a mountain of truth, clarity, and justice.