I like walking. I walk pretty much everywhere I go. That, and I also like standing. Sometimes, I just stand, like when when I am on the subway and I am waiting for another opportunity to walk somewhere.
I did a lot of walking and a lot of standing on Sunday during the protest march in New York. I told my mom about it.
"You were protesting George Bush?"
"Well, that, and the fact that the Republican Convention is here."
"You can't protest that. They still have a right to have a convention."
"Well sure, mom, but considering how this is the first time the Republicans have ever had a convention in here...well, what do you think is their motive? I'm not going to let them claim New York as their city and use September 11th as the backdrop for their photo-op."
That seemed to make at least a little sense to her. I hope it makes at least that much sense to everyone else.
Now look. I do not intend to say that the Republicans do not have a right to speak. In all fairness, they also have a right to speak in New York. There are Republicans who live here and work here. At the moment, I am pretty damned sure I am working with a fairly large contingent of them.
What I do not intend to allow is the wholesale claiming of my goddamned city for their cause. If I acknowledge that they live here, I intend to make my presence known as well. September 11th did not happen just to the Republicans, nor is their party's response to it the only viable choice. In a week that is going to be given over largely to media coverage of their convention and their point of view, an alternate vision is more than welcome. I think that the march that happened here on Sunday helped show that, even if just a little, and even if tempered with the radical images that nobody else but the protesters are going to understand a anyway.
Still. Walking. And standing.
Walking and standing.
It seems not quite enough, really. When there are people out there who are really putting themselves into trouble's way to ensure expression and notice of their point of view. When there are people who are being arrested for the crime of making Republicans uncomfortable during their dinners, or during intermission. It never hit home until now, I have to admit. I am an absolute neophyte, and I have to sit at home and marvel at the continuously streaming reports of others' daring, while they march and protest and exhibit the kind of courage that I really, truly admire -- in the face of overwhelming odds and intimidating opponents. Not just Sunday's march. But today's. And tomorrow's. And all the people who have done more than me, sitting safely in my comfortable little apartment. The people who have taken part in big actions and little ones, for weeks and months and years. I am truly humbled, and thankful.
Thank you, you who show true bravery.