Sue and I believe it is imperative on each of us to turn out and speak up if we are to save our democracy, so we attend organized protests whenever we can. We have attended rallies in our hometown of Charleston, S.C., but also in Columbia and Beaufort. And all of them share some important, even crucial, traits. The crowds are always large, happy, enthusiastic, purposeful, prepared, loud, together, peaceful, old and white.<\/p>\n
It’s those last two words, old and white, that bother me. I don\u2019t know what it\u2019s like at other rallies, but every rally I\u2019ve attended has been composed mostly of old white people. There have been scatterings of young people, very few Black people, and absolutely no Brown people.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of us old folks (I\u2019m 86) line up along both sides of busy throughways. Most of us stand, but some sit in lawn chairs or wheelchairs. We wave our signs at the passing traffic, signs that carry such slogans as \u201cNo More Kings\u201d or \u201cICE Is Trump\u2019s Gestapo.\u201d We get a steady blast of horn honks from supportive drivers and many more thumbs up than middle fingers up (and remember, this is ruby-red South Carolina).<\/p>\n
We know what we\u2019re doing is paying off. Politicians in Washington, most of whom will be up for re-election in November, are hearing us. They are looking out their windows and seeing millions of us upset enough to get out of our homes and participate. And they are responding. Support for Trump continues to plummet. Democrats\u2019 chances of winning the midterm elections seem better than ever and improving. Trump sees it, too. He has mentioned the prospect of losing both the House and the Senate in November and being impeached \u2013 again.<\/p>\n
But why are the crowds composed mainly of old white people? We have the least of anyone to gain; after all, most of us won\u2019t be around long enough to experience the long-term results of what happens today, at this major turning point in American and world history. Black people and Brown people, and young people of any color, stand to lose the most. Trump wants to eject from the country any Brown-skinned people he can find, hold Black people down as much as possible, and keep white people in strong command of the nation\u2019s future<\/p>\n
So, again the question: Black, Brown and young people have enormous amounts to lose if Trump goes on, so why aren\u2019t greater numbers of them joining in the rallies? And why are we old people, who have comparatively little to gain, turning out with gusto by the millions?<\/p>\n
I can understand why Brown people are not turning out. These days, being Brown is all that\u2019s needed to be arrested and deported \u2013 although Brown people couldn\u2019t find a more supportive group of people to be around than us should ICE attempt anything at a rally.<\/p>\n
I can also, to a lesser extent, understand why more Black people don\u2019t turn out. I read an article not long ago that was written by a Black woman who said Black people have done enough and so she is going to sit this one out.<\/p>\n
I can understand that because, as a reporter for The Associated Press in the 1960s, I covered the Martin Luther King-led protests in Birmingham, where Black people, with scant help from any whites, risked their lives to be granted the right to sit at a lunch counter. But they did, and in doing so they overcame the powerful opposition of Gov. George Wallace, Public Safety Director Bull Conner, the Birmingham Police Department and the Ku Klux Klan.<\/p>\n
So yes, I agree with the Black lady who says Black people deserve to sit this one out. I just hope they won\u2019t. All Americans need them and they need us, and this time, unlike the \u201860s, we\u2019re on their side.<\/p>\n