NO KINGS DAY – Preparations

Dear Friends,

The militaristic response to the ICE protests in L.A. have rattled a few of us and strengthened the resolve of many of us.

This attempted suppression of our First Amendment right to peacefully assemble is a predictable stage in the authoritarian playbook

There are many ways you can safely participate in the No Kings protests – and for those who are unable to attend in person for any reason, there are some alternatives below that I hope you will consider.

CALLS: PREPARING FOR JUNE 14 NO KINGS 

For those of us who want to show up in person, or want to support those who do, I recommend signing up for these two calls – one today and one on Thursday:

Tuesday, June 10, at 4pm PT/ 7pm ET: Know Your Rights training with the ACLU. Whether you’re marching, rallying, or supporting from the sidelines, you’ll learn how to protect yourself, your community, and stand up for your rights. We’ll make sure you know your rights during protests and law enforcement encounters and are prepared to take action safely, powerfully, and together.

Thursday, June 12, at 5 pm PT / 8 pm ET: Join the No Kings team for a pre-mobilization call. This will be a strategic call designed to give you timely updates about the state of play, walk through key messaging guidance, and share best practices on how to participate in this mass mobilization. If you’re wondering how we show up to protest safely, peacefully, and joyously in the face of the Trump administration’s escalations, this is the place to be.

There are additional planning calls with the teachers union, for military families and veterans, for people who serve as hosts or safety marshalls, and conozca sus derechos en español

READ: PREPARING FOR SAFE PROTESTING:

Whether or not you can tune into the calls today and Thursday, here are some great resources:

How to Protest Safely (from Standup for Science)

Protesters’ Rights | American Civil Liberties Union

Protecting Your Rights (Berkeleyside)

Peter Coyote – On Best Practices for Peaceful Protest

De-escalation / Dealing with Disruptors

Effective? “Movements, and their protests, are powerful because they change the minds of people, including those who may not even be participating in them, and they change the lives of their participants. In the long term, protests work because they can undermine the most important pillar of power: legitimacy.” – The Atlantic 

Why Me?  Remember that some folks – for example People of Color, immigrants, green-card or visa holders, religious and other minorities may be carrying more of a burden of being targeted, and so those of us who have more privileges may need to recognize that we can take up space in their place and in their honor.

Alternatives: If you are not physically or emotionally ready and able to join a protest, there’s much you can do in support.  First, here are some great suggestions from “Together We Will, Albany/Berkeley”, things you can do any day this week!

• Grab a friend and make some cardboard signs and stand on a busy street corner by a traffic light at rush hourtoday. Just the 2 of you! People will see that something is happening.
• Write a big message in sidewalk chalk on a well traveled sidewalk and also in front of your house.
• Stick up 20 post-its with your chosen message in visible places.
• Let’s make sure objections to this are widespread, non-violent and normal. Take a photo of what you do (you don’t have to show any faces) and send it to the media organization of your choice or post it on any social media platform or share it with a dozen people you know so more people know it’s happening. Invite them to do the same.

You can also: 

• Make signs for friends who are able to go, spread the word, host a sign-making party, give a ride to or from the protest, be an emergency contact, provide sustenance before or after to foot-weary protestors.
• Donate to the ACLU, and/or groups such as the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, NorCalResist, or RAICES.
• Contact Governor Newsom and/or AG Bonta and tell them you support their lawsuit against the unconstitutional deployment of troops in California.
• Print out Know Your Rights cards for protestors and for immigrants. There is a “red card” version of this that you can urge your group, faith organization or library to or and have available for distribution, or you can download red cards to be printed at home/locally.

I’ll be sending out another newsletter with more suggestions before the weekend, but in the meantime, please take a look at the message below from Indivisible and No Kings organizers and think about how we can all step up at this moment in history.  

https://www.mobilize.us/nokings/event/800594/?force_banner=true&share_context=event_details&share_medium=copy_link