Pride and Sadness

Today was a difficult day.  I went to Harrisburg, PA, the state Capitol, to protest the election of trump by the Electoral College.  As I noted in a previous post this past Saturday, I fully expected the Electoral College to confirm trump's election as per the Constitution of our country.  Of course, the Electors are free to vote as they see fit, but I did not expect any of Pennsylvania's Electors to alter the vote that they were elected to make.

I arrived a 7:30 am.  There were a hand full of women and one man that arrived the day before at three in the afternoon.  They stood vigil through the night.  These were strong and committed Americans.  They were threatened with violence twice.  My turn came also.  People started to trickle in at the Capitol steps.  The small, but growing group was having conversations, while holding our signs of protest so passing traffic could see our thoughts written on them.  While speaking with a woman, a young man (21 or 22 yrs old, I believe) came and stood with the two of us.  When she and I were done speaking, I said hello to the young man.  He told me that I'd "better put my sign down".  I was taken aback.  I wasn't expecting direct confrontation, although in retrospect I should have been aware of the possibility.  I said I'm not sure what you said.  He repeated himself and told me if I didn't put the sign down, he would call a bunch of his "boys" and they would come over in a truck and "kick my ass".  Knowing that this was a peaceful protest and being a pacifist, I put the sign down until this boy was out of sight.  Then I again held up my sign.  From beginning to end was about five minutes.  I understand why the sign stirred up his emotions.  I designed it with two purposes; to communicate the danger of trump and to stir up emotions to get the point across.  A photo of the sign is below:

[working to correct photo issue]


As the morning wore on, many people arrived to demonstrate against trump's inevitable election by Pennsylvania's twenty Electors.  We chanted slogans.  We sang patriotic songs.  It was very loud.  At one point I needed to put more money in the parking kiosk for my car, a block and a half away.  It was loud.  I believe there were about 150 to 200 people on the steps.  You can judge for yourself from this photo:

[working to correct photo issue]

At Eleven am, an announcement was made that if we wanted to witness the vote we could go to the House Chamber's Gallery.  I wanted to observe these women and men.  I wanted to see them vote with clear consciences.  The gallery held about 75 to 100.  It was on the fourth floor looking down on the floor of The House.  When those of us who would observe the vote arrived, the cast of characters were going through a rehearsal.  The actual proceedings began a noon.  

While we were waiting, another young man, sitting next to me asked me what my purpose for being in the Gallery was.  I calmly and clearly noted that I did not believe that the vote would turn out any other way than what is expected.  I further asked him if he knew who steve bannon is, noting that he is trumps nominee for chief white house strategist.  He answered yes.  I went on to reinforce that bannon is vocally and loudly supported by the kkk & the american nazi party and that I am concerned that what hitler and his crew did to Germany in the 1930's may very well happen in our country with trump as president.  I finished by telling him that I consider this action to be one of a continuous series of protests that must occur as long as trump is president in order to limit the damage that he will do.  This person was approximately thirty years old and it became apparent that his sentiments were otherwise.  I had a reasonable conversation with him, but let him know when he became unreasonable, and that I was willing to have civil discourse, but to not put words in my mouth that he did not hear me say (which he repeatedly did by throwing out rhetoric that he obviously picked up from hearing it somewhere else instead of thinking for himself).

When noon came and the ritual began, we all listened respectfully.  At a certain point, those of us in the room who were protesting trump started to hum softly the song "America the Beautiful" over and over again.  May be three or four times around, and then we stopped.  It spontaneously started again when the actual paper ballots were being filled out by The Electors.  Again as they placed their ballots in a wooden box (as though it was anonymous).  Again as the votes were being counted.  

The organizing group had obtained a permit to be in The Capitol Rotunda during the vote.  All through the activities on The House Floor, those protesting in The Rotunda sang The National Anthem many times; America the Beautiful; This Land is Your Land; If I Had a Hammer, and roared very loudly at critical moments during the proceedings (I suspect someone in The Gallery was giving them cues from there cell phone).  It was extremely loud.  It drowned out the speakers in the chamber.  I saw some of the Electors turn to hear where the sound was coming from at first.  They obviously took notice.  

Between the protesting on the steps, in The Rotunda and our presence in The Gallery, I could not have been prouder to be an American.  When the expected results were read on The House Floor, loud calls of derision erupted from those of us in The Gallery, and mixed with my pride in being an American came an extreme sadness to be an American as well.  We all walked out.

As I walked out of The Capitol Building I was now in the stark brightness of the sunlit, cold afternoon; into the light of this, our, reality until trump is no longer president.  trump's reality must be to endure our protests every day, whether in the White House, at Camp David, gallivanting about or at trump tower.  Every Day!