A silver lining on the dark Trumpian cloud

We are relearning the meaning of “solidarity.”

This week, across America, people have been coming together.

We may disagree on immigration policy, but we don’t want a president deploying federal troops in our cities when governors and mayors say they’re not needed.

We may disagree on how laws should be enforced, but we don’t want federal agents to arbitrarily abduct people off our streets or at places of business or in courthouses and detain them without any process to determine if such detention is justified.

Or target hardworking members of our community. Or arrest judges. Or ship people off to brutal prisons in foreign lands.

We may disagree on freedom of speech, but we don’t think people should be penalized for peacefully expressing their views.

We may disagree on the federal budget, but we don’t believe a president should spend tens of millions of taxpayer dollars on a giant military parade designed in part to celebrate himself.

As we resist Trump’s tyranny, America gains in solidarity. As we gain solidarity, we feel more courageous. As we feel courageous and stand up to Trump, we weaken him and his regime. As we weaken Trump and his regime, we have less to fear.

In downtown Kansas City, Missouri, this week, protesters holding signs reading “solidarity” marched from the underpass toward the north lawn of Kansas City’s World War I Museum and Memorial. The demonstration was peaceful. “I felt it was my right and my duty to come here as what I had to go through to come here and yell,” one of them told KSHB.

In Denver, a peaceful crowd gathered outside the Colorado state capitol to speak out against Trump’s immigration policies and march in solidarity with Los Angeles protesters. They carried flags and signs with slogans like “Abolish ICE,” “No human is illegal,” and “Keep the immigrants. Deport the fascists!”

In downtown Tucson, hundreds gathered at the Garces Footbridge, over Congress and Broadway, to show their solidarity. Later, reminders of the protest remained written in chalk on sidewalks: “No one is illegal on stolen land,” “Love over Hate,” and “Free Our Families.”

In Boston, many gathered outside of the Massachusetts State House to express solidarity, saying it’s time to speak up against what they call Trump’s “reign of terror over the immigrant community.” Protesters cited the cases of two local students whom they said ICE abducted and detained for no reason, Rümeysa Öztürk and Marcelo Gomes de Silva.

In Sioux City, Iowa, protesters marched along Singing Hills Boulevard, outside the ICE office, to peacefully protest. One of them, Zayden Reffitt, said, “We’re showing people that we’re not going to be silent and we’re not just going to let all this go through without us saying something about it.”

In Chicago, thousands marched through the Loop, shutting down CTA bus service and creating a standstill on DuSable Lake Shore Drive near Grant Park. When police tried to detain a man in a bicycle helmet, protesters could be heard yelling “no violence” and “let him go.” As Ivanna Vidal explained, “I’m a first-generation citizen, my parents were born in Mexico. It’s something I’m super-passionate about. My family is safe, but there are many who aren’t. This is impacting our community, and we need to stand up for those who can’t speak up for themselves.”

In Des Moines, protesters at Cowles Commons rallied against Trump and in solidarity with others. “We’re here to stand up for members of our community. For immigrants. For migrants. For refugees. For people with disabilities. For people on Medicaid. For seniors. For all the working class, because we are all under attack right now,” said Jake Grobe. “And Trump is trying to scapegoat immigrants and make them the enemy, calling them criminals.”

In Austin, Texas, some five hundred people gathered in front of the Texas Capitol and began marching down Congress Avenue and advancing down 7th and 8th Streets before stopping in front of the J.J. Pickle Federal Building. Demonstrators held flags and signs while chanting, “Whose streets? Our streets.” Local and state law enforcement deployed pepper spray and flash bang grenades against the protesters, arresting more than a dozen people, according to Gov. Greg Abbott.

In San Antonio, hundreds gathered outside City Hall, chanting, “People united will never be divided!” and holding signs that read, “No human is illegal” and “I’m speaking for those who can’t.”

In Sacramento, they gathered in Cesar Chavez Plaza before marching to the ICE federal building on Capitol Mall. “The country is going in the wrong direction,” one named Chris (who would go only by her first name) said. “We need people to get out there. It’s all about the numbers, getting people on the streets peacefully.”

It was much the same in Raleigh, N.C., in St. Louis, and in hundreds of other cities.

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All across America, people who have never before participated in a demonstration are feeling compelled to show their solidarity — with immigrants who are being targeted by Trump, with people who are determined to preserve due process and the rule of law, with Americans who don’t want to live in a dictatorship.

Peaceful protests don’t get covered by the national media. Most of the people who come together in places like Des Moines and Kansas City to express their outrage at what Trump is doing aren’t heard or seen.

Yet such solidarity is to be celebrated. It is the foundation of the common good. And although the number of people expressing it is still relatively small, it is growing across the land.

This is the silver lining on the dark Trumpian cloud.

Robert Reich is a professor of public policy at Berkeley and former secretary of labor. His writings can be found at https://robertreich.substack.com