It's been a busy week here. The week started with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday on Monday. It ended with the Women's Marches that took place this weekend. Those are significant bookend events in this month of January, 2018.
I am grateful that the MLK holiday is gaining more recognition in the world of work. I remember when it was first enacted as law. Most of the businesses did not observe it in the beginning. They made a conscious decision to ignore it and lump it in with other holidays giving employees an extra day for the 4th of July, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or the New Year. Now, you know that this holiday is established because it's sale time! After all, you really need clothes and a car during the MLK day. No lie. We've come to this, finally. Sigh.
In the Bay Area, the tech companies decided to honor the holiday by getting the black employee resource groups (ERGs) together across various companies. There were 16-17 companies represented at the march. This was a eleven-fold increase in participation from last year. That may sound as if we managed to gather tens of thousands of people. Unfortunately, it only amounted to over 2,200 people. It was a peaceful march. We were joined by a small Antifa group at the rear (where, coincidentally, I was marching). They were peaceful as well. They had a very catchy chant, "No Trump, No KKK, No Fascist USA." I joined them at various times. They also had the benefit of a blow horn which they used to great effect getting other people to chant with them. A march really isn't a march unless you have a chant and some drums, as far as I'm concerned. We were lacking the drums this year which was unfortunate. Hopefully, we'll get them back next year.
The number of people that showed up for the Women's March in Oakland on Saturday, January 20th was approximately 50,000. It was also very peaceful. I marveled at the creativity of many of the posters. A favorite one of mine was, "We are not ovary acting." And then, there were some posters that made you scratch your head. Here's some schooling for you: it's not effective if you have to get people to think too hard about your message. For instance, a poop emoji with a frown shouldn't be allowed on a protest sign. Just kidding...
Marching in both events helped me connect back to the days when I was much more active protesting as a student at U.C. Berkeley. Protesting is a way for me to express my rights as a citizen. It's the hallmark of an ideal democratic society when peaceful protests can take place. Looking at what happens elsewhere in the world outside of the United States, there can be deadly consequences for protesters. People literally die for the right to march and to express themselves freely. Here, for the most part (except for the recent Charlottesville tragedy), we can have peaceful protests. This is something that we, as a society, have to protect at all costs. This is not a negotiable item. Nor, is it to be taken lightly.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of a significant year, 1968. That was the year that marked the death of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy. Those events happened within months of each other which, no doubt, rocked the nation. We also saw the silent protest of two black athletes in the Olympics. They raised their fists Black Panther-style in defiance to give attention to the racial discrimination going on in the states back then. Of course, they were expelled from the team for their protest. Their black power salute is still considered one of the most political statements in Olympic history.
I respect that salute. I had the occasion of demonstrating my allegiance with the Black Panthers at the premiere of a documentary about them last year by raising my fist in defiance. I am proud that the movement started in Oakland.
Lastly, we saw the first significant interracial kiss on Star Trek in 1968. I say significant because this is the one that everyone seems to think was the first interracial kiss in U.S. television history--not. Apparently, there was a lot of controversy about it--of course, there would be. That kiss episode happened near the end of that explosive year. Hollywood still struggles to represent interracial couples on film.
And so, this is one of the many reasons why we march. We march because we have to start normalizing what America will look like by the year of 2040--black, brown, red, yellow, and all shades in between. We march because interracial couples produce children of color. We march because those children of color need to know that they ARE the face of America. We march because an interracial kiss shouldn't be a shock.
We march because 2018 shouldn't be 1968 all over again.
Pink backpack straps, a black hoodie, and a sign that says it all, "Resist."