I was anxious about the Haines No Kings rally but determined to go. It was a chance to say that what is happening is wrong. But Haines is a red and blue small-town where we need each other. It helped that my husband said he’d come. Chip does not attend national protests lightly. He has a lumberyard to think of. Threats of boycotts over local politics are brutal enough. But everyone knows I’m an old lefty. Chip calls me his Eleanor.

The rally began at Tlingit Park with a grandmother. Nancy, a long-time piano teacher and community choir director lead us in song. The mood was like in church. We Shall Overcome, This Land is Your Land, If I had a Hammer. Then a retired librarian, an artist and a retired science teacher took turns reading about twenty quotes without commentary. Supreme Court judges, politicians. Dr. Martin Luther King, Ghandi and Goebbels. That’s right, Hitler’s general. He is the one who supposedly said if you repeat a lie a thousand times it becomes the truth.

As they spoke, we became kind of somber. Still smiling a little, but more concerned.

Also, while about 135 attended, each of us had at least five friends and relatives who agree with us, that didn’t, for all kinds of good reasons. I can think of about 50 myself who were at the volleyball tournament, helping with the swim team time-trial, working,  sick, out of town, who are too shy to stand up like that, don’t like confrontation, don’t want to offend neighbors or family members, are married to a Trump voter, or feel that their job requires them to stay out of politics, publicly.

A retired PE teacher gave us marching orders. Be silent, Ellen said in her gentle teacher voice.  No talking. Stay five feet apart.  Don’t engage with supporters or detractors. Stay on the sidewalk and listen to the crossing guards in the yellow vests. Silence, she said, is a powerful changemaker. Like prayer circles, it concentrates the intentions of the gathering.

This is serious business, saving our democracy.

She said three Vietnam veterans that we know well— Chuck, a leader from the American Legion, Greg the former Police Chief, and Terry, a good-natured boat and ukulele maker—would lead the way carrying American flags, just like the parade on the 4th of July. A Canadian flag was up front as well, to honor the kinship with our nearest neighbors (the border is 40 miles out of town.)

This morning, I wrote the organizers a thank you note. I admire their courage and hard work. Protests  don’t just happen, you know. I told them it hit all the right notes.

In church yesterday I visited with  a friend whose husband was a Trump voter, she is not. He  watched the march with her when it passed Mountain Market.  She said that he was impressed by the civility and the turnout. One of their  kids and a grandchild marched. Maybe he will start to re-think. I bet he already has. He is a good person and a good friend.

A catholic deacon marched too, and said he’s never done anything like this before, but was compelled to, because he said that the way people are being treated in the anti-immigration raids is a moral issue, not a political one.

I’m hoping that my friends who are  conservative Democrats, Independents, Republicans, Libertarians, Contrarians–or Whatever– will see that they still can be that way and speak out against Trump and his minions. This is about right and wrong not who is with us or against us. I have to believe that the No Kings event here- and across the country– nudged some hearts and maybe even changed a few. The tide is turning.

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