Day 5 – Charlotte, North Carolina to Atlanta, Georgia
Hi everyone!
The Refuse Fascism National Tour volunteers woke up early this morning to travel from Greensboro to Charlotte, NC, where we attended an organizing meeting and Tour send-off at a coffee shop. We were joined by activists from Indivisible and MoveOn.org, the organizers of Resist Trump Tuesdays in Charlotte, some college students, a high school student, people from a communist collective, and a Greenpeace activist who had been arrested for protesting the Rex Tillerson hearing (we originally met her in court in DC because two of our Tour members were arrested for protesting Jeff Sessions confirmation hearing). The meeting began in “a very Southern way,” as one Charlotte activist put it. A Reverend, who also works as a professor and is affiliated with the NAACP, led a prayer about the importance of equality and rights for all people. We had a great turnout and were all blown away by the strong enthusiasm of the crowd, their powerful sense of urgency, and consistent participation throughout the meeting and afterwards.
One Volunteer began with a presentation on the Call to Action[link], emphasizing examples of the manifestation of fascism in the Trump/Pence regime and building on the crowd’s excitement and willingness to get to work right away. After another Volunteer gave a compelling fundraising pitch, she was immediately followed by a community activist who stood up to drive home the need for financial support for our food, transportation, and materials. The atmosphere of the meeting reminded some Tour members of a church service; all attendees openly affirmed the points we were making, clapped and nodded in support, and participated freely to contribute their own ideas, concerns, and goals.
We spoke about the implications of fascism for the United States broadly, but we also discussed some of the issues in North Carolina specifically. The state received extensive media attention and came under fire from reasonable people around the world for denying our transgender siblings—especially young children in schools—the human right to use the bathroom corresponding with their gender. After former President Obama outlawed this shockingly cruel action of the state, Trump wasted no time in his first month repealing this motion and stripping protection from an entire group of people, who are absolutely, unquestionably deserving of equality and safety. We also discussed voter suppression and the movement for redistricting the state because of the illegitimate gerrymandering that benefits the right wing.
An important question came up during the meeting from the Reverend, who commented that the widespread message of NO!, while powerful and useful, may be overwhelmingly negative. He asked, because we are advocating for refusal so much, what exactly are we saying “yes” to? It is implicitly clear that, as we deny fascism the rise to power they hunger for, we promote human rights, love, and equality. One Tour Volunteer, though, gave our audience an unbelievably moving and very significant response: “Imagine if everyone in Nazi Germany stood up and said NO!, and stopped the Holocaust before it started. Think of the Abolitionist movement. We do not remember the Abolitionists as the people who said ‘yes’ to no slavery. They said NO! We will not accept this. There is nothing more positive than saying NO! right now.”
One of the greatest outcomes of this meeting was the concrete organizing we were able to do. Each of the Volunteers shared their own story and then linked it with a direct plan of action the people of Charlotte could take to join the movement to drive them out. We were actually able to create a Refuse Fascism Charlotte chapter on the spot by interacting very personally with the audience. One Volunteer asked for each person who would be interested in joining the new chapter to raise their hands, and she then asked who would be able to host the first meeting. By the time we left, the new chapter was set up and had planned a conference call with the Refuse Fascism national office for the next morning.
On top of this accomplishment, we inspired two people to join us on the Tour. There were also talks of the Charlotte chapter holding a fundraising with the goal of raising money for a NO! billboard in the city. We received donations and distributed more materials than we had at any other meeting. Afterward, all of the Volunteers had more intimate conversations with attendees, gathering detailed information about what brought them to our movement and what can help them in moving forward from here. Once we got back on the road, we received a text from two women who attended the meeting with pictures of posters they put up all around the city after leaving the coffee shop. We are enlivened by the spirited mood of all the Charlotte organizers we met, and we’re proud to have been able to inspire them toward actual, quick action to move millions now. We left them with an understanding of the necessity of working now to remove their power because fascism moves at a rapid pace, actively seeking any opportunity to dismantle democratic and human rights.
We spent the afternoon traveling to Atlanta, where several kind and welcoming hosts greeted us. We all had a group dinner at a nearby Nepalese restaurant, and we were able to discuss recent events in Atlanta, upcoming protests, and all of the meetings and events we have planned, including a Tour welcoming party we’re looking forward to tomorrow. The food and conversation were wonderful, and we were able to begin preparing for our radio interview, activist training session, teach-in with Sunsara Taylor, and the other plans we have for our stay in Atlanta. We are so grateful to the awesome activists in Charlotte and our hosts from the Refuse Fascism Atlanta chapter for their hospitality, support of the Tour, and passion for organizing and spreading the unifying NO! message. Together, the existing chapters and the new ones we’re initiating in the cities we visit on Tour will guide organizers to recruit more leaders to educate the entire nation and the world on what fascism is and why it is undeniably present in this unacceptable, horrifying Trump/Pence regime. These are the people who will bring millions into the streets to refuse. With their amazing dedication and fervor pushing us forward, we will organize, we will mobilize, and we will drive these fascists out!