from a member of Refuse Fascism
The march for impeachment in NYC was organized by three sisters. They went out to the February “Not My President” marches and found it really inspiring and had been looking for something similar, a vehicle to give expression to their outrage on how they feel about him and didn’t really see anything until the impeachment marches came along.
“In the Name of Humanity, We Refuse To Accept A Fascist America” #j15TrumpPenceMustGo https://t.co/lmVDTZ4eMC #ImpeachmentMarch pic.twitter.com/r7uGGc6Tc1
— #NoFascistUSA (@RefuseFascism) July 2, 2017
One of them said she had never organized anything like this before, she almost gave up because she wasn’t getting much guidance on how to do something like this from “impeachmentmarch.org” and then she thought, “No, I have to do this because I hate this man so much. He’s ruining our country, he is so stupid, he is an embarrassment. I call him a thing because he doesn’t act like he is human. I am so disgusted at everything he is doing.”
There were no other organized forces there, a lot of people who are just out there agonizing and angry, people who had gone to the Women’s March, smaller informal groups “Democrats of the Upper West Side” and a lot of openness to our message, “The Trump/Pence Regime Must Go!” Many came based on a real fear of people “losing their country.” Some people said there will be a “pendulum swing,” but at the same time they also thought they we needed to be in the streets.
Refuse Fascism was really welcomed here, and a member of our NYC Steering Committee helped shape the march with the chants and speaking. There was a very positive response to her speaking, people saying, “Yes I’m with you.” Afterwards, the sisters sent us text messages thanking us for being there, saying they will be there on July 15th and that they want to work with us going forward. Our advocacy for all the different groups working together to drive out the fascist regime was very heartening to people.
There was some stuff about Russia, including somebody who had a really funny costume which contributed to a good atmosphere, even as we worked to put more emphasis on the regime’s crimes against targeted groups.
It was probably 100 people, mostly people who have not been to a protest since the Women’s March. One person who I have seen at a lot at different protests was like, “I’m surprised I don’t see anyone I know here.”
They mainly built the event on Facebook.
When we brought out the content of the July15 Statement to people, it really brought out the best in them. One person was talking about Putin and obstruction and then I posed to him one of the lines from the statement and he was like, “I really agree, the way they are treating immigrants his horrible. I’m Jewish, its like the Nazis.”
A known white supremacist came over into the crowd so did some of the other pro Trump people. She had on a boat with Milo and threw flares at a boat of refugees from Africa trying to come to Italy. She is a pig. We started agitating about who she was.
One woman really got up in some the pro-trump’s people face, she was like this very mainstream Puerto Rican woman who was just so disgusted at everything they represented.
One young woman started shouting, “Take your shit back to Nazi Germany,” and then people started chanting, “Nazis! Nazis! Nazis!”
We raised $180, and people on the spot were recruited to start handing out flyers. At the end, we took a group picture in front of Trump tower with the banner in the background, and people holding the no signs. I think in terms of reaching out with open arms to the reservoir and inviting them in, it was a very good approach.