I was arrested, a couple of years ago.
Misdemeanor, diversion and expungement.
Still, the cops handcuffed me, and I was locked in a cell.
Fast forward–I just saw a cop on CNN (in another state) threaten to kill protestors.
I’ve never taken part in a protest, and I might not have anybody to bail me out this time.
Advice?
Write down the phone number of a bail bondsman and put it in your pocket (although such numbers are found once you get inside the jail), And keep about $500 on you, too. Bondsmen usually charge 10% of a bond as a fee, so $500 will cover you for paying up to a $5,000 total bond.
Florida Dopers Be careful!!
Nope.
I gotta have somebody, other than myself, to post .
Local law.
I’ve heard of people writing numbers (lawyer, bondsman, friend) on their arms. I don’t know whether that works better.
Do you know anyone you could rely on to call around for others to aid you, even if they wouldn’t be able to do it themselves?
I wish I had lots of money. I’d offer to cover it, but I can’t.
Most of the people I knew are dead.
Don’t go.
Stay home. Especially if you aren’t going to accompany someone with experience protesting. Don’t put yourself at risk without having a solid plan for any potential outcome (like arrest).
Or find an organization that is planning the protest and check in with them. It’s not like most have membership tests, due, or cards, but if you’re known to them, they can help.
Being scared is fine, and possibly a rational response. If you don’t feel safe attending but still want to make a difference, it’s worthwhile to take the funds you might have spent on gas, parking, water, etc. and donate them in furtherance of the goals.
Personally, living in a red area of a light-blue state, I’m a lot more scared of some random RWNJ shooting the place up than I am of being arrested, but I’m going.
This is a team effort. There will be other opportunities to defend democracy moving forwards. These demos have many goals, one of which is recruitment. If you cut to the chase and sign up with a local Indivisible group, that would be a meaningful step.
There may be more than one demonstration in your area, some of them in safer environs. That’s another option.
I live in Tennessee.
Deep Red, though it is a University town.
Suggestions for donation groups are welcome.
If you do go, please post when you get home so we can stop worrying about you.
(I expect you won’t have a problem. I know things are different now, but I’ve been do many protests and never had bad experience with law enforcement at one.)
get in touch with your local Indivisible group. https://indivisible.org/groups
I’m planning to attend the No Kings rally in dark red Shawano, WI. I’m fairly confident there will be no violence and that the event will be poorly attended. I’m guessing if anything we will be ignored and probably laughed at. There has been absolutely no mention of No Kings on either of the established local political FB pages. So in both groups I started an anonymous thread asking if people are planning to attend. Past experience has shown that it is not a good idea to post one’s name if one isn’t a card-carrying MAGAt. I am way too easy to find. I’m thinking if there are non-MAGAt lurkers like me out there, they might respond to my post anonymously, assuming my posts aren’t deleted.
I’m physically incapable of walking more than 200 feet or so. I won’t be walking the route but I do intend to drive as close as I can to the end of route, park and find a good place to stand. I need to see first hand if the MAGAt hold on this area is really as tight as it seems to be. I suspect I won’t be surprised.
As several have suggested, more than one way exists to contribute to this phase of the resistance.
One simple option: refrain from giving Donald the ratings he craves (and you know he does!) Don’t watch his Self-Glorification parade on tv or streaming!
(If anything notable happens it will be covered shortly by outlets that wouldn’t contribute to ratings.)
I can’t imagine anyone wanting to watch such a thing. Even if it wasn’t a stupid Trump event.
I don’t watch the Rose Parade or Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade, and they have cool floats and fun balloons. My town has the third largest St. Patrick’s Day Parade in my state, and I no longer go to it – not enough Shriners in those mini vehicles.
It’s hard to imagine anything more boring than watching a military parade.
If anyone here does watch it, the only thing I’m curious about is whether Trump falls asleep during it.
During the Jizz Parade I’m hoping Donald (after being nudged awake. Again) is informed that all the ratings are going to the coverage of all the protests everywhere.
Yeah let us know.
My anonymous posts have already blown up (by Shawano standards). Fifteen comments in 20 or so minutes. Most apparently think it’s a gay pride parade. There haven’t been any specific acts of violence threatened however several folks noted how much fun it would be to drive a vehicle through the protesters. And I of course got called out for posting anonymously.
ETA: The main MAGAt poster is also the local Post Master, FWIW