I am a 57 year old white heterosexual male married to a white woman and I absolutely come from a place of privilege. And if you think that means that I didn't go to a single political protest before February of 2025, you'd be correct. However, America in 2025 is absolutely at an inflection point. We are about to tip into an authoritarian regime in which the rule of law will no longer matter. Consider just some of the facts: * Trump has fired the Inspector Generals without following the rules of law. * Trump has broken the constitution in closing Federal agencies such as USAID and CFPB. * Trump campaigned stating that he didn't even know what Project 2025 was and yet he has followed so many of its policies that there is a Google spreadsheet tracking it. * An unelected billionaire, the literal richest man in the world, is now locking government officials out of their offices and is ransacking the private data of all Americans. At a minimum this is a violation of the CFAA, HIPAA and likely FERPA. * Trump has fired the leadership of the Kennedy Center and installed himself as the Chairman of the Board. Why? Because they held drag shows. * Attorney General Pam Bondi has updated the Federal Death Penalty to make it a death penalty crime to "aliens who traverse our borders and remain in the United States without legal status" * JD Vance has put forth the legal "theory" that the President doesn't have to be bound by what Federal Judges decree. This is the start of Trump's Andrew Jackson moment and it should officially happen by the end of this week. With these facts facing us, my wife and I decided to learn how to protest. This is what we've learned. I'd like to start by quoting someone I met in the Indianapolis protest on 2/8: Today my life was changed for the better. My hope for humanity was restored. Today I watched as Christian, Muslim, Atheist, Pagans, Veterans, Disabled, elderly, young, straight, gay, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, and every mix in between came together. Today I watched people who may not agree on many things, stand shoulder to shoulder and agree that we will not be silenced. Today I watched as we the people, demanded for the protection of our constitution. We demanded the protection of our most vulnerable people. We stood in peace. No police in riot gear, no one speaking violence, no one rioting, no one causing destruction. We showed what democracy looks like. It looks like the freedom to be the person you are. To believe in whatever you want to, to love whomever you want to..It looks like freedom and freedom is beautiful. #50501 That is the power of protesting. ## The First Thing You Need to Know As someone who had previously never protested, the first thing my wife and I learned is very simple: Protesting is Hard and Scary. Our very first protest was in rainy, 30 degree weather and it was freezing cold. We were outside for hours. My wife at one point went into our State House and attempted to talk to officials where she was threatened with arrest and being sent to an Alabama prison (yes that's our wonderful Indiana state troopers). Don't kid yourself into thinking that protesting is all kumbaya singing and happiness. Protesting is hard and scary. ## Find a Protest The first thing you need to do is find a protest to attend. And while you can try and organize one yourself, I recommend that you find an existing protest if at all possible. Protesting is a collective action and the larger the collective, the more powerful it is. There are two main organizations which are emerging to combat Trump: * Indivisible - https://indivisible.org/ * 50501 - https://www.fiftyfifty.one/ Upcoming relevant protest dates are: * 2/17 - Protest at your state house for President's Day * 2/28 - National Economic Blackout; Don't spend any money on anything except for local small businesses ## Dress For It If you are going to protest, you need to dress for it. Now I'm in a cold weather climate so, for now, this means: * Warm clothes * Good socks * Comfortable shoes you can walk in for hours * Gloves * Raincoat * Hat * N95 Covid Mask (your thoughts here may vary; see below) * Umbrella ## Protecting Your Identity Both protests I have been to so far been peaceful but I think there is still a valid argument for protecting your identity. The approach I've chosen to take is: * Sunglasses * N95 Covid Mask * Baseball Hat without Logo According to what I've read, this will do a good job of protecting your identity. ## Make a Sign If you're going to protest then you need to make a sign. This means that you need to channel your inner first grader and get out cardboard and markers. Figure out the issue that you are protesting and make a sign. Here are the slogans that I used: * ICE with an X through it * Trump with an X through it * Elon in a circle with slash through it * Project 2025 The reason I have so many slogans is I made my sign from a cardboard box on a stick that I used to hold in the air. One slogan goes on each side of the box. Whatever your slogan is, it needs to go on paper or cardboard and be visible enough to read from a distance. Think about high contrast colors. Make it memorable. I'd strongly recommend that you make your sign wearable by putting a loop around the top of the sign. That way your arms won't get tired from holding it. ## Promote the Protest Every single American in 2025 has some kind of social media presence. Whatever you have, let people know you are going. You need to promote the protest. And you need to do this over and over because some social media (I'm looking at you Facebook) tend to show people posts after the date it happens. The more you post about it, the greater the chance it gets out to people. If you want to increase the chance that your post about the protest gets shown to people then don't include a link to the event. Just make the post be text or an image about that. Lots of social media sites downgrade the showing of things with a link as they really want you to buy an ad. If you have people you instant message or text with, let them know too. ## Show Up, March and Chant The usual arrangement of a protest is: 1. You show up. I recommend arriving early to get to know the people involved. Making connections is important and new friends are always good. Don't be discouraged if there aren't many people initially, more people will show up. 2. There are speakers. You should expect people to speak. You may not care about all the issues. Some of the issues may actually not be to your taste. This doesn't matter -- stand there and listen and learn. 3. March and Chant. Once the speakers are done, you typically march. In my two cases, we marched around our State House and chanted at the building. And you can bet that the government workers inside were watching. This is the goal -- you need to get noticed. Don't worry about what to chant, any protest has a core of people who do know how to protest and they will lead the chants. My favorite was "Ho Ho Hey Hey Elon Has to Go" but your mileage will vary. 4. Document It. When you're there, take pictures and video. These need to go on your social media after the protest to show people that it really happened. You can't rely on the mainstream media to even acknowledge the protest. Major protests are going on right now across America but they are almost invisible. ## Your Protest Backpack My wife and I each put together a protest backpack with there following: * Extra gloves so we'd have a dry pair * Magic markers for people to make signs * Duct tape to repair signs * Give aways -- We got hundreds of stickers to give away. Our stickers say "Don't Buy a Swasticar". StickerMule lets you make stickers quickly and cheaply. * USB Battery for phone charging and USB C cable * Bottle of water * Snacks * Milk of Magnesia (eye wash for when tear gas is used) * Gas mask (for when tear gas is used) ## Law Enforcement You should expect to see law enforcement when you attend a protest. We have two very different experiences with law enforcement. When I marched, IMPD (Indianapolis Metro Police Department) was absolutely respectful, professional and cleared the streets for us. They were so absolutely wonderful that I found the ranking officer after the protest and personally thanked him. Now the Indiana State Police were also on hand and they not only threatened to imprison my wife but they also tried to tell us that we couldn't have our signs on sticks for "safety reasons". And the State Police also made us move our popup shelter off the steps onto the sidewalk. The stick issue they gave up on almost immediately. ## Be Respectful and Law Abiding Above all, I want to point out that you have to be respectful and law abiding. January 6th was a national tragedy and we need to be better than that. ## Marathon Not Sprint The hardest thing to accept about all this is that protesting is a marathon not a sprint. We are in for a long term struggle to overcome the current administration. Don't think that you can go to a single protest and things will be magically righted. Keep in mind that Trump, and Musk are now guilty of actual crimes. If they don't stay in power then they have to go to jail. They will not go easily.