Nov. 11, 2016 - Assemble!

Each of my journalism classes had brought up the anti-Trump protests in our daily noting of the news, but it wasn't until 8th period that Kenny asked the most important question of the day: "WHY are they protesting? It won't change anything now."

I turned the question back to the kids. Why might people want to gather, to march, to organize walk-outs, despite knowing the election outcome will not change?

The class was not quick to respond to the question. Their faces mirrored Kenny's resigned puzzlement. Most students in my mostly white, mostly Trump, neck of the Iowa woods may not feel natural solidarity with the marchers in Manhattan, Oakland, Portland. Nevertheless, I was surprised that they might question the act of peaceful assembly to voice dissent.

As I reworded Kenny's question, I realized that my own "I get it" thinking about the protests had not gone much deeper than my students' "I don't get it."

"Why might people want to gather together on the streets?" I asked. "What is different about saying 'I'm hurting, I'm angry' to your friends and family and gathering with hundreds or thousands of people in the street? How is the physical act of marching different than writing or talking?"

I pointed to our First Amendment wall. "Which of these five rights are the protesters expressing? Why does 'assemble' get its own separate mention?"

The students began to respond: "To be heard?" "To send a message to Trump?" "To feel less alone?" "To make themselves louder?" They worded their thoughts as questions, as students will do when they're trying on new ideas. We talked about the likelihood of similar (or dissimilar) demonstrations had Clinton won the election, and the value of honoring the right to "peaceably assemble."

As I drove home from school I thought about how much I've needed to blog this week, to put my raw emotions into some sort of order, to find voice for these roiling feelings. To ask someone to listen. I've needed to be heard. Blessedly, I live in a country that allows me to do so. This space is my assembly: my gathering of thoughts and public expression of them.

So when last night I read that Trump had posted this

I felt another huge wave of dismay. How deep can Trump's ignorance of the First Amendment go? The whining of "unfair"--as if "fair play" has ever been his standard of action--fewer than 48 hours after the votes have been counted, is not a good sign.

In 140 characters, Trump has managed to praise himself and degraded two of the five freedoms guaranteed in the first 45 words of the Bill of Rights.

This morning another tweet indicates Trump's handlers have given him a quick and desperate lesson on freedom of assembly, as he posted this an hour ago:

Somewhere in the night he went from pouting about the protests to celebrating them as expression of "passion for our great country." Of course his use of the word "small" shows his inability to refrain from a dig--or to count.

I want to thank those of you who have reached out to assemble this week: on social media, here at this blog, in lunch rooms--and most visibly, on the streets.