OFF THE PAGE WITH RAYMOND ATKINS

Objective Reporting

June 14 was No Kings Day, and according to Reuters, during the course of that historic day, over 11 million patriotic Americans in nearly 2000 cities and towns gathered together peacefully to protest the Trump regime, a presidency defined by dishonesty, corruption, incompetence, stupidity, and a landslide toward fascism that even the most ardent MAGA adherent surely must now acknowledge, or at least to continue to completely ignore, but with a certain measure of sheepishness. I joined with nearly 600 fellow like-minded citizens as we stood on Hwy 278 near Hiram, GA, a small bedroom community outside of Atlanta situated on one of the main routes to the Atlanta Airport. In the interest of fair reporting, near us stood 10 fellow citizens who were supporters of MAGA. I am going to devote this column to sharing with you my experiences there.

First and foremost, the demonstration was entirely peaceful from start to finish. Depending on where you get your information, this might surprise you, but to paraphrase John Wayne in Rooster Cogburn, I thought you might think that, so I’m telling it Gospel. We were gathered along the highway but stood 15 feet back from the shoulder on the grass, both for our own safety and for the safety of the thousands of motorists that drove by during our 2-hour vigil, and also because during a previous similar demonstration on April 5 at that very same location, a full spit-cup was thrown from a passing car at the citizens gathered there. That sad incident prompted the Hiram Police Chief to make some calculations which led to the conclusion that even under the best of conditions, a full spit-cup could only travel 12 feet or so through the air, so he moved us back to be safe. Additionally, he had a patrol car posted bout a mile down the road so that if any shenanigans of this nature did occur, the miscreant could be apprehended.

I want to devote a paragraph to the Hiram Police Department. There were about 8 officers in attendance including the Chief of Police, and even though some of them may have held personal views that were more in line with the MAGAs—this was rural Georgia, after all—none of that mattered when it came to them doing their jobs. They were professional, and courteous, and respectful of all of the citizens in their care, including the ten or so representatives of the opposing point of view. Rather than leaning against their cars looking bored and waiting for the event to be over, these officers were constantly moving through the crowd, reminding protestors to beware of traffic, to hydrate, and to seek out the nearest policeman if trouble seemed to be in the making. At one point during the demonstration, four MAGAs sidled over from their assigned spot and began to infuse themselves into the No Kings crowd. I thought this was a bad idea, and so did the Hiram Police. These four men found themselves surrounded by police officers, and after a brief discussion, they returned to their designated area. I know we were lucky in the quality of our police presence, and I shudder to think how different our event might have been if we had drawn that corn-fed Florida sheriff, you know the one I am talking about, who threatened to kill any protestors who stepped out of line.

One of the positive aspects of protesting on a major thoroughfare is that the message you are promoting gets out in front of a lot of people. As I said earlier, thousands of vehicles of all descriptions drove past our demonstration during the two hours we were there, and the reactions from those vehicles fell into three distinct categories. The first category, and the largest, was No Response. These cars and trucks simply drove by on their way to whatever was next on their Saturday afternoon schedules, and it was their absolute right to do so. The next largest category was Positive Response, and my estimate—based on a couple of quick 10-minute counts—both because I was curious and because you have to do something while you are standing in the hot sun for two hours, holding up a sign while wondering if the numbness in your right leg is a serious condition or just another iteration of oldmanitis—is that somewhere around 30% to 40% of the passersby approved of our efforts, and it was their absolute right to do so. The final category was, of course, Negative Response, which—again according to my informal assessment—fell in the 10% to 20% range, and even though many of the responses from these members of the opposition ranged from less than respectful to downright insulting if not outright incendiary, again, it was absolutely their right to voice their opinions. And for the record, at least no spit-cups were thrown this time around.

Now is a good time to describe a couple of incidents that could have become issues but did not, both because no one and I mean no one on the No Kings side of the equation was looking for trouble and because, as I mentioned earlier, the Hiram Police Department was not going to have that kind of business occurring on their watch. I have already described the casual infiltration that was attempted by the four young men who just sort of wandered over in hopes of perhaps stirring up a bit of bother, but the two I am about to mention were of a higher order of mischief. It is important that you realize that I did not just “hear about” these two occurrences; if that were the case, I would not mention them. But since I actually witnessed both, I believe they fall well within my self-imposed standard when it comes to objective reporting.

The first centered around a young No Kings protestor who arrived late. As he hurried to get past the MAGA folks and over to his desired location, he passed within about 5 feet of a thirty-something woman who was with the Trump supporters. As he passed, she hollered out, stating that he had run into her and nearly knocked her from her feet. He stopped and looked confused. She then hollered at one of her fellow MAGAs that this youth had almost knocked her down. That guy immediately looked angry and began moving with purpose toward the scene of the supposed incident, and excuse me but I am from Alabama, and I have been in plenty of taverns on a Saturday night, and I know what someone looks like when they are about a pint into an altered state and looking for a reason to start swinging. Then, from out of the crowd, a police officer appeared. He questioned the woman and the young boy and a few of the witnesses, and he sent the potential avenging MAGA boyfriend back to where he came from, and then, for the rest of time we were there, he was never more than a few feet away from that woman and her potential to stir up trouble.

The second incident was similar. When the demonstration began, the 600 No Kings folks were situated at Point A, and the 10 MAGAs were all at Point B, and there was a good 100 feet of open space between the two groups. I am certain this was by design, and once again, many thanks to the commonsense crowd control by the Hiram Police Department. Over the course of the next two hours, however, we experienced what I shall call MAGA Drift. 100 feet became 90 feet. 90 feet became 80. Eventually, two of the Trump supporters had attached themselves to the tail end of the No Kings group. There they waved their two flags. One of these espoused the tired Let’s Go Brandon sentiment, but that flag was so faded that the message had to be taken on faith. It was also ironic, because as I recall, Brandon did indeed go—it seems like years ago—and the result of that departure was sort of why we were all out there to begin with. The other banner was an American flag that was in such poor condition that it really should have been retired. Anyway, flag condition aside—flags in good condition are expensive, you know, and times have been hard, even for those who have been promised that they would not be—both of these MAGAs stood down there waving their flags while trying to engage No Kings protesters with taunts such as Go Back to Cobb County and If You Stay Past 5:30, Will They Pay You Overtime? One had a boom box, and blaring from it was the old Vanilla Ice tune, Ice, Ice, Baby, which I thought was a clever touch. Then another police officer went down there, moved them back several feet, and planted himself right in front of them to make sure they stayed put.

In addition to trying to report on exactly what went on at my protest, I have mentioned all three of these MAGA-related incidents because I want to talk about the propaganda that you have no doubt heard from the Far Right concerning both the No Kings event and the Hands-Off protest that came before it. In both cases, the spin from the Right was that a bunch of wild-eyed, America-hating, baby-killing Socialists were out in force with the intent of burning this great country of ours all the way down to the ground. Nothing could have been further from the truth, but it seems that truth is not a Republican value these days, if indeed it ever was. There was no trouble at the Hiram protest, but there might have been. Nor was there any issue at the Hands-Off protest in Rome, GA—my hometown—but there were incidents of violence in other cities and towns.

If you take everything I have written as being the truth, and as I have said, I have been as objective as I know how to be, then hard questions need to be asked and answered. Who is trying to effect change through peaceful and lawful means, and who is trying to interfere with every American’s right to assembly and freedom of speech? Which side is adhering to both the letter of the law and its intent, and which is not?

Which group of citizens is playing nice, and which is throwing spit-cups? My Uncle Joe, who would probably be a MAGA if he were alive today, used to say that if only one side was playing by the rules, then that side was bound to lose. I liked Uncle Joe, but he was wrong about as many times as he was right, and I hope that is the case here. I believe our best course is to continue as we have been, and if enough of us man the barricades, change will be brought about.