Virginians Against Trump marches to Capitol against hate
On the 6th of June, "Virginians Against Trump" marched from the White House to the Capitol to protest the racist candidacy of Donald Trump for president. This was a small but diverse group including supporters of both major parties united by opposition to Trump. The small size and reality that Facebook promises don't equate to turnout reminded me of the first Black Lives Matter rally for Michael Brown rally at the White House in Sumnmer 2014. There too it was apparently the organizer's first time out-but nowhere near the last.
Not suprisingly, Lafayette Square was once again closed as protesters gathered, forcing them to start on H st like those anti Iraq War protests back in 2003 had to.Although cops were around the area quite a while and an Israeli general is expected in town tomorrow, this seems to have happened too many times to be explained by chance after that Dev 2015 park closure that played a role in stopping a highly provocative attempt by an anti-Muslim hate group to burn the Koran. Now opponents of that kind of hate are also being locked out of the park.
One Ron Paul supporter showed up, every other participant asked by media or tourists said they were not connected to Ron Paul in any way, shape, or form. None the less, Code Pink and other groups from the progressive community were absent, possibly for this reason. Ron Paul's racist writings from the 1980's were as brutal and nasty as anything that ever came out of Trump's mouth. Currently Ron Paul himself tries to deny his racist record, but the facts show he has in the past personally defended these anti African-American and anti Gay writings.
Beyond that issue, racists in general have unified around Trump's campaign, the Nazis and KKK in particular are mostly telling their people to vote for Trump. In reaction to this people from across the entire political spectrum have united against Trump, though the most intense opposition comes from those who are directly threatened by Trump, such as Latino/Latina people and especially those from Mexico as well as US Muslims. They face the danger of deportation, imprisonment, or worse if Trump ever takes power. This being so, the June 6 anti-Trump march got cheers from people along the Mall and on Capitol Hill and especially from people of color, children included.
