As tens of thousands of protesters rallied in 1,200 cities and towns nationwide last Saturday as part of Hands Off — including in Denton, Arlington, Dallas, Frisco, and *checks notes* Burleson and Flower Mound (?!) — downtown Fort Worth remained conspicuously empty.
Fort Worth’s aligned groups — Indivisible 12, Indivisible FWA (Fort Worth Area), and 50-50-1 — were not able to acquire permits in time. Instead, nearly 100 kindred souls, a “mixed … nonpartisan” group, one participant said, marched in front of the Tesla dealership at North University Drive and Bristol Road.
“Reaction from the folks driving by was great!” the participant said. “Lots of cars honking, people yelling support and waving.”
The next peaceful protest is noon-4pm Sat, Apr 19, at Burk Burnett Park downtown (501 W 7th St) with speakers and live music. From the park overseen by the “Man With a Briefcase,” protesters will make the short march to the Fort Worth Club, where Trump-supporting Rep. Craig Goldman allegedly offices. Since the entrance will be locked, protesters are planning a visual display for out front.
No matter which organization is organizing, the point of all these disruptions remains the same: to speak out against the disastrous policy coming from billionaire? millionaire? one-hundred-thousandaire? Donald Trump and President Elon Musk.
Everything they’re doing is merely a ploy to assert autocratic control and keep the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue out of prison. Those tariffs appear to be nothing but an attempt to strongarm Corporate America into building factories on our shores for Elon’s robots to man, leaving us to scrounge for scraps that aren’t coming because Trump and Musk have also dismantled the federal safety net. With all three branches of government overtaken, American industry was shaping up to be our only bulwark against despotism. Now we can’t even count on that.
And it gets worse. Ending seemingly every other federal program is just a move that will allow Trump’s billionaire buddies to swoop in and privatize the services, and we’ll all pay handsomely for the pleasure. Deporting friends, family, and neighbors? A scare tactic to keep our brown and Black allies from voting.
It is at this moment we’d like to thank all those millions of voters with buyer’s remorse now. We hope you’re happy having set the country on fire because you’re afraid of pronouns. Great job.
“The federal administration thinks this country belongs to them and that they’re above the law,” organizers of Boston’s Hands Off rally told ABC News. “They’re taking everything they can get their hands on — our rights, our health care, our data, our jobs, our services — and daring the world to stop them.”
Though there were no reports of any major problems at any of the Hands Off rallies, Trump is itching for more protests because their mere existence will allow him to invoke the Insurrection Act. When a country is under martial law, there’s no voting, and when there’s no voting, there’s nothing but a dictatorship in the place where a democracy should be.
The other option — staying home, taking it on the rear, and kindly requesting another — is inconceivable. Making our voices heard in large numbers lets the authorities’ rank and file know we democracy lovers answer only to the Constitution, not some warped, frustrated, wealthy old man who doesn’t care about anyone other than himself and his wealthy, white cronies/enablers.
This column reflects the opinions of the editorial board and not the Fort Worth Weekly. To submit a column, please email Editor Anthony Mariani at Anthony@FWWeekly.com. He will gently edit it for clarity and concision.
