Resistance: Things Get Serious
(Originally written on June 10, 2025 in preparation for No Kings Day protests on June 14th, 2025.)
A Note on Los Angeles
I want to be sure we all understand what’s happening in LA because it impacts how people judge protest rallies and marches.
Trump promised to round up millions of ‘illegal, criminal aliens.’ And his cult is watching for that to happen. The problem is that they just aren’t there. Many studies have shown that immigrants, especially undocumented immigrants, are inclined to keep a low profile and follow all the laws to avoid a run in with authorities. Makes sense. So Trump promised to solve a problem that doesn’t exist, and now has to put on a show by staging flashy arrest operations, kidnapping brown-skinned people, and deporting them without due process.
That’s what they were doing in LA when the community decided “no."
When the crowds grew large, ICE was the first to resort to violence by using flash bang grenades and tear gas on protestors. Some in the crowd then took to setting some fires and tipping things over. They burned Waymo robotic taxis because the LAPD has already publicized that it gathers info on people by subpoena-ing Waymo videos.
More on violence later, but, given the size of the crowd, and given the provocation, the protests in LA have been amazingly non-violent. People have been bringing food to protestors, providing medical care for the injured, supporting relatives and friends of those detained, and dancing in the streets. I even saw a video of Salvadoran immigrants in a restaurant helping an LA Sheriff’s Deputy who was pepper sprayed. It is the City of Angels, but these angels don’t have wings.
Just remember this: Trump wants protests to stop. Barring that, he wants to turn them violent so that people stop supporting them. Don’t fall for this.
The Concept and Practicality of Nonviolence
In every crowd of human beings, some are more excitable than others. Some are more disciplined than others. And this means that in every crowd of human beings there is a small contingent angry enough and frustrated enough to unleash violent actions. Practically speaking, any large protest gathering has the potential for violent action. When there are hundreds of protests across the nation on a given day, there will be violent actions somewhere. These violent actions will get played up as an out of control crowd and used to disgrace the entire protest movement. People forget that even Martin Luther King was seen as the instigator of violence.
This is all confused by malicious actors (Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, etc.) working to impose a facade of violence on a peaceful protest precisely to discredit it. Remember the Capitol Hill Occupied Protest?
Where am I going here.
First and foremost, be committed to nonviolence (as the majority of the LA protestors are). Nonviolence shows that we honor and cherish our community. We don’t want it damaged. We don’t want people hurt. It highlights our integrity and selflessness.
Secondly, if you witness a violent act, sit down and get the people around you to sit down unless you are needed to help someone else. As I mentioned before, this will make the perpetrators stand out whether they are genuinely part of the protest or a malicious actor.
Thirdly, do not let a violent action dissuade you from the necessity of these protests or of the genuine concerns you share about the fascist government with the thousands of people around you. These are real things, and we’re the only ones who can stop it. Don’t get caught up in the “violence/non-violence litmus test.” We don’t need to explain every adolescent who throws a rock at a cop car. The issue here is much bigger.
Finally, we need to counter any narrative of a “violent protest” or “riot” that the media will cultivate. We do this by speaking with our friends and family about what we witnessed. We should do this regardless of whether there were any violent acts.
