I went to the protests against Trump's military parade and general agenda this afternoon, because I thought it was important to be part of it, rather than sniping from social media and whatever. I also just wanted to see what it would be like: we've had some protests in Palo Alto and Mountain View and Los Altos in the last couple of years, but never anything too big.
Honestly, I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was by far the biggest protest I've seen in the Peninsula, even if it was pretty small compared to the march against the Iraq War I attended in London back in 2003. It certainly beat the protest I joined briefly in 2017 in response to the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, as well as the various protests calling for an end to the war in Gaza more recently. The one protest I've seen lately that was comparable - but still nowhere near as big - was the one at all the Tesla showrooms a couple of months ago, which protested Elon Musk's DOGE activities.
For this one, I went with my dad to stand along a stretch of El Camino in Mountain View, and we were among the hundreds of folks holding flags and signs and eliciting honks of approval (usually) from people driving past. It was all pretty calm, with just about everyone who joined in being pretty chill and good-humored about it. Most of the drivers along El Camino, as I mentioned, were supportive, but one guy did shout something incomprehensible as he drove past, and another guy rode by on his bike in a MAGA hat. But the only organized counter-protest was a couple (literally two) anti-abortion rights protesters across the street from the main group.
This was good, because I was a little worried about agents provocateurs causing fights or looting, or about crazy assholes driving their cars into the crowds. I was also a little apprehensive about my dad and his partner walking around and potentially getting targeted by Nazi thugs, but it looks, as I say, like everyone was pretty chill.
I'll also admit, it was kind of moving to join in with the crowd and see people standing up for constitutionality and rule of law: a friend of mine suggested that the folks protesting down here tend to be self-ingratiating and disingenuous, which is hard to argue with, given how many older white folks there were. But he also appreciated that they were actually out there, whether or not they're in it for the long haul. And notably, while the crowd where I was skewed heavily older and whiter, there was definitely a range of ethnicities and age groups represented.
That was more true as I left the protest and drove into Palo Alto, to see what things were like there. The protesters were still out along El Camino until Los Altos, and then petered out until I got to the Stanford Campus, where the protest had taken route on all four corners of the intersection there. That crowd also seemed to venture further into the heart of Palo Alto, down Embarcadero, which was even more impressive: Palo Alto doesn't really seem like it'd be into the protests, but folks came out.
In terms of what's next, who knows? Things will happen regardless of what a bunch of people in the Peninsula do, but as I say, it's nice that they came out for this. At the very least, it'll give our elected representatives, both in Sacramento and in Washington, an idea that people want them do something about this mess of an administration. Though with the handcuffing of elected officials like Senator Alex Padilla, I think they've gotten the message on their own.
