Pearl River      A random email announcing a petition or something landed in my in-box among so many others.  I knew the sender, so scrolled it in passing.  It turned out to be pushing on the Democratic Party in our time of troubles.  The email mentioned that they were forwarding their petitions to the Democratic National Committee before the meeting of their executive committee in Little Rock, Arkansas.

Little Rock, Arkansas, why there?  Who knows, but maybe they think it’s a safe space?  Maybe they are nodding to former President Bill Clinton and his library?  But I’m thinking, as I read the note, that maybe they should be greeted with something other than a love letter?  What the heck?  I write to my correspondent, an esteemed brother whose path has crossed mine frequently in the labor movement and political circles, and ask if he knows what hotel the DNC might be gracing.  He connects me to the person stirring the pot on the original petition he was boosting, who then gamely sends me the name of the hotel hardly 48 hours before they are scheduled to meet from noon to three at a Doubletree in downtown Little Rock.

Why not, and away we go!  In ACORN world, this is what we call a “quick hit,” moving members to respond to some issue that is immediate.

Some emails and phone calls later, led by Local 100’s officer and field director, Toney Orr, ten people from the union, Arkansas Community Organization, KABF radio, the Anthropocene Alliance, the Arkansas State Organizing Committee, the local chapter of Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), and others met in front of the Doubletree waving their signs.  The message was clear:  Stand Up for Workers Rights, Stand Up for the Environment, Stand Up for Medicaid, Stand Up for Food Stamps.  One of my favorites, looking at the pictures, was one that said, “Stand Up or Step Down.”

Trump wasn’t mentioned.  He wasn’t the point.  The total assault by the administration on almost every aspect of the American peoples’ lives and services has to be opposed.  The Democratic Party is the opposition party and needs to stand up or get out of the way.

The mainstream media is constantly harping about the absence of mass demonstrations.  Whatever?  How about more quick hits everywhere a target from the administration pops up?  How about more quick hits to encourage and build solidarity in the opposition?

Why not?  People are looking for ways and means to raise their voice and show their anger.