I had to do something. When I heard our country was taking immigrant children away from their parents, I couldn’t just sit around and talk about it anymore. I found Southern Dutchess Resist!, whose values and goals are in line with my own. It meets weekly at 3 p.m. on Saturday. I was determined to show my face.
So there I was last month, with my walker, a senior-citizen protestor, with about two dozen other folks. We were standing by the road holding our protest signs. Mine had a photo of Hitler with the quote, “Make the lie big, make it simple, keep saying it, eventually they will believe it,” I used my walker to hold the sign — it was easier that way.
“I just got the finger!” one gal said.
“Good, we’re being recognized,” said another.
Many cars honked as they passed, bringing cheers from our group. Many passengers gave a thumbs-up, or raised their fists. A few stopped and asked how they could join us. Some drivers gave us a thumbs-down, but we cheered anyway.
Can our rights for just and compassionate treatment for all, for health care, for a clean environment, for safety from gun violence, be ripped away from us by greedy plutocrats? Can they disable our courts and alienate our media with their millions of dollars, so that gullible people will believe the lies that are told over and over?
It has happened in my memory. Could it happen in the U.S.? I fear it could. That’s why I take up my sign, stand on the sidewalk, donate a few dollars where I can and keep on hoping everyone will get the message and come out and vote.
Emily De Cordova, Beacon
