Protest movements come in waves. Sometimes they’re short, sometimes they’re sparse— but protests in Ann Arbor are remaining frequent and widespread. The protest on Thursday, May 21, protest was regularly buffeted by supportive horns to the protestors.
“I have been working on issues of peace and justice for over half of my lifetime—25 years—a lot of my protests have been when we were trying to stop the war in Iraq. So, what I want to share is that a lot of my work has been in building the organizations behind the scenes to strengthen them for the long haul. So, I haven’t been to as many protests in this area, but I have invited more activists to come out and learn the ropes of what it means to publicly show up for what you believe in,” Sarah Nahar, Pittsfield resident, said.
When asked how Washtenaw County’s protest culture compares to her most recent home around Syracuse, New York, Nahar said “I am one of the few People of Color here today and part of that has to do with everything that we are facing on a daily level because the material conditions are deteriorating. And what I’m really grateful [for] who can make it are showing up right now. So far I’ve worked to help make our protest culture more inclusive, and more diverse, and I think that certainly this is bigger than what we had in Indiana; and in Syracuse we were led by the Onondaga, by indigenous folks. And I know that there’s some connections to them here, but the colonial reality is different here.”
The protest movement is evolving too. The most effective way of demonstrating that might actually be the sign of David McCullen. The Chelsea resident’s sign criticizes the war with Iran that President Trump launched without Constitutionally mandated Congressional authorization and calls for Medicaid. He had to change $25 billion to $29 billion.
“The original estimate to Congress was $25 and then [on May 12] the latest was 29 billion,” McCullen explains. “And of course everyone assumes its much bigger than that.”
The Watson School of International and Public Affairs has a calculator estimating how much the war Trump unilaterally launched is costing Americans. They reckon that, as of publication, the already struggling American economy $44.375 billion.
Brown University recons that that’s $188.61 extra for each of America’s 131 million or so households. The cost for Michigan is calculated to be slightly higher at $190.32 per household.
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A few dozen people lined the intersection of Washtenaw Avenue and Huron River Parkway as the warmish spring evening shuffled towards sunset. The evening traffic jammed shuffled cars past them in steady start and stops as well—with regular cascades of horns and occasional bursts of slogans from volunteers and protest goers. One of them was Ypsilanti’s Elaine Battle.
“The illegal things” were what motivated her to join Ann Arbor Indivisible, Battle said while taking a break from handing out fliers. When asked if she thought that this current era of protest will have a meaningful impact, she said “I do think its bringing awareness to people who aren’t paying a lot of attention…”
Indivisible is a nationwide grassroots organization that acts as a go to place for strangers living in the same community to join in protesting wrongs, uniting them in creating awareness and the motivation for positive change. They organize regularly and you can follow the Ann Arbor chapter on Facebook and Instagram.
Drew Saunders is a freelance business and environmental journalist who grew up just outside of Ann Arbor. He covers local business developments, embraces his foodie side with reviews restaurants, obsesses over Michigan's environmental state, loves movies, and feels spoiled by the music he gets to review for Ann Arbor!
