i’ve already posted about this on my social media but i can’t help but want to share it here as a more permanent record of the fact that my “wake up and resist” protest sign – that i labored over for 3 hours hand-painting it months ago – made it onto the rachel maddow show last night! (about 6:30 in, if you want to see the 30 seconds devoted to our protest.)
i don’t have cable so when i saw folks in indivisible nola talking about the saturday protest in front of the jw marriott on canal street making it onto rachel’s show last night, i figured it would just be very quick pics or video of crowd shots from across the street or something. which would still be cool – it’s always awesome when national news pays attention to what we’re doing here in new orleans. the very loud protest had a large turnout from a wide variety of activist groups in the community to register our anger that marriott was housing greg bovino and his border patrol thugs. but i had no idea my sign would be so prominently positioned in the video, if only for 3-4 seconds. i guess that choice of fluorescent pink and green paint was a good one!
i know it’s not really a big deal but it kinda is to me, since that’s my original design – well actually, two of them, on one sign. those who’ve been with me a while know that the “resist” with a fist design was made back in 2016 when the orange monster “won” the election for his first term. i knew back then we were in for a long period of resistance, which didn’t really end when joe biden won in 2020. there was plenty to still resist about, though the resist gear did kinda get packed away for a few years. but i really didn’t think i’d need to be reviving it all over again in 2024/now. but here we are.
i’m glad the “wake up” eyeball is getting attention. it’s not specific to the current ICE invasion here in new orleans; it really pertains to everything that’s happening under the current authoritarian administration. we need more people to wake up, to stop being complicit or neutral, to stand up, speak up, fight back. RESIST! that’s why i made it. and why i put it on my protest sign that i hold every week at the pop-up protest in my neighborhood at city park/esplanade every thursday. (well, except for the next 2 thursdays since that’s christmas and new year’s day. but we’ll be back at it in the new year.)
anyway. thanks for sharing my joy and pride at this image hitting a national audience. it gives me a little boost and helps confirm to myself that what i’m doing matters and is what i need to be doing, using my creativity hand in hand with my community work.
(and of course, i do still have t-shirts, stickers and posterboard prints of the “wake up” eyeball design and some t-shirts and stickers of the “resist” design, up in my webshop for sale. just sayin’.)