by Paul Bass The New Haven independent
Crowd member Esperance Hin at Saturday’s “No Kings” rally on the Green. Credit: Chris Volpe photo
Three New Haven leaders have ideas for how thousands of “No Kings” ralliers they revved up can keep renewed hope alive.
The trio — national immigrant-rights organizer Kica Matos, State Sen. Gary Winfield, and East Rock/Fair Haven Alder Caroline Tanbee Smith — took the stage Saturday to address the crowd gathered to protest the Trump administration’s immigration, budgetary, education, National Guard, and environmental policies. Like many in the festive crowd, they said the event inspired them about the possibility of resisting what they see as the country’s fast-developing authoritarianism.
The rally “gave me so much hope,” Matos said during a post-mortem discussion with Smith and Winfield on WNHH FM’s “Dateline New Haven” program. People were actively participating and saying, ‘We’re here. We want to be heard. We want to be seen.’”
She called the rally “a beautiful example of what a thriving democracy should look like. People being active, exercising their constitutional rights and calling this lawless president to account, putting him on notice that authoritarianism is not something that’s welcome.”
The radio conversation touched on the ways mass movements can spur follow-up action and change policy. The threat of a national march on Washington led President Harry Truman to issue an executive order to desegregate the military. Civil rights marches of the 1950s and 1960s spurred follow-up organizations that led to civil rights laws. On the other hand, the mass women’s marches of 2017 did not subsequently alter the course of the federal government during President Trump’s first term.
The trio spoke of pushing for local and state laws to prepare to respond if the Trump administration sends troops here as it has in other blue states. They also urged people to register others to vote. Winfield urged people to contact their elected representatives to support pushback against the Trump administration in general; he said voters don’t always recognize the positive impact that can have, even with officials they believe may not need nudging. Smith spoke about the value of getting involved with other people in civic activity, period — showing up with neighbors — as a positive way to build communal antidotes to isolation and authoritarianism. (“Part of what rallies can do, and part of what it means to move forward, is to rebuild our civic and social fabric.”) Matos urged people to support organizations like Connecticut Students For A Dream as well as the group she heads, the National Immigration Law Center.
“The path to authoritarianism in this country is being built on the backs of immigrants. They will begin with immigrants and they won’t end with immigrants. Eventually they’re going to come after all of us,” Matos stated.
“They’re deploying the military on our streets with a pretext of bringing down crime and controlling immigration. What’s around the corner is the Insurrection Act. If they invoke the Insurrection Act, we will have the U.S. military engaging in civilian enforcement. We could have military jeeps rolling up in my neighborhood of Fair Haven, with the military dragging out families.”
Click on the below video to watch the full conversation with Kica Matos, Gary Winfield and Caroline Tanbee Smith on “Dateline New Haven.” Click here to subscribe or here to listen to other episodes of “Dateline New Haven.”