For fourteen months, the Downtown Dripping Democracy Defenders have been holding protests signs every Saturday morning for two hours, weather permitting, at the stop-light intersection of US Highway 290 and State Highway 12 in downtown Dripping Springs. The number of protesters vary from 15 on many Saturdays to many hundreds on No Kings Days. Drivers see us while traveling past us at 45 MPH or when they are stopped for a red light.
Some context – Dripping Springs is a majority Republican community. And according to the highway department, 2,700 vehicles pass through that intersection in the two hours that we are protesting.
Our experience at that intersection is much different from what protestors experience at a many-thousand-person rally at the State Capital in Austin. There, protestors are surrounded by an audience of like-minded collaborators and the messages on protest signs are readily understood by their informed fellow Democrats.
The audience for our protestors at the corner of 290 and 12 is our entire community. Many of the passing drivers are disconnected from, or uninformed about, politics, or are hard-core Fox News watchers. Our signs must be simple and easily understood by every driver, and hopefully will make non-Democrats think briefly about what we are attempting to convey.
Some drivers give us feedback as they pass. The positive feedback includes friendly honks (toot-toot-toot), friendly waves, friendly thumbs up or shouted words of thanks. The negative feedback includes obscene gestures, shouted ugly words (“you hate America”), long horn honks (blaaaaaat) or diesel pickups trucks pouring out huge clouds of suffocating black exhaust. What is gratifying to us is that the positive feedback is typically three times more common than the negative feedback.
We do not engage with drivers who give us negative feedback. Rather, we respond with a smile and a wave. That tells the drivers that they have no power over us. And by not engaging in an argument, we are not likely to increase their anger to a level that could physically endanger us.
We feel good and uplifted by our protesting. We feel like we are taking action that can make a difference, which is a powerful antidote to feeling overwhelmed, despairing, discouraged or hopeless. If you are feeling down, come join us!
And we enjoy seeing our protest collaborators every week. Strong friendships have developed as we jointly work together week after week.
Most importantly, we feel that we are giving courage and hope to drivers who may be feeling overwhelmed, despairing, discouraged or hopeless. We sense that hope when the drivers give us positive feedback.
Here is an example of a heart-warming encounter. At a red light, an older pickup truck was stopped. And the passenger rolled down his window. He appeared to be an older Hispanic man, maybe in his 50s. He very quietly said to me as I stood on the sidewalk next to his truck, “Thank you”. It appeared that he did not want to draw attention to himself by yelling or honking or waving (was ICE nearby?). It was just a very quiet “Thank you”.
Here is a Call to Action – Come join us every Saturday from 9 to 11. We have extra signs that you can use, or you can bring your own. If you are wondering if the protest might be rained out or cancelled, you can get up-to-date information by listening to the message at (512) 829-1626.
