{"id":4168,"date":"2025-06-14T14:51:52","date_gmt":"2025-06-14T21:51:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/?p=4168"},"modified":"2025-06-14T15:14:33","modified_gmt":"2025-06-14T22:14:33","slug":"my-first-protest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/2025\/06\/14\/my-first-protest\/","title":{"rendered":"My first protest"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

The wind picked up at the end of the No Kings protest, but it was still a good day and a good protest.<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u2019ve been to protests before, but it was always as a reporter. Today was the first time I attended a protest for myself.<\/p>\n

I ran into a few people I know, including my friend, Maria.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

My friend Maria. We didn’t know each other was going to be at the protest, so it was extra cool to hang out with her.<\/p><\/div>\n

I also met new people. Even though we all had a bit of hesitancy in participating after the assassination of a state senator in Minnesota<\/a> this morning and Nebraska Governor Pillen activated the National Guard<\/a>, we all had a good time.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Most of the cars that passed us honked in support. Many people honked and raised their fists in support as they passed by.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

There were a few who shook their heads \u201cno\u201d as they slowly passed us. That\u2019s okay. We saw several middle fingers. I heard a \u201cfuck Trump,\u201d from one of the cars.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

At one point, I saw a window roll down from a truck headed south on Avenue B. The man driving leaned his head out, gave us both middle fingers, and shouted, \u201cFuck you.\u201d<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know why, but I yelled back, \u201cIt\u2019s okay, we still love you.\u201d Suddenly, everyone around me started shouting, \u201cWe love you,\u201d and \u201cwe will always love you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Several trucks passed in front of us and decided to \u201croll coal<\/a>.\u201d Whenever it happened, a Scottsbluff police car, of which there were many nearby, flicked on its lights and chased down the car. Hopefully, the drivers got tickets. There were loud cheers from my fellow protesters when we saw the police lights come on.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

One of the best parts of No Kings Day.<\/p><\/div>\n

It was a peaceful afternoon, even when the single protester with his \u201ctrump train\u201d flag came by. People mostly didn\u2019t engage with him and let him wander around with his flag. He tried to rile people up, but they weren\u2019t having it. Everyone was there to peacefully protest.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been writing letters and making phone calls to my representatives at the state and federal level for about 35 years. This is the first time I\u2019ve felt like I was a part of something and that, maybe, we can make a difference. <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve been to protests before, but it was always as a reporter. Today was the first time I attended a protest for myself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[254,288,447,381],"class_list":["post-4168","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nebraska","tag-nebraska","tag-politics","tag-protest","tag-trump"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4168","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4168"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4168\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4181,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4168\/revisions\/4181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4168"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4168"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/irenenorth.com\/writings\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4168"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}