At our meeting August 13, 2020 the committee voted to endorse the Sudbury Protest Group which peacefully demonstrates every Friday 4:30p-5:30p on Sudbury Common. Here are Carl Offner’s thoughts about it:
Just over two years ago, a weekly Friday-afternoon protest in Sudbury Center was initiated in response to our government’s actions in separating children from their parents at the border. We have kept at it, adding mention of other atrocities, with only a few months of hiatus due to the pandemic. But we’re back. We’re “social distancing”, we’re all wearing masks; and we’re back.
We call ourselves simply the Sudbury Protest Group. And it is now endorsed by the Sudbury Democratic Town Committee.
It’s not all-singing/all-dancing. We don’t sing, or chant, or yell things, or even march around. Not that these would be bad, but we’ve never done them. On the other hand, it’s not a “silent vigil”. It’s not an exercise in “speaking truth to power”, or “an act of moral witness”.
To my mind, at any rate, it’s much more significant than that. We are now living in a time of fear and despair, both psychological and political. Everyone feels this.
What we are doing by standing out together with our signs affirming human dignity and rejecting racism and cruelty is this:
We are giving people hope.
We are assuring those who drive by that they are not alone. That it’s OK — indeed, important and laudable — to talk about these matters. That when they get home, they can tell their family and their friends that they saw us and they can say they agreed with us. And this can, bit by bit, contribute to the changing and repudiation of the hateful words and acts we see every day at the highest levels of our government.
And people want that assurance. They need it. That’s why they are so happy to see us. That’s why they honk and wave. And that’s why we wave back. After they drive by, they feel better and more hopeful about the prospects for our country, and more hopeful about their role in making our common dreams come to fruition.
That’s why we stand out in Sudbury Center. It’s invigorating for us as well, as you might imagine.
We’d love to have you join us.