Protesting Indoors – Getting Your Point Across WITHOUT Going Outside

By Samantha Kitts aka Thermo Cosplay

During this time of tribulation, it’s hard to avoid defying shelter in place orders with the mistreatment that so many of our family and friends are suffering. Protesting is protected in our Nation and we have the right to do so. Unfortunately, doing this in person en masse not only risks our lives but those of others. A virus, as COVID 19, seeks to infect continuously and without prejudice. It infects until there is nothing left to infect. It doesn’t care how you feel about the state of things in your nation. It only wants to feed off your healthy cells until it replicates itself to death OR it kills you.

 

So it really upset me when I saw protesters outside. I tried to give many of them the benefit of the doubt, however; when I saw the signs being live-streamed on my computer from our Capitol about “I need a haircut” or “I need free refills” or “Let me work” I realized that those protesters WERE being as stupid and selfish as the media proclaimed them to be. Now, as someone who promotes freedom of speech and the right to protest I decided that, instead of judging others and shaming them for their efforts, perhaps I could give them some IDEAS on how and what to protest in this time of need. Instead of protesting to return to work, perhaps I can convince you to protest how the government is squandering the funds YOU put into it.

 

HOW TO PROTEST IN QUARANTINE

1. Call your local officials: There is an Executive Committee that governs our state. This committee exists in ALL states around the nation. You can find out who your local officials are by Googling “Contact [State Name] Executive Committee”. If you’re in Arizona here is the site for you: https://www.azleague.org/86/Executive-Committee
2. Email your local, state, and federal officials: Email blasts are aggravating, annoying, and drive a point. If we all emailed our officials once a day their inboxes would be inundated with information and they would HAVE to start considering our opinions. As stated above, you can use Google to find your Executive Committee’s (local), Governor’s (state), and Senator’s (federal) contact information. If you are in Arizona, here are your contact sites:
   1. Executive Committee: https://www.azleague.org/86/Executive-Committee
   2. Governor: https://azgovernor.gov/engage/form/contact-governor-ducey
   3. Senators: https://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm?State=AZ 
3. Join a local/national political forum online: Digital Activism IS a thing. You can join forums on Facebook, Reddit, and other social sites to build awareness of your predicament AND you can contact those same leaders on these platforms.

 

WHAT TO PROTEST IN QUARANTINE

The right to work is something many people are arguing about. If you are deemed non-essential and REALLY must work for your mental/physical well being then PLEASE consider becoming an essential staff member. There are many companies seeking support for making masks, cleaning hospitals, and, sadly, moving bodies. 

 

If you don’t want to switch careers then here are some suggestions on what you should REALLY be fighting for…

1. Protest the treatment of immigrants, elderly, healthcare workers, essential staff, and workers experiencing unpaid furloughs.
2. Protest the government’s failure to require banks and landlords to cease charging rent for 3 months. Protest their inability to see that these charges could just be added to the end of the loan OR that they could be forgiven with the money they keep handing out to Fortune 100-500 companies.
3. Protest the lack of testing, the safety equipment hoarding by our government, and the unequal redistribution of that critical equipment.
4. Protest the unequal treatment of people of color (there are so many sad, personal stories of people being refused treatment because of the color of their skin).
5. Protest the cut of school funding (which happened during this pandemic) where kids who are less fortunate currently receive 3 meals a day.
6. Protest YOUR LOCAL GOVERNMENT’S inability to have an “emergency fund” and/or proper emergency measures in place DESPITE it being a fundamental best practice for ANY organization.
7. Protest the HORRIFIC attacks on Asian Americans due to the inflammatory and racial remarks our President has made about this population.
8. Protest the misuse of Federal Funds.
9. Protest the mayors and governors trying to reopen prematurely in an effort to force all of the financial and legal obligations onto business owners.
10. Protest YOUR mistreatment by YOUR government.

 

Isolation is really the ONLY WAY to treat this pandemic. A Novel CoronaVirus does not mean it’s “insignificant”. In the medical community Novel = unknown/new/untreatable. EVERY DAY our medical professionals fight to discover WHAT methods of treatment work best and EACH DAY this virus throws them curveballs. Instead of yelling at Nurses who are taking their only day off to stand silently at your protest and support you should harm befall you, think about protesting how THEY are being mistreated. Please, have compassion for others during this tremulous period in our history.

 

TOGETHER we ARE STRONG!