On Her Own
Another great piece from Annette Evans.
Protests are something of a uniquely American tradition. Being able to gather and speak out in groups is enshrined in our Bill of Rights, and we've certainly taken advantage of that over the years. They're at the forefront of our minds right now because of the George Floyd-related protests, but also because of the protests to end quarantines and shutdowns relating to the pandemic.
Here at On Her Own, I'm generally neutral about who or what you protest for or against although as regular readers know, I care deeply about personal autonomy and personal safety. Fortunately, counterprotests are a great answer to protests.
Theoretically, anyway.
Unfortunately, protests turn into dangerous places to be for many reasons, and when a protest becomes violent rioting and looting, people get hurt both from the crowd and from those trying to control the crowd. For the purposes of being safe, it doesn't matter why...just that it does. If you're lucky enough to live in places where people don't protest, you might be able to avoid the danger entirely by just not showing up. But that's not always possible and besides, I'm not here to tell you to live your life in a bubble to be safe. I'm here to explore how you can live your life, and be safe in that life.
So, protests. I reached out to my friend Lara of The Liberal Gun Club, who's a lawyer and who has been thinking about this far more than I have lately, and to my friend Sarah of gunsguidetoliberals who has been on the ground for a number of protests, and I'm paraphrasing many of their thoughts here (gaps, mistakes, and bad advice are, of course, mine):
-Always have an escape route and be ready and willing to use it. Preferably more than one. That means staying out of the middle of the crowd and planning your transportation with an eye towards leaving instead of focusing on just getting there.
-Have a plan. Know what you'll do if you get arrested, if you get swept up with the crowd, or if you see or hear violence starting, the crowd starting to get boxed in, or people getting hurt. The National Lawyers Guild and ACLU provide support to protests of all stripes; writing the local phone number on your arm in permanent marker means you can't lose their contact information. Knowing your escape routes and thinking in advance what you'll do and how you'll do it if you see and hear certain things will help you act faster when you need to.
-Be observant. Your plan is useless if you aren't paying attention to the things that will trigger your actions. What's the tenor of the crowd? Are there people who look like they don't belong? Are there voices starting to advocate violence? Do you see crowd control techniques like tear gas or rubber bullets starting to be used? As soon as you see something that looks problematic, execute your plan immediately, especially if that plan is "get out."
-Bring supplies. Don't become a casualty to the everyday dangers of of dehydration, heatstroke, hypothermia, etc. You're not helping your cause if you go down because your blood sugar is too low or out of control, and you're not helping yourself. Remember your first aid kit (and get training!) so that you can at least treat your own injuries if they occur. In the age of COVID, bring hand sanitizer and masks. Actually, bring hand sanitizer anyway. Ew.
-Don't be That Guy. Be careful with dressing in a way that can be construed as overly inflammatory - it won't help your message and it can turn the protest violent, and possibly violent against you individually. That includes weapons - visible weapons can be highly problematic and for your personal safety, legally concealed weapons may be a much wiser choice. And really, just don't be that guy. You can't complain about getting hurt in a violent riot if you're part of starting the riot.
And finally, check out Greg Ellifritz's excellent advice for surviving riots and political demonstrations from his book, Choose Adventure (more on that later, but Amazon affiliate link here: https://amzn.to/3gPgxn8), excerpted for free here: https://www.activeresponsetraining.net/surviving-riots-and-political-demonstrations ... See more