Rally is call to action
The Love Trumps Hate Rally ended up as call to action for many of the 200 plus who showed up at the Baker Park band shell Sunday. They showed up looking for a sense of community with like-minded people and a chance to commiserate over Donald Trump’s stunning victory over Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 election.
Trump’s win was shattering in part because the polling prior to Election Day gave Clinton the clear lead. Many believed that Trump’s divisive campaign and comments denigrating people of color, the disabled, Muslims and women should have precluded him from being elected.
“That rally was equal parts empowerment for our community, and therapy for myself,” said Kristopher Fair, local activist and former vice chair of the Frederick County Democratic Central Committee. “A lot of people are kind of wandering in no man’s land wondering what happened and what it means for our society.” The Frederick Center, a nonprofit that supports the LGBTQ community, Fair said, is receiving a number of calls from people who are worried and fearful.
Fair, speaking at the rally, told the crowd that "a campaign waged on divisive rhetoric meant to pit brother against brother and sister against sister has always frightened our minority communities. We know when the flames of social tension are stoked, it is we who suffer first."
The Frederick Center, he said Sunday, “has been inundated with messages like, ‘My child is afraid to go to school,’ and, ‘Are they going to take my marriage license away?’.”
But, he said in an interview, people will organize and put together a plan to address equality in a new national dialogue. “We will adjust and we will move forward," Fair said.
“The message was to love, not hate.” Susan Reeder Jessee said. "It was very empowering, and it changed how I thought about things.”
Acceptance and unity were key themes that emerged, but paired with action, Jessee said. She said she was moved to run for elected office again. Jessee ran for Frederick County Council in 2014, but came up short. “This is what we have to do, stay involved,” she said.
Andrew Duck planned the rally with his daughter Millicent Hall. The former Congressional candidate said he was trying to figure out how to process the surprising results of the election. “There were a lot of people, frankly, in despair.”
[Andrew Duck addresses the crowd at Baker Park Sunday with interpreter.]
Others, he said, particularly in the minority community were fearful, “and to some degree, justifiably so with the increase in hate crimes, graffiti and the KKK’s victory march,” Duck said. “This is very troubling.”
Bringing together those groups, those struggling to process the news, and the people who are afraid of what a Trump presidency means for them, would be helpful to both. But some minority groups that he and Hall reached out to felt it was too soon.
“One thing we heard a lot is that they weren’t ready to do anything, especially groups that are experiencing a large level of fear,” Hall said. “It’s a very tense time.”
The rally served as a launching pad for further action. Duck and Hall have created a Facebook page, Love Triumphs Over Hate so that activities can be coordinated and supported. Duck said that many attendees are anxious to find concrete ways to help communities at risk. He changed the name to avoid using Trump’s name in a disparaging way.
“We won’t make progress if we have hatred on one side and fear of hatred on the other. We need to cooperate on things we have in common,” Duck said.
Photos courtesy of Cheryl Brown Dapsauski.
For more on the what’s ahead for Love Triumphs Over Hate and feedback from the rally, check out Extra Talk with Katherine Heerbrandt on Thursday, Nov. 17, 5 – 6 p.m. on 1450 AM The Source.
Listen to speakers from the rally on Extra Talk: http://www.wthu.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/ET-111716.mp3
