27 Sep 2025
“Our founders risked their lives to build a nation where freedom of speech was a birthright, not a luxury for a privileged few. It is guaranteed in the First Amendment of our Constitution and vital for a healthy democracy. This freedom of speech is ours to claim, or to lose - we can shrink into silence or we can speak.
While I take inspiration from the past, like most Americans, I live for the future. So today, for just a few minutes, I hope you will reflect on our founders’ courage. Then consider how your fearless free speech today, whether spoken, written, or symbolic, will ensure free speech for ALL in the future.
“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest. “- Ellie Wiesel”
20 Sep 2025
“Events of this past week were the inspiration for my new sign for our protest this week.
Words are words.
Violence is violence.
And the distinction makes all the difference.
Protect speech. Punish violence.
“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” - George Washington”
13 Sep 2025
“1. Sign 1 is a repeat from June following the assassination of Melissa Hortman, Speaker of the Minnesota House of Representatives, the murder of her husband, Mark, and their dog, Gilbert. Sadly, gun violence has claimed even more lives this past week. Violence is never the answer. Our history shows that violence only fuels division. “Weapons are the tools of violence; all decent men detest them. Weapons are the tools of fear; a decent man will avoid them except in the direst necessity.” - Tao Te Ching , Verse 31
2. Sign 2 was inspired by a meme posted by a friend. Which said: “People are scared to say stuff, but I’m not and that’s why only three people like me. “
That meme reminded me of three people - Hans and Sophie Scholl (siblings) and Christoph Probst. They were members of the White Rose, a movement that was one of the few German groups that spoke out against Nazi government policies. Christoph’s and Han’s war experiences and the apathy of German citizens in the face of the government’s fascist policies, compelled them to speak out. Sophie said, “Stand up for what you believe in. Even if you are standing alone.”
In late January 1943, the Scholls distributed pamphlets urging college students in Munich to resist. But a university janitor saw them and betrayed them to the Gestapo. Hans, Sophie, and Christoph were executed on February 22, 1943.
Sophie’s last words: “Such a fine, sunny day, and I have to go, but what does my death matter, if through us thousands of people are awakened and stirred to action?"
1 Sep 2025
“Stop the Billionaire Takeover" Visibility Rally at the St. Johns Town Center, Jacksonville: My signs were inspired by a display I saw at the Swedish American Museum in Chicago. It was a political cartoon (courtesy of the Library of Congress) by Bernard Gilliam and published in “The Puck” magazine during the Gilded Age. It illustrates the growing wealth disparity and exploitation of workers.
Fantastic turnout and lots of honks and waves today. I met a sweet dog named Shelby; there were a variety of signs (1st Amendment rights in real-life);
and I sang along to a few songs (This Land is Your Land, The Answer is “Fighting Fascism” - aka The Answer is Blowing in the Wind, etc.).
"Without labor nothing prospers" - Sophocles
