When Donald Trump became president, 36-year-old Alissa Old Crow was devastated.
“I grew up in a very racist area of Arkansas,” she said. “If you were anything other than white and straight, you were not welcome. It just breaks my heart to see the hatred and to see someone treated as less than or bad or somehow less than human for things they cannot help.”
On Saturday, about 95 Gainesville residents gathered at the Levin College of Law to watch a webinar hosted by the American Civil Liberties Union called, “The Resistance Training: An ACLU Town Hall.” The webinar was to launch a nationwide grassroots movement called People Power, which seeks to resist “the Trump administration’s assault on our constitution and our values,” according to the American Civil Liberties Union’s website.
The ACLU is a non-partisan organization that defends U.S. citizens’ free speech, said Gator Law ACLU President Harry Beck.
Old Crow, who’s half Native American and has an intellectually disabled aunt, said she felt affected by Trump’s actions, especially after he mocked a reporter with a disability during his campaign.
“I have friends who are transgender, black, Muslim, Hispanic, undocumented,” she said. “These are real people who all of a sudden, the next morning, were scared to leave their homes.”
Old Crow, an ACLU member, said she worked with Beck to organize the space for Gainesville residents to view the webinar.
More than 200,000 ACLU members tuned into the webinar, said ACLU Executive Director Anthony Romero.
The webinar taught viewers how to organize, lawfully protest and react to witnessing police brutality or U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.
The event was to educate and reach out to more Gainesville activists, Beck said.
“Resistance without organization is not effective,” he said. “The First Amendment is there, but there are restrictions to it, and you have to be mindful of those in order to be as effective as possible.”
Gainesville resident Kim Heiss said she wasn’t politically active until Trump signed an executive order to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act in January.
Along with attending Saturday’s meetings, Heiss, 54, said she’s called state officials to oppose nominees for Trump’s administrative positions and the planned removal of the Environmental Protection Agency.
“I’ve never been more politically motivated in my entire life,” she said. “I disagree with just about everything that he’s pushing for.”
A follow-up meeting will be held Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at the Alachua County Library District Headquarters, Old Crow said.
She said the meeting will cover nine topics the People Power team wants volunteers to discuss with local law enforcement. The goal is to establish consistent policies to protect individuals from violations of their rights.
Beck said one of the biggest challenges for activists is combatting outrage fatigue: the loss of motivation to protest as time goes on.
“This is not a sprint; this a marathon,” he said. “If you need to get a cup of water, if you need to take a break and stretch, I think the activism leaders and Gainesville would understand — but we’re going to keep going.”
