You’re Not Safer in a Crouched Position
You don’t just show up for yourself. You show up so someone else knows they’re not alone.
There’s a reason so many of us are planning to gather tomorrow.
We’re not under any illusion that one protest will fix everything. We know the tanks will still roll. The arrests will still happen. The administration will continue doing what it’s doing… with more boldness, more cruelty, and fewer people willing to say it out loud. But we’re showing up anyway. Because what’s happening is happening. And it’s going to keep happening unless we meet it head-on.
Donald Trump has deployed troops against his own people. Over 4,000 National Guard and hundreds of Marines have been sent to patrol an American city against the wishes of its governor and mayor. Protesters have been called foreign invaders. Local officials have been cast as traitors. A sitting United States Senator was handcuffed for asking too many questions. And two-thirds of those taken into custody in this so-called crackdown have no criminal records. These are not actions grounded in public safety or national security. They’re about domination. They are the slow creep of authoritarianism, dressed up in flags and sirens and press conferences.
We are being told to keep quiet. To stop making trouble. To get small. To crouch.
But you are not safer in a crouched position.
You are just easier to control.
Some of our own local leaders - like the mayor of Anderson County, Tennessee - are echoing that message. Her statement this week didn’t just oppose the protest. It tried to shame it. Dismiss it. Reduce it to noise. She said it was troublemaking. She wrapped her argument in religious language and condescension, as though people peacefully gathering to express fear and outrage over unconstitutional power grabs were somehow the problem.
But we’re not the problem. And we’re not backing down. Because we know that crouching does not protect you. It only hides you. And that’s exactly what they want.
We’re still showing up. Because it matters that we do.
Not just to make a statement - though we will. Not just to show defiance - though we must. But because when we show up, we let someone else know that they are not alone.
There are people in my community - in every community - who are scared. Some are undocumented. Some are immunocompromised. Some are caretakers, wage workers, people who can’t afford the risk. And some are just anxious… worn down by a world that seems to get darker every day.
But they’re still watching. Watching the streets. Watching the headlines. Watching to see if anyone else sees what they see.
When we show up, we don’t just confront the people in power. We reach the people who’ve been made to feel powerless.
So no, this isn’t performance. It’s presence. It’s witness. It’s reminder.
That someone still sees. That someone still cares. That someone is still standing.
Because the longer you stay crouched, the harder it is to remember how to rise.
We are living in a moment when being visible is its own form of resistance. When the simple act of gathering (calmly, together, in peace) sends a message more powerful than any speech: We are still here. And we are not afraid to be seen.
We don’t protest because it’s easy.
We protest because it’s harder not to… once you know what’s at stake.
What this administration is doing, and plans to keep doing, will not be stopped by good intentions. It won’t be softened by silence. It will be stopped by people standing up, town by town, street by street, person by person. Until there are too many of us to ignore.
So tomorrow, we gather. And not because we want conflict.
But because we refuse to crouch for comfort while our neighbors are being taken.
You don’t have to yell. You don’t have to lead. You just have to stand.
Because standing together is the only thing that has ever moved this country forward.
And because you're not safer in a crouched position.
You're just less likely to be seen.
And right now, being seen is everything.
Tomorrow - Saturday, June 14th - thousands of protests are planned across the country in response to what the Trump administration is doing. Find one near you. Show up. Not just to raise your voice, but to let someone else know they’re not alone in this. Sometimes, your presence is the protest.
Like you said "You don’t just show up for yourself. You show up so someone else knows they’re not alone" And standing together peacefully, exercising our first amendment rights, is how we send a strong message, that what our government is doing is NOT ACCEPTABLE.
We must be present, visible, and vocal. We must peacefully protest and demand accountability from our representatives for the cruelty of ICE, the erosion of due process and the rule of law, and the passage of policies like the so-called “Big Beautiful Budget Act,” which amounts to class warfare—shifting wealth upward while stripping resources from the rest.
We are witnessing the defunding of our values at home and abroad, the abandonment of our global allies, and the deliberate sowing of chaos in our economy. Our institutions—education, the judiciary, even Congress—are under constant attack. And at the root of this crisis is a campaign of lies, division, and fear designed to erode democracy and enable the rise of authoritarianism under Trump and his unqualified, sycophantic administration.
If we, the people, do not unite to uphold the Constitution and defend our democracy, no one else will. Dark money and the Citizens United decision have corrupted Congress and the courts, allowing billionaires to buy elections and influence.
My grandfather, a proud Tennessean from Goodlettsville, fought in WWII. His Army unit discovered Hitler’s bunker. That war—and the dictator and fascism he helped defeat—was not that long ago. Yet today, authoritarianism is again on the rise, using the same playbook and tactics.
If we don’t unite, protest, and stop this overreach now, it will only get harder. The time is now. We are the American people, this is in our blood. Peaceful protest is our right. United we stand, divided we fall.