How to Protest Like a Champ

See you in the streets today!

Photo of the march from Selma to Montgomery, from 1965 issue of Ebony Magazine

This is Emily Writes Back, a newsletter for brilliant people, by Emily Sanders Hopkins.

What You’ll Need for a Successful Demonstration

Our declarations are worth
more than the paper they are printed on,

worth a march on a Saturday.
Be multiples of yourself. 

If clothes make the man,
wear a a suit or a dress

and a fresh lei around your neck--
a symbol of your love.

On "No Kings Day," pretend that you are King,
a lion in your heart.

Walk firmly, not too fast,
it's not a race, it's a river.
 
If they hit you with a club, take a
seat on the pavement or the grass. 

Tear gas is a fake emergency. One good
gas mask would have saved you all this snot. 

Hope to be arrested
so you can write a letter from the jail.

They don't give you a pen or paper anymore,
so you'll have to compose it in your head.

Carry signs or not, but make them very clear,
like, All humans have inalienable rights, 

even without the paperwork.
Which gives us an idea:

Let's hack the immigration system
and make everyone a citizen!

I have an ink jet printer on my desk.