Under the gloomy sky, tented booths colored the Madaket Plaza in Eureka as Humboldt Democracy Connections kicked off the first Defend Democracy Fair on Sept. 14.
Throughout the day, dozens of people perused the booths of 10 different organizations working to advocate on issues ranging from gender rights and LGBTQ+ rights to climate change and the Israel-Hamas war. The event also had a booth for people to speak with their local representatives, along with a curated selection of future-focused books for sale with Eureka Books and food from Tasty Thaiger and Pudgy Pierogi.
“There’s so much terrible stuff going on,” says Sue Hilton, a member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, referring to the military response the president has sent to major cities across the U.S. “And I think our only response has to be, or at least a big part of our response, having people know about it. “
Marlee Nelson, one of the seven co-leads of HDC who planned the fair, says they have been working on the event since July. At the HDC booth, people could take part in a trivia quiz with questions relating to U.S. democracy and rights or pick up a small pamphlet copy of the Constitution.
” We feel like comradery is important and joy is an act of resistance,” Nelson says. “We wanted to bring the community together and give folks an opportunity to find an org where they’d like to get involved and participate in activism.”
Tucked between two booths was a small table where Renee Nelson, the membership coordinator at Democratic Socialists of America, gave face paintings of various flowers and plants, each symbolizing different meanings or social movements, such as lavenders for LGBTQ+ rights and sunflowers for the environment.
Renee says the most popular flowers she painted were roses symbolizing unity, peaceful resistance or anarchism depending on their color.
Gray heads of hairs were the most common sight among the crowd of folks in attendance, with some carrying signs that said “No Kings” from previous protests. Nelson says this also rings true in HDC, with most members being older people, many of whom have been involved in protests and activism for decades.
“There’s a lot of folks who were protesting the Vietnam War, for example, so I’ve certainly been able to glean a lot of wisdom for them as far as protests that were successful for them,” she says.
Eureka resident Maureen Fitzgerald says she came out alongside her friends “representing the baby boomers.” She says she has protested against the Afghanistan and Iraq war but “this is the worst” she has ever seen in her lifetime, describing the situation in Gaza as “a genocide.”
“Because of social media, we’re seeing everything as it’s happening,” Fitzgerald says. “We didn’t have that during my time growing up, and now there’s no turning away. It’s in your face 24/7, and you can’t say you don’t know that these poor people are being killed ‘cause you see it with your own eyes. Anybody with a soul or any kind of empathy or compassion for the suffering of others wants this to stop.”
Fitzgerald says that “it’s heartbreaking” to see people of color and those in the LGBTQ+ community being targeted in the U.S., stating she is fearful that her grandchildren, who are of Mexican descent, will be “rounded up and taken away.”
“It could happen to anybody,” she says. “When they’re done with everybody else, they’re coming after you, so we need to step up.”
Musical performances from Harmon Howl, A Banjo Makes Three and the Humboldt Song Brigade livened the scene. In between musical acts there was an Anne Fricke poetry reading and a short theatrical performance by five members of Centro Del Pueblo, a nonprofit organization providing resources for immigrants in the North Coast.
Centro Del Pueblo Director Brenda Perez says the play has been in the works since February, with the organization finally presenting the program at the event. The performance informed the audience of their rights and the appropriate actions to take in the case of encountering an immigration officer.
Afterward, red cards that people can present to an immigration officer informing them about their rights were passed out.
“We think that the theater is a really accessible way for folks to hear what we have to say and to learn what they should do in front of ICE,” Peyton Leone, a Centro Del Pueblo hotline responder and youth council member, says. “The fact that everyone has rights under the Constitution, regardless of immigration status, is probably big thing number one that we want anyone to take away from that.”
At the final hour of the event, four contestants took the stage alongside Nelson dressed as cultural icon and symbol Rosie the Riveter as part of the fair’s Democracy-themed costume contest. Competing against a suffragist, enlisted soldier and the Spirit of Revolution, AJ Townsend, dressed as Abraham Lincoln, came out on top with the prize of a “Defend Democracy” flag.
Anne To (she/her) is a California Local News Fellow placed with North Coast Journal, Inc. Reach her at (707) 442-1400, or anne@northcoastjournal.com. The California Local News Fellowship is a state-funded initiative to support and strengthen local news reporting. Learn more about it at fellowships.journalism.berkeley.edu/cafellows.