About a month ago, I had books due at the Glades Road Branch Library. I’d been on a reading stint — mostly abolitionists and revolutionaries — in an effort to deepen my knowledge of my constitutional rights.
I picked up a fresh stack and sped off on my scooter toward Dave’s Hot Chicken for lunch, but stopped in my tracks when I ran into a massive crowd of anti-ice protesters about a mile from my house. Their signs carried the same message as the pages I’d been holding so close to my heart.
“Who organized this? Did you organize this?!” I chirped at a burly man in spiffy fireman garb. “Me? No.” He shook his head, sunglasses shielding his gaze, struggling a little with his sign.
“How can I help?” I offered, leaning my scooter against a telephone pole and setting my Trader Joe’s bag alongside it. I mean, it must have been fate. I was bummed I couldn't attend the anti-ice protest up North, but it felt like this one had come to me. At that point, I was free game.
The scene looked like this for a while: I held my newfound friend’s sign on the corner, turning when he asked me to turn, holding it higher when he asked me to hold it higher. All of the blue — WHACK! A man I’ve come to know as Thomas Landry smacked the sign out of my hand, punched my friend, and started spitting in his face.
I didn’t realize it at the time, but he — seemingly inebriated — was shouting obscenities, accusing my friend of being a “phony firefighter.”
I whipped out my phone, got probably too close to the assault, and stood by. I didn’t instigate further; I only captured. At some point, my friend was able to call the police. Since we were already at a protest, they were thankfully nearby.
My friend bought me that Dave’s Hot Chicken as a thank you for recording. I was too shaken to truly enjoy it. Of course, we pressed charges, and Thomas Landry is facing two counts of battery.
He lives across the fence from me. Am I afraid that he’ll come back, in the open-carry state of Florida, and threaten me if I show my face at a protest again? Yes. Am I gonna stop protesting? No. Renee Good wouldn’t have. Alex Pretti wouldn’t have.
I carry their experiences with me as I stand up for my rights, and I encourage you to reflect on the privileges you have as citizens when it comes to expressing your thoughts about what’s happening in our country today. Everybody’s got something to lose. It’s through the bravery of regular folks like us that we still have a country worth fighting for.
Learn more about the Jan. 10 anti-ICE protest here.
