I did not plan to write this story/post. But the moment filled my heart, and head. I’m using the question prompts from the 100 Evanston Stories Project – Navigating Though Trumpism to tell the story and what it means to me: How deeply you feel community when it is visible. I wrote more than is really necessary for a story to be submitted to the project. But it was a big moment.
Where did this take place?
Fountain Square in downtown Evanston.
What happened?
On Thursday I got an email from Indivisible Evanston that there would, in fact, be an April 5 Hands Off! rally here. No event had been scheduled for Evanston; until that time the only option to was to go to downtown Chicago. A friend emailed me “I’ll go if you go!.” A neighbor texted me to let me know of the event.
My wife and I walked to Fountain Square on Saturday, the day of the event. We saw a few folks with signs also going there. When we arrived, the Square was already filled up. It’s not a really large open space. It sits in the center of downtown Evanston, at the bottom of a triangle created by the intersection of two angled streets. The top of the triangle is another open space, across a main street from the Square (the street bisects the triangle). Soon all the open spaces were filled. Folks spilled over to the left and right of the triangle as well. It was easily 1000-plus folks.
The rally moderator noted that the event only came together after two independent emails were sent to Indivisible Evanston 5 days ago, asking for an Evanston location to accommodate folks who would have a difficult time making it to downtown Chicago. One was from a working mom with two kids. The other, an elder who lived at a nearby home for seniors. Folks who came largely found out through word of mouth.
The energy was electric. Speakers rallied and inspired. One speaker was someone I just met a week ago: The co-chair of Environmental Justice Evanston.
We spent a good bit of time soaking it all in. The hand-crafted signs. The weird mix of love, joy, anger and resistance.
As a result of this, what did you do afterwards?
I texted my friend. “Evanston showed up!” she wrote back. I emailed the co-chair a bunch of applause emojis.
I thought about what I might write, and do next, to build off of this collective moment and my local connections into it.
What does this story mean, for you?
Community is everything, but you must make community visible.
Jeff Merrell 