Thank you to Blake Kremer who provided this important and timely training. Knowing our rights is an important element of exercising them. In this training Blake skillfully applied his legal expertise and decades of experience representing activists who engage in nonviolent protest and civil disobedience.

At this critical moment, when the Trump Administration is attempting to criminalize dissent, and encouraging law enforcement, the military, and thugs to use violence against legal, nonviolent protest, we must carefully consider how to deploy the tools and power of nonviolent action effectively as well as protect the safety of our friends and communities. 

Another important takeaway from this training is the importance of building community with the people we take action with. We must treat each action with care in order to protect each other while standing for our Constitutional rights, the rule of law, and human dignity. 

The topic of mace and pepper spray comes up in this conversation. Many women carry these tools everyday as a guard against sexual violence in a misogynistic society. Just making one rule about this is not enough. Keeping people safe and feeling safe is our priority. We are actively engaging with the question: how do we balance this with showing up to demonstrations, or banner actions that would normally be safe, but under this current political environment may not be?

The answers are not cut and dry. What is clear is that we need to listen to each other and help develop agreements and protocols for addressing threats without hurting others or being harmed. This is not going to be easy. But there is no way around this, only through.

I also mentioned Backbone's Organizer Toolkit, created a decade ago as a resource for people who wanted to create their own affinity groups and organize creative actions. That toolkit PDF is available for free on our website at BackboneCampaign.org/toolkit.

I hope that you take note of the valuable information and experience shared in this training. And, I hope you will circle back with us for subsequent skill building on de-escalation, scenario planning and more. We are truly all in this together. 

Bill Moyer
Executive Director
Backbone Campaign