by Miss Bianca
First, of all, some context: Custer County, CO, where I live, is demographically speaking a ‘frontier’ county: our total population is only about 4500 people, the overwhelming majority (around 90%) white, and the median age is 58, and the sociopolitical culture relentlessly conservative, with a few pockets of liberality centered around cultural institutions like the community radio station and the performing arts center (where I work).
So when I say that I expected to be one of about seven people at the planned Black Lives Matter rally, I was only partly kidding. In the event, over 100 people showed up, and it would likely have been more, but for some confusion – the weather was supposed to be stormy, so the original organizer first called it off, and then cancelled the cancellation once it became apparent that people were ready to go, rain or shine. So here we go:
THE MOUNTIESThis is how I thought of them, tho’ I have no idea whether they were actually part of the mounted posse or not (yes, a “mounted posse” is a thing out here). All I know is that these two ladies on horseback were across the street from the park where we started (with a kneeling demonstration timed for 8 minutes, 46 seconds, in honor of George Floyd), and then they processed up the street in front of us before turning off onto a side street. So, I don’t really know why they were there, but they sure looked cool!
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The Sheriff had advised us to make sure to stay on the sidewalks. We split up and marched on both sides of the street. Observe the social distancing protocol (laxer on the way back, I must admit, but everyone was masked and remained masked throughout the event).
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There were some great signs. This one struck me as the ultimate statement for our times right now.
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The march began and ended at The Bluffs, a park at the end of the street at the edge of town with a stunning view of the Sangre de Cristo mountains. One of the coolest things about it for me was meeting people like this young family, who moved to the area a couple years ago.
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Signs, signs, everywhere signs…
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…including the “counter protest” outside the Sentinel office. The Sentinel is a right-wing newsletter (I won’t dignify it with the term “newspaper”) that serves as the fulcrum for white supremacist reaction. They have done a lot of damage socially and politically here, and they got their start from the extreme butt-hurt that the white gun nut crowd here experienced when the former editor of the real paper in town, the Wet Mountain Tribune (full disclosure, as Adam would say: I write for this paper), wrote an editorial poking fun at the open-carry zealots in the 4th of July parade. Boom – all of a sudden we’ve got a full-blown opposition organization, funded by some rabid right-winger from out of town (talk about your “outside agitators”!). Speaking of which, that’s what these folks were expecting – the Sheriff had to talk them down. But as you can see, they’re still out there. They were chanting “USA! USA! USA!” and “ALL LIVES MATTER!” as we passed. And of course, none of them masked. K-K-K-Keepin’ It K-K-K-Klassy all the way…
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We all bunched up and waded right through the suckers on the way back. What you can’t hear is one of the white supremacist goobers who got in our faces leering “I can’t breathe.” We had been warned not to react to any provocation, but man, that one was particularly hard to ignore.
RUNNING THE GAUNTLET
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But we all got through it and went on with our pleasant and useful day. I am hopeful that this march – which was organized by a very young man, and featured a multicultural, multi-generational crowd, which overwhelmingly abided by COVID-19 protocols – will represent the future of our county. One of the women who worked for my paper, who has gone over to the Dark Side with the bigots, lamented the other day that “I’ve lived in this valley for 20 years, and I don’t recognize it anymore.” To which I say, “Right on.”
END OF THE MARCH
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Jeffro
Congratulations on the successful march! That’s awesome!
Mallard Filmore
“ALL LIVES MATTER!”
You misspelled “WHITE LIVES FIRST”
MazeDancer
Most uplifting!
And so well-reported, too.
Just Chuck
Man, I live in CO myself (Colorado Springs unfortunately, but it’s getting better) and I’m still awestruck every time I head up to the high country. I like to say getting lost in the scenic beauty is the #1 traffic hazard around here (especially on the swervy shitshow that is I-25)
randy
There is larger or smaller love and welcome for liberal colonists in every corner of this land.
karensky
Miss Bianca, you and your compatriots are way cool.thanks for what you are doing in Custer County!
Benw
Way to go!
The racists look like miserable people.
Roger Moore
@Mallard Filmore:
*But our lives matter more than yours.
scott (the other one)
Some of those photos—the ones featuring the families, mostly—actually kinda choked me up.
CaseyL
Thank you for doing this, and sharing it with us!
Those small towns in the mountains – I love how they look, and have thought about living there, but each time I find out they’re hotbeds of RWNJs, whether it’s in Colorado or California or my own state of Washington.
It’s probably a predisposition of why people move out to the wilds in the first place: to escape the urban environment. Racism is a big part of that, but also the disinclination to be told what to do with one’s land, and to be able to live in whatever kind of structure one can manage to put up, with no zoning or other requirements to worry about. Considering the cost of housing, I can actually sympathize with that urge.
But that independent spirit always seems to congeal into wingnuttiness. Which always makes me mad and sad; that meanness doesn’t belong in those gloriously beautiful places.
I hope hope HOPE your report means things are changing in Colorado!
Tony Jay
The urge to throat-punch Mr “I can’t breathe” would have been too strong for me to resist, I’m afraid. That’s why you’re a better person than me.
And you live in some beautiful country. That’s just stunning.
hedgehog mobile
Thanks, for protesting and sharing!
Haroldo
Thank you, Miss Bianca.
Mary G
So happy to read this! It takes a lot of guts to walk through a crowd of older white men who love guns and Trump. I would’ve been terrified and mouthed off to them to hide my fear, causing problems. You all did great. Love the difference in ages; it gives me hope for the future.
Miss Bianca
Thanks, friends! It was a beautiful experience, even with the Righty Whiteys out there. One thing I didn’t get to post – mostly because I’m super clumsy with video embeds – was the great speech that the outgoing pastor of our Methodist Church gave – she and her son being two of the very few African-American residents we had here. Vette is an awesome person and an eloquent speaker and we will be very ,very sorry to lose her in these parts – a true social justice warrior.
And thanks to WaterGirl for keeping on me and encouraging me to actually do this! As well as doing all the work of the uploads!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Congrats to all these fine folks in Custer.
Betty Cracker
Three observations:
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
@Mallard Filmore:
I’ve always read that as “Only White Lives Matter”.
Those counter-protestors are sad and pathetic
kindness
Yeay for our side. You done us proud.
Goku (aka Amerikan Baka)
Congratulations Miss Bianca! You all were very brave having walk through those assholes and not react.
Greg in PDX
@CaseyL: Same here in Oregon. Eastern Oregon is a magnet for RWNJs of the worst sort. I read their on line comments to various posts and have learned that the virus is a hoax by Kate Brown to take away their guns and physically force them to get blood tests and vaccines so she can collect their DNA.
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: If you’re up for uploading your video to YouTube, I can easily add it to the post up top.
Miss Bianca
@Greg in PDX:
It’s like they don’t even listen to themselves, isn’t it? The other day I saw a Q-Anon bumper sticker on a car parked on Main Street. Sigh…well, at least on THIS day we outnumbered them! That counts for something!
WaterGirl
@Miss Bianca: Keeping on me sounds so much nicer than “bugging me” or “nagging me”. Thanks for that! :-)
Miss Bianca
@WaterGirl: I’ll try – don’t have my laptop here, so it may be a challenge, but I’ll try!
Kay
Nice pics! We have some of the huge Trump flags here too. They put them up under the US flag.
I think it’s bizarre. If I ever purchase and fly a flag emblazoned with ANYONE’S name I want you-all to put me out of my misery. It’s appalling that they’re declaring allegiance to this…individual right under the US flag. It’s obscene.
mad citizen
As Betty noted, I am alarmed at the thickness of the coats required in this place, beautiful though it is.
Sure Lurkalot
Great post. I liked the pictures of the kiddos…if they’re over 4 or 5, they will remember this. I’m also encouraged when I see mom, dad and young kids all sporting masks on the walking paths here in the city…it’s always a good time to learn that there’s power in collective action.
I’m thrilled I hiked the dunes last September…you live in a beautiful part of our state, Miss Bianca.
Another Scott
Thanks for the report, Miss Bianca. Showing up is important!!
In other news, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/06/indian-army-20-soldiers-killed-border-clash-china-200616172525853.html
As if there wasn’t enough happening these days…
Cheers,
Scott.
danielx
Sure are a lot of counties in the American West named after that sonofabitch George Armstrong Custer.
Red Power slogan: Custer Wears An Arrow Shirt!
dnfree
Wonderful and inspiring to see in rural-ish areas. It takes courage to stand up knowing the majority around you doesn’t agree. Will it be different this time? I always hope so.
Another Scott
@danielx:
Ambrose’s Crazy Horse and Custer is an excellent book on the man and his times. It teaches us that Custer did things like rush the attack to try to claim the victory and the glory for himself so that he would be carried into the White House on a wave of adulation and reverence in the election that fall.
Kinda like how today’s GOP is convinced that Donnie will win in a landside…
Cheers,
Scott.
Victor Matheson
Keep fighting the good fight!
As for battles, can I (somewhat pridefully) point out that I have battled my way up to the summits of Crestone Peak, Crestone Needle, Humboldt Peak, Kit Carson Peak, and Challenger Point, which are all in that range of 14,000 ft peaks just outside of your fine town that we can see in the distance in your pictures.
Miss Bianca
@Kay: IKR??! It’s so..;”blasphemous” isn’t really the word I want. Perhaps “idolatrous”.
The Pale Scot
@Kay:
Eli Manning, emblazoned with one of his goofy face pics or displaying his incredible pecs
Or Tim Conway’s oldest man character
But I see Tim or his sister every time I go to Publix
Betty Cracker
@Kay: Right? That’s so weird. There was a Trump float in our town’s Christmas parade, like he’s a tacky, low-character Santa. I was embarrassed for them.
Lacuna Synechdoche
Miss Bianca @ Top:
I just wanted to point out that 100 people in a county of 4500 is 2.2% of the county’s entire population. In NYC that would be equivalent to getting a turnout of 175,000 people.
So that’s … Impressive!
cain
@Tony Jay:
My return fire is that “That’s because we’re slowly taking away your oxygen – give us a few more years.”
cain
@Betty Cracker:
I think for most – Trump is just a weaponized cartoon character that they use to trigger the libs. They support this asshole simply on that alone. It is why they are so demonstrative and don’t understand that their own reputation is at stake.
If there was more of us in charge, I would definitely would have adjusted my expectation on hte kind of work these people do – I mean if you can’t get in on science or data focused decisions – how effective are you?
Miss Bianca
@Lacuna Synechdoche: I thought so! : )
Mai naem mobile
@Miss Bianca: I am impressed with your crowd and,oh, your crowd overall is younger than the other side so you can see where the demographics are heading. I think 100 people is pretty damn impressive. I figure there are at least another hundred out there who agree with you but are too intimidated to come out and march – especially if their means of earning a living is dependent on right wingers.
chopper
man, mocking a dying murder victim’s last words because he’s black. christ, what an asshole.
Miss Bianca
@chopper: What was even worse was that Vette’s son was passing him at the time. A young black man hearing an old white guy saying that shit? Under those circumstances? We almost had more than ‘words’. We just bunched up around our young man and moved on. But if I found that asshole again, I doubt I would hold still for long.
WereBear
Congratulations on the March and being the bigger person.
debbie
@Miss Bianca:
Boy, knowing that, I would not have kept quiet.
JustRuss
@Greg in PDX:
It’s always comes down to the bodily fluids with these guys…
Bishop Bag
Hey Miss Bianca
I live in Bishop, California, very similar…rural conservative Inyo County. A couple of the ‘Yuts’ organized BLM protest 2 weeks ago and the turnout was really nice. Probably about 150 people. I am going to try to post the links to the two news articles that covered the event. It was pretty good coverage actually!
https://www.inyoregister.com/content/area-residents-gather-protest-racism-police-brutality
https://www.sierrawave.net/local-blm-protest-detractors-spread-false-rumors-rumors-were-not-true-says-local-law-enforcement/
I hope these work.
Miss Bianca
@debbie: They were waiting for it. Salivating for it. I just could not give them the satisfaction. But uh…pretty eye-opening knowing just how despicable some of my fellow travelers in this county really are.
@Bishop Bag: Wow, cool! Thanks for sharing!
J R in WV
Nearly 8,000 feet above sea level in the county seat, so no wonder it’s still a little cool..
I always need a few days to adjust to the 5,500 elevation at our camp in SE AZ, back in the day we enjoyed hiking and rock collecting at high elevations in CO, but not so much anymore. Ageing sucks, except for the alternative.