Yes, I went to college with Cory Booker. We lived in the same freshman dorm, although I rarely saw him. It was a big dorm and he was on the football team, so like the other athletes he was always busy with classes, homework, practices and games.
I have other friends who know him well, and I can say with confidence that he is the real deal. He genuinely cares about people, wants to make things better, and he believes in the power of love. Plus, he is a bad-ass – in case you missed it, he gave a speech on the Senate floor this week that lasted for 25 hours and 4 minutes. No food, no bathroom breaks. He fasted for days beforehand to make sure that he wouldn’t have to go. And no sitting down, ever. The only breaks he got were when other senators asked him questions, and then he could rest his voice – but not sit down. Those are the rules.
I could barely stay awake that long, much less stand for that many hours! And certainly, I wouldn’t be coherent. But he was, and unlike other long speeches before him (he broke the record for longest Senate speech previously held by Strom Thurmond, who spoke for 24 hours and 18 minutes in 1957, arguing against the adoption of the Civil Rights bill), his speech was all substance. There was no reading of kids’ books or the encyclopedia. He and his team had binders of content – letters from constituents, both Democrats and Republicans. Stats. Stories. And he told many more of his own, extemporaneously. I can’t do that even when well rested!
Why put yourself through all that? To make the point that we are in what he termed a “moral moment.” He said that what’s happening in our country now is “not about left or right. It’s about right or wrong.” And that the only thing that could potentially shift the trajectory is us – the American people. Not him, not any one person. But hundreds or thousands of people coming together to make their voices heard. Like John Lewis and others marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge. The Suffrage movement to gain women the right to vote. Gandhi’s peaceful revolution to obtain India’s independence. Martin Luther King Jr. and the March on Washington. The Solidarity movement in Poland. Nelson Mandela’s nonviolent protests to end Apartheid in South Africa. And the list goes on…
I know there are Americans who are happy with the actions the Trump administration is taking, including some of my friends. So, the rest of this post is probably not for them.* But for those who are concerned – and I count myself as one of them – Booker’s test of endurance confirmed for me the power we have when we come together. And the importance of doing so.
An opportunity to do just that is this Saturday, April 5th. All the major progressive groups are banding together, across the country, for a day of peaceful, nonviolent protest to declare “Hands Off!” Hands off our democracy, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, LGBTQ rights, immigrant rights, free speech, due process, and more. Right now, there are over 1200 protests planned across the United States and even overseas. The goal is to have as many people as possible in as many places as possible.
I urge you to join me and what is likely to be millions of others this Saturday. Speak up. Stand up. Even if you never protest, or protests aren’t your thing – if you’re worried about the direction this administration is taking our country, this is the one to go to. If Cory Booker can stand up for 25 hours, we can get ourselves to a peaceful protest. Where we can be in community and remind ourselves that we are not alone. Because we’re not.
Go to https://handsoff2025.com/ to find an event near you. Hope to see you out there, making good – and I believe, necessary – trouble.
* I understand if this isn’t what you signed up for but I’d love for you to stay, and share your thoughts with me, especially if we disagree. I promise to listen.