“If people are waiting for the 2020 election to save us, they will be disappointed,” warns activist, author and organizer of the We The People march, Amy Siskind. A projected 100,00 Americans who are determined not to just sit and wait will descend on Washington, D.C. on Saturday, September 21st, and tens of thousands more will be taking to the streets in over 60 marches across the US and other countries.
The point is to dramatically remind Congress “that they work for us, the people, and not the president or corporate influencers” according to We The People’s mission statement . “The members of Congress and especially (Speaker of the House) Nancy Pelosi need to feel the pressure to hold the Trump regime accountable. They have failed at that,” asserts Siskind in an EXCLUSIVE interview. “We are rolling the dice if we are just waiting for 2020.”
Siskind, who published the book, ‘The List: A Week-by-Week Reckoning Of Trump’s First Year,’ has been a very close observer of the Trump administration, from its separation of children from their parents at the border, to its rollback of environmental protections, and she has compiled a weekly list of “not- normal” events and policies coming out of the Trump White House.
She felt compelled to begin organizing the We The People march earlier this past summer. “I’d been noticing, that everyone was so gung ho after the midterms. We thought that if we just got the House (of Representatives) we’d be going back to normalcy, but that hasn’t happened… and I felt that there was this broad sense of frustration,” Siskind explains. “I got the feeling that people wanted to do something. They wanted to take to the streets and march.
Never been to a march in my life but I'll be there this Saturday! See ya soon, DC. #WeThePeopleMarch https://t.co/FgR0EZUWEU
— Aiden Malecky (@MaleckyAiden) September 19, 2019
Siskind recounts that she tweeted out that “someone has to organize a march.” But despite getting 25 thousand retweets and then tweeting to progressive activist groups like Indivisible and Moveon.org, no organization came forward.
Siskind decided that, “I had to do it.” It was the beginning of August and she discovered that the first Saturday she could get a permit for a march in Washington, D.C. was September 21st, so September 21st, it was.
The word spread like wildfire in a grass roots way and people all over the country began organizing local sister marches in their own cities and towns, including New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Dallas/ Ft. Worth. Siskind calls the organizers of these marches, her co-hosts, and says there are about 65 marches outside of DC.
The march isn’t about one particular issue. “We have a broad and inclusive mission statement. Some people are marching to protest kids in cages, or for gun legislation or for impeachment,” explains Siskind. “We are hoping that the march will be the beginning of a re-awakening. People are fired up. Our Congress has let us down and Trump is emboldened.”
Siskind fervently fears that “we are on the the precipice of becoming an authorization state.” Trump, she believes, “is going after his enemies with the justice department. He’s using it as his personal law firm,” she contends.
She is disappointed that the Democrats in the House of Representatives haven’t launched a formal impeachment investigation, and she has grave fears that 2020 will not be a fair election. She points out that Trump loyalists lead agencies that should be protecting us from foreign interference and tha Trump himself has said publicly that he will welcome foreign help.
That’s exactly why Siskind is looking forward to up to 100,000 citizens taking to the D.C. streets including in front of the Trump Hotel with their signs and the giant Trump rat.
Says Siskind, “It’s symbolically a big message. Trump is impacted by crowds and by a lot of media attention. We think he’ll take notice.”
To find out more about the Washington D.C. march or a march near you, go to wethepeoplemarch2019.org. And if you can’t go to one but want to support We The People’s mission, you can also make a donation on the site.