Last night as they were wrapping up mass at Our Lady Of Solitude church in Palm Springs, the priest said we had to listen to a pastoral letter from Bishop Gerald Barnes, the bishop of San Bernardino. The letter talked about the election and how we needed to pray for Donald Trump and come together. They recessional song was God Bless America.
As I shook the priest's hand outside the church, I said, "The end was all well and good but I have to run and go protest against Trump." He gave me a surprised wave and off I went down the block to Frances Stevens Park.
The protest rally and ensuing march last night in Palm Springs has to be considered an unqualified success. Despite what you may see or hear on other media, there were over 1000 people there. Kids, gay, straight, white, black young and old presenting a real cross section of America. Diverse as you can get.
The Palm Springs PD was excellent. The crowd was well behaved and the police kept their distance. Now the older officers were a little more friendly than the younger ones but I chalk that up to experience and a little more maturity. And after last month's horrible events, one can easily understand.
The organizers, Eleanor Gonzalez, Kymberli Foster and Richard Noble did a marvelous job in putting together a peaceful exercising of First Amendment rights. There was no craziness and albeit everyone wanted to use it, very little profanity.
I think it was also a good thing that none of the local progressive officials or wannabe Palm Springs council candidates showed up. That would have struck me as a social media play adding nothing. I spotted a few incognito local Democratic officials along the way but they were very low key. They were there to march.
For me, I was encouraged that the staffers and patrons of many of the dining establishments offered support and encouragement as protesters marched by. Also I have never seen so many cell phones being used to record, and take pictures. Everyone under 30 was doing so.
The organizers intend to keep up the pressure and we shall see if they do. Last night was a great start.
Steve Kelly can be followed on Twitter @skellynj or e mailed at svericker12@gmail.com
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