It was 72 and breezy. Unseasonably pleasant, almost chilly.
VCU students were splayed out on picnic blankets in Monroe Park enjoying soft serve and the sunshine. Citronella and the smell of hot dogs wafted through the air from some folks having a cookout.
“High energy, high discipline” was the chant from activists from the Richmond chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation as they prepared for their rally at the old coffee house, their red t-shirts proudly proclaiming “Socialism is the future.”
It was May Day, and the latest in a series of general strikes that have taken place this year. As organizer for PSL Adam Malinowski-Liu put it, “the general strike is a strategy that the working class has used all over the world to agitate for better conditions and to protest unacceptable genocidal acts of governments.” PSL’s call to action included “no school, no work, no shopping” to demand a “new system funding the people’s needs, not the criminals in the White House.”
Around 5:12 they beckoned the crowd of fifty or so to huddle closer.
They kicked off the event with some tried and true chants, amplified by drums and a microphone: “Money for jobs and education, not for wars and deportation.” 3×5 flags of Puerto Rico, Iran, and Palestine tied to lengths of wood were provided by the organizers of the event. Malinowski-Liu asked me to hoist the flag of Venezuela, which I was happy to do. They also handed out yellow picket signs which read “TRUMP: HANDS OFF OUR UNIONS!” and “POWER TO THE WORKERS NOT THE BILLIONAIRES!”
There were eight speakers in total. Pat, a high school history teacher and member of the Richmond Education Association labor union, gave a brief history of the Haymarket affair and broader Chicago labor movement which established May Day as a holiday. Derek, a PSL member, recited a poem they wrote which included such bars as “I represent trans folks, out here scared gripping the derringer / the immigrant staring down ICE waving the camera / the college grad waiting they turn and still a janitor / it takes all kinds to make it, this is America.”
Rasa D., a member of the VRS Divest Campaign and the Palestinian Youth Movement, highlighted how the Virginia Retirement Service helps to fund such war profiteers as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Maersk. They later told me that the VRS has almost $400 million invested in 14 different weapons manufacturers.
Malinowski-Liu closed the event with a rousing speech in which he called for the resignation of Governor Abigail Spanberger and Mayor Danny Avula for their adversarial stances to the collective bargaining bill that landed on Spanberger’s desk last week. His raspy voice cracked between heavy breaths. He spoke with a ferocity that surely carried for several blocks.
Walking home I was reminded that it was also Richmond First Friday.
Broad Street was flanked by merchants and their works under tents. People milled about, a beverage in one hand and a baby or a dog leash in the other. Hard to blame the artisans for doing their thing, but I wondered about the PayPal, Venmo, and Square profits being made during the general strike.
Brook Road hosted more vendors, the roadway blocked off by police cars. People smiled as they offered handcrafted candles, rugs, clothes, and pastries. The stretch between Gallery 5 and GWAR Bar shook with Justin Timberlake beats and dancing feet. I waved to some of the PSL folks I had just seen at Monroe park, now sharing cigarettes outside the Liberation Center where PSL calls home.
Another protest was taking place at Abner-Clay Park. Activists shouted into megaphones and pounded drums and 5 gallon buckets, decrying the Epstein class’ vice grip on society. They marched up Brook and onto Broad, escorted by police, carrying a maypole with a bloodshot all-seeing eye.
I’ve heard of a distinction being made lately of America A and America B. Is this it?
Roughly 340 million people live in America. Roughly 152 million of them voted in the 2024 Presidential election. Individual circumstances and the lack of a federal holiday on election days notwithstanding, there seems to me to be at least three distinct realities that Americans live in; there are those on the right who see Donald Trump as Christ’s flawless liaison sent to deliver us from the woke mind virus, those on the left who see a technofascist, pedophilic cabal dictating how we are allowed to live our lives, and those too preoccupied with work, family, and football to understand what all the fuss is about.
It seems there are precious few of us who are meeting the moment. Things are not normal. As the Trump administration continues its belligerence in Iran (with our tax dollars), as Israel continues bombing Lebanon and Gaza (with our tax dollars), as the veil is thinning from the institutions that used to pretend to protect us, most people are carrying on, business as usual.
There was a world before the 8 hour work day. 16 hours of back breaking work, never amounting to meaningful ownership of the fruits of that labor. The labor strikes of 1886 changed that. I like to think that we are on the bad side of such a sea change.
Happy May Day.
Photo by Q Rice
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