Hands Off Seattle

On April 5, Seattle showed up in the thousands, joining concerned citizens across the nation and around the world, to peacefully express their concerns for Democracy, all it represents, and all that is under threat.
They gathered at Seattle Center, known for its iconic Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Museum of Pop Culture. Other cultural institutions are housed on the center’s campus: The Climate Pledge Arena, home of Seattle teams the Storm (WNBA) and the Kraken (NHL), Seattle Opera House, Bagley Wright Theater, and on-going, long standing annual music and arts festivals: Seattle Folklife and Bumbershoot Festival. These festivals have grown in popularity since the mid-1970s and have featured a wide variety of talent.
With their popularity over these many years, on some days the crowds were so intense that just navigating from one venue to another was time consuming. The Hands Off turnout reminded me of the crowd sizes of some of those previous years. One difference is that the speaker’s podium was the main event, with no events scheduled in the indoor arenas. I haven’t seen an official number of attendees for this rally which is said to have ranged between 14,000 and 40,000. Whatever the number, Seattle was part of the 5.2 million people who showed up to peacefully protest at Hands Off rallies across the nation and around the world.
Since 2017, I have been attending events like this one and take a camera to document and share. I also attended a couple of events not as a supporter, but in an attempt to gain an understanding of what others are thinking. Those experiences left me with several thoughts, the first of which was my gratitude for having an education that taught critical thinking, and demonstrated how propaganda can be used and how masses can easily be manipulated. I always thought of it as academic exercises, and Sinclair Lewis’ 1935 novel It Can’t Happen Here, seemed like ancient history. Frank Zappa included a song of the same title in the Mothers of Invention’s 1966 debut album Freak Out. Well now we see it can happen and is happening here! It made me grateful for thinking people, imaginative people who share their creativity to make our world a better place

On my Flickr account I have a album that features people, their signs, and messages of hope from 2017 to the present. These Hands Off images from Seattle  have now been included in that location. By toggling the info button in the gallery here it reveals the title and allows enlargement to full resolution. If you visit my Flickr site, take a look at some of my other albums.