Using my last breaths to fight for freedom
As a retired 94-year-old journalist, I am surprised to find myself standing in front of the Arlington Heights/Buffalo Grove Tesla dealership, protesting against Donald Trump’s policies.
Over decades on assignment, I’ve covered 911-call responses with police and chased screaming fire trucks racing through Chicago neighborhoods to a burning building. But this is the first time I’ve stood as a victim, watching my own house burn as its administration sets fire to democracy.
Though most of my old friends and colleagues are either dead or hanging on by their fingernails, I find comfort in the hundreds of good people standing alongside me today.
The atmosphere is a mix of anger, enthusiasm and, in a small way, a sense of power, as streams of cares dive by to encourage the protesters. Most honk and wave with thumbs-up.
“Honk, honk,” go the cars. “Clap, clap,” goes the crowd. Then, suddenly, — the mood changes. A dark car rolls by with “Donald J. Trump” signs and American flags flapping.
Seemingly everyone on the sidewalk boos and chants:
“Hi Ho, Hi Ho. Donald Trump’s got to go!”
One bright-eyed young woman, who apparently reads more than Snow White holds a poster that reads “Make Orwell Fiction Again.” More than a few carry signs that simply say, “Keep Your Hands Off OUR Democracy!”
Amber, 30, and her mother April, 51, (both of whom asked not to share their last names for privacy reasons) drove here from Algonquin. An older protester, Alison, 63, from Palatine, stands next to them on the sidewalk. All report they are Democrats, but Allison confesses that both of her younger brothers have been strong Trump supporters since 2016.
“We don't talk about it. “Allison says. “I want to keep peace and I love them. But I think the youngest one is finally changing his mind. He had a kidney transplant and needs daily anti-rejection medication that he gets from Medicaid [funding which may be in danger of being cut on a national scale].”
Nabeela Syed, state representative for Illinois’ 51st District, stands at the corner with a poster showing many key agencies and groups threatened by announced federal funding cuts. Fear, anger and hope, it appears, drove most of those attending to this corner today.
But there is bewilderment in the face of the 73-year-old immigrant from the Philippines who was glad to have a job at the nearby Dollar Tree Store. He was curious, he says, about what was going on outside the Tesla car dealership and couldn’t understand what was happening here in the wake of presidential adviser and Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s federal agency employee firings.
“Yesterday a loaf of bread in our store was $1.25,” he says. “This morning it’s $1.50.”
Thank you, Trump tariffs.
Yet not everyone who lives in this area was motivated to march. When I ask a 26-year-old colleague — a professional photographer — to come along and help me record other reactions, she says, “No. I’m afraid it may be dangerous. And I don’t go to anything political.”
While I respect her views, I think of former Vice President Kamala Harris’ recent remark — that while fear is contagious, so is courage.
So, borrowing a theme from 55-year-old New Jersey Democratic Sen. Cory Booker’s historic marathon speech that lasted 25-plus hours (and ended on April 1), I rise for my children, my children’s children and for my great-grandchild, a 3-year-old Arlington Heights resident.
And as importantly, I rise for my right to rise, for all our freedoms, and for an America that welcomed, befriended and protected my family for six generations.
Although I may not have many breaths left, I’m using my last ones to fight for freedom.
• Sandra Pesmen, a former reporter with the Chicago Daily News and Crain’s Chicago Business, is an author of three books and a member of the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame. She lives and writes in Northbrook.