Editor,
The day after Donald Trump was sworn in as president last January, millions of people around the globe marched in protest. When asked why I didn’t participate in demonstrations in Laguna, Los Angeles or Washington, my answer was simple: I intend to register my complaints in writing, not in steps.
Thinking that was the end of it, I began focusing my attention on my keyboard. Over the last 100 days, I have written half a dozen pieces about Mr. Trump and his cohorts. But I guess that wasn’t enough for some of my friends. They still want to know why I’m not actively protesting (like marching on Science Day last weekend, for example).
Ah, yes, protesting. I made the trek north to Berkeley from Los Angeles to march in two People’s Park demonstrations when I was an undergrad at USC; I attended the first Earth Day rally in L.A. in 1970; and, 45 years ago this spring when President Richard Nixon ordered the mining of Haiphong Harbor as well as other harbors and inland waterways in North Vietnam, I was among numerous lawmakers and a thousand others who gathered on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. (at 6 a.m. no less) to protest the escalation of the war in Vietnam.
Years later, I still was protesting. This time against the Reagan administration. In August of 1985, I was retained by the cities of San Clemente, Laguna Beach, Newport Beach and Huntington Beach to coordinate the fight against offshore oil drilling in Orange County. Even the county Board of Supervisors joined forces with us (as did the mayors of 22 other cities in the region). Our collective opposition prevailed, and as I’ve told my three children, this was the single most significant political accomplishment of my career.
I realize that just because I marched and protested decades ago (this) doesn’t excuse me from ever doing it again. Maybe I will. But for now, I hope my friends will appreciate how I’m protesting in 2017: Quietly, but hopefully effectively. Yes, even though I won’t be with you at Main Beach or in the streets, I am with you in spirit. I hear your voices every time I sit down to write a piece.
Denny Freidenrich, Laguna Beach
