You are invited to The People’s Tailgate party Oct 17

Presenter: This Saturday, Oct. 17, three No Kings rallies in the Eugene area will encourage people to vote early.

The emcee for two back-to-back events offered a preview of what to expect. Debbie Williamson Smith:

Debbie Williamson Smith (No Kings: The People’s Tailgate): It’s a huge day for No Kings. There’s No Kings – The People’s Tailgate. Our theme is ‘Feed, Fund, and Defend!’

The thing I’ve heard the most is, like, ‘You’re doing a tailgate party on a game day?’ And yes, we are doing a tailgate party on a game day and it was intentional. We want our community to come down to the park and enjoy it.

We also want to get out into the crowd that might be there for a football game, because we really need 100% participation from our community. We need them voting. We need them looking out for ICE. We need them protecting immigrants, protecting the trans community.

We just learned the football game is going to be at 8 p.m. and we will be at Alton Baker Park at 11 a.m., you can come down to Alton Baker Park before you enjoy any football festivities, participate in a couple of art installations, listen to amazing music.

And then we are going to walk over to No Kings Vote Early and that is at 2 p.m. at City Hall. And there’ll be music and a program and sign-waving and costumes are encouraged. And it should be just a wonderful day for the entire community to raise our voices and fight for democracy.

Presenter: The No Kings events hope to move participants from protest to action. Debbie Williamson Smith:

Debbie: I am with ACES, which is the Activist Coalition of Eugene Springfield, and we’re a bunch of autonomous organizations that are just really committed to resisting authoritarianism and defending democracy.

And we’ll have a few of those groups tabling at Alton Baker Park. And it’ll give people the opportunity to meet some groups, maybe find a place where you could do a little bit more.

I know sometimes when you come to these events, you get that feeling of sense of community, and that’s great for that hour. We really want to take people a little bit further.

And everyone has a role in the resistance. You can feed people. You can learn how to Stop The Bleed. You can help protect the rights of immigrants and trans community.

At our event, The People’s Tailgate, we’ll be fundraising for a phenomenal organization called Cascades Community Placement Services. They help some of the most vulnerable people in our community find housing when they need it.

And we’ll have our interactive art display that will include a component that we lovingly call ‘Kick ICE,’ where you can make a small donation to CCPS and kick an ice cube is as far as you’d like to kick it.

We have a local artisan that has handcrafted a whole bunch of ice cubes that are ready for you to express your feelings with.

And then because we’ve been witnessing a surge in our ICE activity in the state of Oregon, particularly this past week, we’re also going to honor all of the victims of those who have been killed by ICE, either from medical neglect or just straight murder.

We’ll be doing a memorial tribute to them, and everyone will have a chance to participate in that, because grief is a big part of what our community is going through right now.

Presenter: We asked Debbie if she could share a preview of the speakers and musicians on Saturday.

Debbie: We’re going to start with some phenomenal music from Cross Current, and then we will lead into a program which will include a memorial component and then several speakers, including someone from Cascade Community Placement Services, an organizer with PSL, the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

And then we’re going to have great music, of course as we march across the bridge to the City Hall event the Raging Grannies and the Resistance Singers are going to join us in song. They make you feel empowered. They make you want to move. And they’re just a wonderful addition to our community. I can’t believe that here we are in Eugene, Oregon, we have all these amazing, talented people that donate their time so that we can be inspired.

Presenter: This Saturday, multiple events in Eugene will encourage participants to vote early, and protect the Nov. 3 election.

Debbie: This is our time to unite and defend democracy and defend each other.