Georgia — signs of blue
Varoon, my 16-year-old, who is now a Junior in high school, started giving me instructions “Never let the flag touch the ground,” “Always make sure that it’s unfolded and flowing smoothly,” and “Hold it high if you can.” As he continued giving his advice, I listened carefully and made mental notes not to disrespect the USA flag, even unintentionally. I signed up for a corner sign rally this morning after seeing a post on Facebook from the local group of democrats. I thought it would be fun to wave our Biden-Harris Yard sign at the heavy street corner during the evening rush hour, The timing worked out perfectly as Veda was able to join me, and we picked up Varoon from school and made it straight to the rally. Well — almost directly, we had to make our routine stop at Starbucks to get our regular caffeine dose. At the rally, one of the organizers handed out yard signs and asked if they were interested in carrying the American flag. I volunteered enthusiastically, and Varoon was apprehensive about this. He was aware that I did not grow up in this country, and rightfully suspected my lack of understanding of the rules for properly holding the flag. By the time he finished the instructions, we had come to the street corner where a dozen or so volunteers were cheerfully waving Yard signs for Biden-Harris, Raphael Warnock, Jon Ossoff, Daniel Blackman, Christa Olenczak, and other local candidates.
I did not know what to expect as Georgia is a red state, and Cumming, GA, has a racist past as it was considered the breeding grounds of KKK. Veda, my 12-year-old, was apprehensive at first as we had an unfortunate encounter when we volunteered for Jon Ossoff a few years ago. Veda was nine years old at the time, and she and Varoon joined me to canvas a neighborhood to inform voters about Ossoff. The resident of one of the houses we visited yelled, “Get off my lawn, you injuns” or something to that effect, and I still remember the shiver in my bones as we ran back to the car. At that time, I felt like an irresponsible dad for allowing my kids to get exposed to this level of bigotry early. Over the years, we discussed that incident with various emotions, and while Varoon and I grew out of it, Veda still had apprehensions about political events like these rallies. As we waved our signs, I hoped that this rally would be less traumatic than our first canvassing. But I had my doubts.
We were standing at the intersection of Bethelview Road and Atlanta highway around 5:30 pm, and there was a bustle of traffic, probably of people returning from work. Almost right away, we started hearing honks cheering us, and we started waving our signs, flags and returning their cheers. There was a constant barrage of honks and cheers, and some drivers even brought down their windows to yell “Biden 2020” or “Go, Joe, Go!,” etc. However, this only lasted a couple of minutes. Our first encounter with a Trump supporter came in the form of a pickup truck driver who decided to show his middle finger at us as he drove by. Reflexively, I returned his gesture, and Varoon saw this. Varoon gave me another piece of advice “If we return their offensive gestures, we are no better than them.” He continued in his podcast host personality and reminded me of Michelle Obama’s quote, “when they go low, we go high.” Varoon hosts Polititeen Podcast, and he is much more informed than an average American voter on politics, media, racism, sexism, and bigotry. I listened carefully and acknowledged my error. I knew all of this, and I knew better — but I let my emotions capture my better angels at that moment. After this discussion, I decided that I will just wave the flag more feverishly every time anyone said something offensive. It was not easy. In the one hour we stayed at the rally, many offensive incidents occurred. A motorbike driver revved his bike while we crossed the road showing his disdain for a girl, boy, and their dad. A car driver called us “a bunch of p&$$!3s”, probably alluding to us wearing masks. Many drivers yelled, “F$^k Biden, Trump 2020,” and we saw quite a few people flip birds on us. They all saw children in our group, who could have been their kids. They saw older adults and women who were the ages of their parents and grandparents. They all knew that all we were doing was standing up for what we believed in, but this did not stop them from calling us names, screaming obscenities, and making a scene. In other words, — “they just went low.”
To be fair, not all Trump supporters were outright insulting either. A pickup truck with a massive MAGA flag passed by our rally, and he just yelled, “Trump 2020”. He circled back and made sure that we saw him on both the lanes, and we waved at him with all sincerity. It was his right to make his voice heard, just as much as it was our right to do so. After all, this is what democracy is all about.
For every obscene gesture, we saw at least a dozen positive cheers for our group.
For every flipped bird, we heard over a hundred honks from the ongoing cars.
For every hostile gesture, we saw an overwhelming flow of positive signs of support.
If this corner sign rally is any indication, I have a feeling that our nation is truly ready to turn the corner in a couple of weeks. I have a feeling that Georgia might “go high” this November.