“And last night what you saw was people showing up to protect their rights, not just the right to vote, but the right to live,” said Chris Wilson of the Domestic Workers Union on Wednesday afternoon.
Wilson was one of several speakers at a rally put together by the community organization, Alliance San Diego.
Speaker after speaker talked about what happened on Tuesday; what they see as a triumph of organizing, a win for community involvement.
“I want to acknowledge this was a collective effort, made possible by the people that understand the importance of showing up in our communities, and not just showing up on election day, but on every day,” said Flower Alvarez-Lopez with the organizing group Universidad Popular.
Though there was a lot of early voting here and across the country, a lot of people also showed up on Election Day. Long lines were the order of the day.
San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera said that was a happy albeit challenging situation for him. He brought along his very young son to experience the voting process. They tried one location. Elo-Rivera said it had a very long line, so they went to another one.
“What I found at the next polling location was an even longer line. And, while that wasn’t ideal for dealing with a hungry toddler, it did make me very happy to see because that meant that our community was showing up and using their voice and their power to make a change,” said Elo-Rivera to laughter from the crowd.
An important part of civil protest through U.S. history has been music. The group “Sing For Change” sang several protest songs, including one with the lyrics, ‘the people will rise and the tyrants will fall. You cannot erase us.”
Following the monumental results of Tuesday’s midterms, change is very much in the air.
