SHUT UP
For the past 34 weeks, I’ve been standing in front of our local library with friends and neighbors. We hold signs that say things like “No Kings” or “No Human Is Illegal.”
Each week, I’ve noticed a lot about the people who pass by. Most have an opinion and are unafraid to share it.
I hear a lot of honks and see a fair number of thumbs up. On a nice day, I see some people raise two-fingered peace signs through the sun roofs of their hybrid cars. Others open their windows and shout things like “Thank You!!” or “Right On.”
I also see a few middle fingers hoisted high from scowling passers-by who sometimes shake their fists and yell things like “Fuck You!” or “Get a job!” Week after week I watch a man in a red truck circle round and round the corner with a giant Trump flag, holding a sign proclaiming we who are standing up for democracy on Main Street are murderers, rapists, and child molesters.
We would like those who shout profanities and convict us with their signs to shut up. They would very much prefer that we just shut up too.
But each of us knows we all have the right to be there, standing out with our signs or driving by in a red truck, saying what we want to say in the way we want to say it.
Those of us who are well past the halfway mark of our time on this earth remember when ‘shut ups’ for certain groups were once very much in fashion.
My Greek patriarchal father made frequent declarations in trying to get me, his chatty, curious daughter, to shut up.
“Children should be seen, not heard.”
Or “Stop asking so many questions! Nosey people never live long!”
I also heard a big “shut up” when at age 13, disinterested in taking cooking or sewing classes, I made a bid to be the first girl in the boy’s wood shop class.
“Boys only!” huffed the bushy eyebrowed wood shop teacher with a smirk, making me the butt a joke in the class of boys who certainly didn’t want a girl rummaging around their tools or listening in on their dirty jokes. My gender earned me that shut up.
My friend Raymond knew very well when to shut up. When he passed up the opportunity to attend the class trip to Washington DC to honor our founding fathers and learn about the constitution, I did my best to convince him to come along. He quietly shook his head and never explained why he couldn’t make it. On the day we went, the school bus came to a rest stop at the border of our nation’s capital. I spotted a sign in a window declaring “Whites Only”. It was then I knew that Shut Ups were a regular part of Raymond’s life too.
We’re a loud-mouthed country. Sometimes it’s hard to hear what others have to say, but somehow we’ve managed, slowly leaving the once fashionable notion of shut ups behind.
Until now. Shut Up has become a new kind of power, fast and furious as we watch our Constitution being ignored. Those who have been elected to enforce it expand their power by threatening shut ups everyday. First they were aimed at scientists, economists, and professors who said things those in power did not want anyone to hear. Then it was college students, journalists, lawyers,and judges, some having careers cut short for speaking out. Lately, we’ve seen comedians in the business of giving people a few late night laughs lose their jobs in the name of shutting them up for good.
Yet here we stand with our stories, poems, and songs, making sure we do not fall prey to fear and the power of Shut Up. Next Thursday, I will stand out again with friends and neighbors for the 35th week in a row, still refusing to shut up. We will once again come across those who honk and shout “Thank You,” the same as we will see those who raise a middle finger and yell “Fuck You!” We will see the man in the red truck going round and round the corner with his giant flag and accusatory signs. We will see hands held high with peace signs in the air, and we will see shaking fists.
In spite of our differences, none of us will fear the right to have a say. Instead, we’ll stand tall and speak our minds no matter how full-throated and noisy, not one of us surrendering to the power of Shut up.