My first protest

What happened...

Remember the Charlottesville massacre that happened in 2017? That was originally a white supremacist march called Unite The Right. Well, about a year later, the white supremacist organized a second Unite the Right rally (Unite The Right 2), which was scheduled in DC. Luckily, there were a few activists who organized a counter protest called #ShutItDownDC. I was there, along with my dad and a few members of my church. As a 13-year-old, this was my first protest. I would learn that while protests can be fun and scary at the same time, they can also bring about change over time.

It all started on a Sunday morning, at my church, during the 9:15 Sunday service. My dad and I were there. Near the end of the service, our minister started talking about his experience at Charlottesville in 2017. Then, he said that there would be a second protest in DC on that very day. I really wanted to go, so I asked my dad if I could go. I thought I wouldn't be able to go on such a short notice, but I was really excited once he said yes.
After the church service, I went back home with my dad to quickly get lunch, and go to meet the other church members, and the minister, at the local Metro station. When we arrived at the Metro station, there were a lot of police. I asked the minister why the police were there. He said that the white supremacists would also be arriving at the same station, and the police were preventing the carrying of weapons on the Metro. So we all paid for our SmartTrip cards, and took the Metro to the Federal Triangle station in DC. When we arrived at the station, there were tables with people selling signs, t-shirts, and water bottles for the anti-racist protesters. From there, everyone walked to Freedom Plaza. When we arrived at Freedom Plaza, there was a huge crowd of people with signs, campaign buttons, and banners for the protest. There were also people selling signs and snacks, and a mini-stage set up for the keynote speakers. We were all there for about 30 minutes, then everyone seemed to walk down by 2 blocks over to Lafayette Square (just behind the white house), where the white supremacists would march over to.
When we got to Lafayette Square, there was a small fence (a little more than waist height for me at the time), and a line of police in the middle of the park (one side for the counter protesters, the other was for the fascists). The police definitely did a better job preventing all forms of violence, though there was one group, AntiFa, who looked looked as if they were ready for combat (they were all clad in black ski masks, hoodies, gloves, sunglasses, bulletproof vests, and helmets, though my uncle would later tell me that his friend said that the armor was just to scare people). Everyone was chanting things like, "Shut it down!, "Justice for Trayvon," and other loud chants like that. As I made my way towards the fence, I suddenly heard a loud booing coming from the counter protesters. I looked over the fence, and I saw a small crowd of about 30 people who had swastikas and confederate flags marching towards the other side of the fence. The police kept them back. I started shouting my own insults, like, "Impeach the great orange man-baby!", and "The 1890s called! They want your bigotry back!", while giving the middle finger to the racists. I was shocked by the amount of people who turned up: thousands upon thousands of left-wing SJWs (social justice warriors), against just 30 Racists.
                
                        We all carried on, shouting our insults, and giving the finger, until it started to rain. Most of the people stayed there, while my dad and I headed home. We watched a live stream and some videos of the rest of the event at home. Above all, I thought it was a really exciting day. I learned about what really happens at a protest, AntiFa, and I saw basically a lot of things at the protest that day, including how important it is to be the change.

However, when I got home, I wondered-  how was that protest going to bring about change?