A little before noon on Saturday, May 3, protestors lined up along the intersection of Santa Clara Avenue and Oak Street waving signs bearing slogans such as, “Wake up America,” “Power of the People,” and “Honk if you hate Musk.” As motorists honked in support, more protestors gathered in front of Alameda City Hall where a large “Hands Off” banner was displayed.
In the middle of all the protestors, information tables, musicians, and speakers at the May Day Strong: We Are the Many event was organizer Tina Davis. With assistance from All Rise Alameda, Get Visible, and EB-FLOW, she also organized the April 5 protest at City Hall. Those organizations were also responsible for putting together the march that occurred after the protest.
Davis, a long-time Alameda resident, spoke with the Alameda Post about her background, her feelings on the current political climate, and what motivated her to begin organizing protests in February. Following are our questions and her responses.
Tell us about the May Day Strong event.
Well, let me start at the beginning… I started organizing protests earlier this year, in February, because I saw the danger that was happening. I saw the existential crisis that we were in as a democracy.
The day before Presidents’ Day, I was trying to look for a protest in Alameda… and I was like, “You know Alameda needs its own voice and there’s probably plenty of people that would rather stay here [in Alameda], but they still want their voices heard.”
So I threw together the protest on President’s Day at the very last [minute]… and 60 people showed up, so then I was like, “Oh yeah, we got a voice here, we got people interested in this.”
I was just blown away by how many people showed up [for the April 5 protest]. I had about 700 registrants on the morning of, and over 1,000 people showed up!
Do you have a background in organizing or were you just motivated by the Trump administration’s unconstitutional actions?
I’ve never been an organizer. I’m a newbie at it, and there are people that have reached out to me to give me help and advice and resources… and then coordinated with me. That has just been absolutely amazing. It made me as a newbie organizer look pretty darn good.
The Trump administration’s complete lack of any kind of morals—I mean, they’re just like an angry toddler that didn’t get their way, just sitting down and destroying everything in their toy box—it’s just horrifying.
I’m also a nurse. We already had problems with the healthcare system before, and now they’re just going through and dismantling it. And all of the rights are being taken away from almost every single demographic of people—women, LGBTQ, immigrants, people of color, those with religious and non-religious beliefs outside of Christianity. We’re all at risk. Everybody except white, straight, cisgendered men seem to be on the chopping block right now and it’s just horrifying and scary.
So I just felt like I needed to help Alameda [lend] its voice to the pro-democracy movement in the Bay Area and beyond. You don’t have to go to a bigger city to show that you are peacefully protesting and showing solidarity with anybody that’s fighting to save our democracy.
Protestors line Santa Clara Avenue with signs. Video by Jean Chen.
Were you political before the Trump administration?
It was the first Trump administration that made me political, and I started really paying attention and going to protests. I started protesting the day after he was elected, with 10,000 people in the streets of San Francisco.
It felt good that we weren’t alone. We all gotta fight back, every one of us gotta fight back in any way possible cause it’s gonna take all of us to get this overturned. It’s gonna take a long time to recover as well, unfortunately.
Why should people come out to a protest less than a month after the April 5 protest?
I think it’s important to continue to build a movement and to have regular actions. You can’t just have one action and then go away. You have to keep the pressure on and stand up and push back against the fascist oligarchy of the billionaires.
So the May 3 event [was] just building. Maybe once a month we can have a big event where people can come out. Maybe new people will realize what’s going on [when] they see people protesting. I just feel like it’s important to have regular actions to give people the opportunity to get out there, lend their voice, build a movement, and stand up.
How often do you think the Alameda protests will take place?
I’ve run into snags with trying to get permits because I don’t have the funds to pay the fees and I don’t have the time to get all of the paperwork that seems to be required before the next protest comes up, but I was trying to do one a month.
I’m hoping I can sustain that kind of momentum with the help of the other local like-minded groups, like All Rise Alameda, Get Visible, and EB-FLOW.
How can people support you or the other organizations?
Right now I don’t have any infrastructure for receiving any kind of donations. I did put my feelers out there with the people I’m connected with to see if anybody knows how to secure a street closure permit.
Because I’m a new organizer, I’m still learning and I’m trying to increase my knowledge on how to get this done as cleanly and respectfully for the city government and for the other locals here in Alameda who may not want to come to the protest and just want to get around the city.
Wyeth McAdam Edgelow reads a statement from Representative Lateefah Simon. Video by Jean Chen.
How can people contact you?
Email me at [email protected].
The next protest organized by Davis will be the No Kings! Anti-Trump-Birthday Protest & Food Drive on Saturday, June 14, at noon at City Hall, 2263 Santa Clara Avenue.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Jean Chen is a contributing writer for the Alameda Post. Contact her via [email protected]. Her writing is collected at AlamedaPost.com/Jean-Chen.
