Sometimes it’s a no-brainer:   Anyone but Trump.  I’m sure there’s someone worse, but I don’t know who and they aren’t running anyway.  But who to support?  Especially in local races, it’s not always easy.  This year, for me at least, it is.

A while ago I hung a rainbow flag from my house.  Shortly after the #moroninchief was elected I added a “Hate Has No Home Here” sign on my lawn.  We have a mayoral election here next week.  Someone I’ve known for almost thirty years, who has spent time in my home, was running.  I know what he stands for, what he has done.  Deciding to support him was easy.  I was asked if I’d put up a lawn sign for him.  I replied “Only if you don’t mind that it’s next to my “Hate Has No Home Here Sign” and in front of my rainbow flag.  The reply?  “That’s exactly where we want it”.  A great way to confirm my choice.

Somewhere around a month or so ago there was a knock on my door.  He’s kind of young, was running for City Council in an at-large position.  We talked a bit, it was clear that he was someone I could support.  About an hour later he sent an email, asked if he could add his sign next to my “Hate Has No Home Here” sign.  How could I say no?

The rainbow flag does come down on occasion.  It will in about week, being replaced by the Stars and Stripes for Veteran’s Day.  I do the same on Memorial Day and Independence Day.  It also comes down when police murder a black person.  It’s replaced by a “Black Lives Matter” flag.  I originally bought the flag and flew it to protest the killing of Freddie Gray.  I couldn’t be in Missouri, but I could still say what happened was, is wrong.  I was flying it to protest the murder of Atatiana Jefferson.  Again, another knock on the door, this time from a candidate running for a City Council seat to represent my Ward.  We talked about my BLM sign, he told me I was brave to fly it in this city.  I thought (but didn’t tell him) that I don’t think it’s all that brave to say that something is wrong.  By the end of the conversation he asked if he could add his sign to my collection.  How could I say no?

Change is coming.  It doesn’t always happen in a straight line.  I’m proud to have these signs on my lawn, not just to tell my neighbors who I’m supporting, but also to tell the world where these three people stand.

#Resist