Refusing to 'Celebrate' Trump, Rep. Barbara Lee Joins Growing Inauguration Boycott

[raccoon]

Published on
Thursday, January 12, 2017
by
Common Dreams


On Inauguration Day, Lee vows, "I will not be celebrating. I will be organizing and preparing for resistance."
Adding her name to the growing list of lawmakers who are boycotting Donald Trump's inauguration on Jan.20, Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) on Thursday issued a strongly-worded statement outlining her decision not to "celebrate" the swearing-in of the president-elect.

Pointing to Trump's comments about women, Muslims, Mexican immigrants, and others that she said have "normaliz[ed] bigotry" and "appealed to people's worst instincts," Lee wrote: "I cannot in good conscience attend an inauguration that would celebrate this divisive approach to governance."

"Donald Trump has proven that his administration will normalize the most extreme fringes of the Republican Party," she concluded, vowing that on Inauguration Day "I will not be celebrating. I will be organizing and preparing for resistance."

And Lee is not alone. Last week, Democratic Reps. Katherine Clark (Mass.) and Luis Gutierrez (Ill.) both announced they too would be skipping the inauguration. "After discussions with hundreds of my constituents," Clark said, "I do not feel that I can contribute to the normalization of the president-elect's divisive rhetoric by participating in the inauguration."

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2017/01/12/refusing-celebrate-trump-rep-barbara-lee-joins-growing-inauguration-boycott

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. Good for her, we should call her and thank her.

[ciaobaby]

2. Big Thanks to Dems willing to make a statement....

It is pathetic that there are so few willing to be bold. I am so tired today of the standard, tired ass, corporate dems.
Damn them all.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

3. Good. Might it be even better for them all to attend, but to make some sort of statement?

Maybe all wearing black armbands.

Or yellow. (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

If they're absent, Trump can just bring in cronies to fill the empty spots.

[Bettie]

4. My dream protest would be

all along the parade route, people standing silently with their backs turned.

Just a wall of people, not looking at him, no cheers, no jeers, just ignoring him completely.

Won't happen, but I still like to imagine it.

[MyOwnPeace]

5. THAT...........

would be beautiful.
Wonder how many "people at home watching TV" would ever see it.
Then again, wonder how Drumpf would twitter it the next morning:
"Bad fumes from tree-hugger cars - people turning away. Sad."

God help us.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

7. I'd love to see that!

Could be dangerous, though. Trump's body guard gorillas would probably start billy clubbing heads while no one could ID them with their backs turned.

[uponit7771]

6. +1