HUMAN BANNER SATURDAY, OCTOBER 17TH

Down below I will say more about October 17th, but first, a memory...

On August 9, 1974, I awakened at my parents’ house in the Washington, DC suburbs. All week long, I and the rest of the country and world had been following the news and wondering how much longer President Richard Nixon would hang on. Now it was Friday, and newspapers/tv/radio were all agreeing that today was the day he would resign.

I gobbled a quick breakfast and, for the second time in three days, pedaled my bicycle twelve miles to Lafayette Park, directly across Pennsylvania Avenue from the White House. Somber crowds had been gathering there all week. Now rumors were coming fast and loose: It’s going to happen at noon… Wait, I just heard 1 pm… No, now they’re saying next week…

And then we saw it. The helicopter rising higher than the roof of the White House, hovering briefly, then turning east and disappearing… I remember that there was no cheering, no smiles even. I remember everyone looking sad, also relieved, at least one heavy uncertainty having been lifted off the nation’s shoulders. The Internet says it happened at 11:53 am.



Photo by Bob Daughtery/AP File Photo

If you’d tapped me on the shoulder that morning and told me that 52 years into the future (I recently turned 75) I would be playing a role in a…human banner? On...Ocean Beach in San Francisco? I would have been incredulous, would have scoffed. But here we are in 2026, with the most lawbreaking President ever in the White House, and here I am up to my eyeballs in organizing the 17th banner of the past 19 months — the 40th human banner I’ve been part of during the past 20 years…

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In my lifetime, I rank only the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy’s assassination, and 9/11 as possible equals to what I sense ahead for all of us. I suspect that the coming weeks and months will be as momentous a period as anyone under the age of 80 has ever experienced.

The Trump era has easily eclipsed Watergate. Sure, shock and disbelief rippled throughout the country back in 1973-74, but I remember an overriding sense that democracy would come out okay in the end. The Constitution would prevail. The adults in the room would fix things, somehow. Even diehard Nixon fans such as my parents seemed to realize that Nixon had cheated and lied and been caught and now had to go.

Today it feels as though the whole nation has played a furious political Super Bowl game and two furious overtime periods. The score is still tied, and we’re about to flip a coin and begin an equally furious sudden death period.

At least ten times a day I find myself gasping for air…

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October 17th

Please register.

This is the fourth time the No Kings coalition has called for a national day of action.

At No Kings #1, we drew 2,500 people. At #2, we drew 5,000. At #3, an astounding 7,000!

I think we can expect a sizable crowd on October 17th. Indivisible-SF is organizing a downtown march at 1:00 pm that everyone should be able to join after the banner, if they like.

Our message? Three weeks out is a little too early to have finalized anything. A lot can change. But right now we know a Vote-themed message is our focus.

Crowd Size? I’ve come to believe that crowd size is equally as important as the particulars of our message – maybe even more so. The more registrations we have, the more confident we are that the media will spread our message far and wide. Photos and video showing thousands of people united in purpose are irresistible to other people and to media everywhere.

During these past 19 months we’ve seen our images appear in news outlets worldwide: NY Times, Washington Post, LA Times, the Atlantic, the Guardian, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, Fox, Rolling Stone, the Irish Times, the Hindustan Times…many more.

Knowing how many people to expect helps our team work more efficiently, and puts our minds at ease. Guesswork is a lot less fun.

And honestly, I’ve come to believe that the specific message is less important than the act of thousands of like-minded people coming out to peacefully exercise their rights to free speech and freedom of assembly. Something powerful, emotional, and unforgettable emerges from the act of pulling together and showing up in numbers. Especially outdoors. And in a beautiful setting.

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After No Kings #1, Seth Meyers, host of NBC's Late Night, marveled at our banner.

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You are always invited to join us.

Please register here.

Thank you so much for being a part of this community.

Warmly,

Brad Newsham, for the entire team at Human Banner-SF

humanbanner-sf.com

March 2025. 250 people showed up. My, how we’ve grown!