Brief encounter with Chrissy Houlahan
It was...unexpected.
I went to the Hands Off protest on Saturday. It was my first time at a protest, and I had very mixed emotions about being there and what it would accomplish.
I brought a sign with me, given to me by a friend: RESIST FASCISM. DON’T BE AFRAID.
I made my way on the grass near the courthouse facing the street where police were still allowing traffic to pass. It was an elevated platform above the sidewalk. Protesters and chanting were all around.
As the social media coordinator for my local Dem organization, I decided to take my former zone leader’s advice and “take some pictures.” However, with dragging a sign around, my range would be limited.
I asked the police if I could hide my sign behind a trashcan in an empty part near the courthouse. The policeman smiled and chuckled a bit, “Sure. Just as long as you know it’ll get thrown away.”
I took my chances and tucked the sign behind the trash can. Once I felt it was relatively secure—again with the knowledge that it might not be there when I came back to get it—I headed down the steps to go take video and pictures in the crowd.
As I headed toward the street, I turned to look behind me briefly and halted.
“Oh my god. You’re Chrissy Houlahan!”
NGL, I was starstruck by my own freakin’ congresswoman.
Who I had railed on earlier last month for the way she voted for censure of another representative.
Of course, I was not prepared to run into anyone in government, let alone my US rep, at the protest. I got stage fright but tried to be polite. (Besides, one of her aides was standing there acting like Secret Service, so I needed to make it quick.)
I stammered, “Hi. I’m one of your constituents who called and complained about your vote for censure and wrote about it in a post and everything.” Despite me looking shell-shocked, she kindly looked at me and nodded, intent on listening.
“What I just want to say is that when you make these votes, please think about all the constituents you represent—not just certain groups, but especially minority ones. Those in the LGBTQ+ community. You represent all of us.”
Chrissy agreed and nodded. She said that’s what she was trying to do and keep all that in mind when voting. She seemed extremely sincere. And to my surprise, actually addressed the reason for the censure vote head-on. Not dance or dilly-dally around it. It was substantive content that made sense. Based on what she said (I’m not gonna put words in her mouth), it sounded like things have been chaotic in the House and the House floor, and she wanted a rule of order to be maintained.
And then it hit me.
She was in the military. Duh. She’s trained to follow and enforce orders, rules, and procedures. I’m sure there were US reps in the military who voted against censure, but it shouldn’t have been all that surprising that someone who had been in the military would enforce rules, regardless of emotion or context. I still firmly disagree with her vote, but standing there, talking to her, listening to her, and seeing her expression, it suddenly made sense. My anger finally began to abate.
I wrapped up my request, shook her hand again, and her aide ushered her out of my sight, still eyeing me suspiciously.1
I made my way through the crowd on the sidewalk and on the streets, taking photos and video. As the crowd began to disperse at the end, I walked back to the trash can, hoping my protest sign was still there.
And it was.
Showing up for just that encounter was worth it.
And no, I don’t think the aide was racist or anything. She might’ve just been security. Chrissy is a government figure at a high-profile event. You can’t be too cautious these days.
Congrats on your first protest! The first time I was tear-gassed was 1968 at SF State College during the student strike that brought forth the country's first Black Studies Department! Four years later, I was floating off the coast of Viet Nam on an aircraft carrier. I'm also a vet.
Granted, I was enlisted - not officer. My take on following rules, orders, and procedures was (and still is) much less stringent, one might say.
My only take on Houlahan is that I don't recall her speaking out when Republicans were blatantly disrupting Biden speeches.
I get that a person finally reaches a point where they must finally make a stand on something. I still believe it was a piss-poor time to do it.
I'm glad your anger is abating. While you (and I) would certainly have voted differently than she did, Chrissy is a decent person.
The woman with her worked on her 2018 campaign, and has run her West Chester office ever since. The reason that she was looking around the way she was, relates to death threats, and other violent threats, that Chrissy has received. It used to be that elected officials were out and about amoungst regular folks as much as possible -- but threats, and actual violence, is now more the norm, so there's need for secrecy, and protection. It's very sad.