The Importance of Showing Up 👏

We Get By With a Little Help From Our Friends

Just you, me, and nearly 20,000 Austinites hanging out at the Texas Capitol to peacefully protest what is happening in our country. Last Saturday, June 14th, aka “No Kings Day”, was a smashing success! After waking up to the tragic news of the political assassinations in Minnesota, Americans were understandably on edge. A few hours later, a credible threat was made against Texas lawmakers and the Capitol and its grounds were evacuated. For many of us, it wasn’t clear if the protest would even be held - and if it did, would people feel safe enough to come out and join in.

But as we have learned over and over again in these challenging times, courage is contagious - and the courage of our community to show up and fight for all that we believe in helped gather the largest crowd yet for these recent protests. Austin showed up in a big way and even better, our FORWRD members showed up and made our work visible to our community. Whether you joined us at the Capitol last Saturday, helped make some crowns, or read this newsletter to keep up with the work that FORWRD is doing in this moment, you are an important part of this movement for change.

We want to give a HUGE shout out to Carolyn Cohagan and Cathy Crane for their passion and drive in organizing two creative projects at the protest. First, they oversaw the design and distribution of 2000 gold crowns emblazoned with “No Kings”, which were a massive hit with the crowd!

They also designed and created 7 Guild Banners to unite our community, provide helpful gathering points, and express our disapproval of the disastrous funding cuts that will devastate our local arts organizations. Their amazing, innovative projects were highlighted in this week’s Austin Chronicle! 🤩 We also spotted at least one photo of the banners in the New York Times! THANK YOU Carolyn and Cathy!!! 💜

Special thanks to all of the FORWRD-ATX members who signed up for shifts and carried the banners high for our community. People rallied around our beautiful banners with these inspiring quotes:

• ART: ⭐️”Art is the highest form of hope.” Gerard Richter

• BOOKS: ⭐️"Books and ideas are the most effective weapons against intolerance and ignorance.” Lyndon B. Johnson

• WRITING: ⭐️”The purpose of a writer is to keep civilization from destroying itself.” Albert Camus

• FILM: ⭐️”Being an artist means not having to avert one’s eyes." Akira Kurosawa

• THEATER: ⭐️"Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable.” Cesar A. Cruz

• DANCE: ⭐️”Hard Times Require Furious Dancing”- Alice Walker

• MUSIC: ⭐️”Music expresses that which cannot be put into words and that which cannot remain silent.” Victor Hugo

The True Power of Protesting👏

No Kings Day was one of the largest mass protests in American history. Data shows that since January 2025 there have been over 15,000 protests in the US. This dwarfs the 5,000 protests that had occurred by this point in Donald Trump’s first term. This movement is growing, and now is the time for us to stay connected and to continue to show up for each other, for our community, and for our country. If you have time to listen to Professor Erica Chenoweth’s interview with Jon Favreau (linked below), we think you will not only be inspired, but also learn how we can be strategic in the pro-democracy movement at this crucial moment in time.

“The only thing more dangerous than overestimating the power of protests is underestimating the power of protests, exactly for this reason.  What people experience when they participate is not only their own agency, but they experience a collective agreement about the things that trouble them and they see others who are equally committed. And that’s just a really important thing…For human beings, that kind of information creates common knowledge. And common knowledge is really powerful.” - Erica Chenoweth, Harvard Kennedy School of Government political scientist on “The 3.5% Protest Rule That Could Bring Trump Down” with Jon Favreau on the Pod Save America podcast, June 15, 2025.

(And guess what? We believe that participating in FORWRD has the same effect!💜)

Hungry for More? FORWRD-ATX is already planning our next adventures!

Our FORWRD-ATX Organizing Council meets every two weeks to keep this important work going. Here are a few of the next projects we’re planning to keep you engaged and connected this summer:

• Neighborhood Meetups! Plans are in motion to launch in person meetups over the summer. We have a few FORWRD members already committed to organizing meetups in Hyde Park, Travis Heights/Bouldin Creek, and Windsor Park. Look for details here in the next 2 weeeks. Want to help set up a meetup in your neighborhood? PLEASE shoot us an email at [email protected].

• Virtual FORWRD meeting over the summer! We get it. People are traveling, hanging out at the pool, or just plain tired. But we all feel so much more energized when we spend time together. So let’s reconnect from the comfort of our couches and hang out over Zoom! FORWRD plans to set up a virtual meeting where we will have time to connect and the chance to learn something new from experts in our community.

• Our next FORWRD In Person Gathering will be in early September! The FORWRD to Win committee has been hard at work narrowing down prospective candidates for us to support in the 2026 midterms. We look forward to meeting in early Fall and voting together on a candidate whose race we will thrown our collective weight behind! Stay tuned for details!

🗓️ Calendar Highlights
Keep flexing that protest muscle! 💪

Reminder: Items that FORWRD members shared with us a marked with a 💜. If you’re free, grab a buddy and join in!

In Person Events:

• 💜Friday, June 20th 8-9:30 AM  12th Street Banner Drop with the Rosedale Huddle - Peaceful, energetic and FUN! We will be holding banners and signs over the interstate at peak traffic /visibility times - we wave flags, support our banners and thumbs up to the many honks and waves from cars and trucks below.

• Saturday, June 20th 9-11 AM (in person) There are TWO Tesla Takedowns happening in Austin - one at the NORTH (183 and McNeil) Tesla Gallery and one at the SOUTH (St. Elmo) Tesla Gallery - note the new earlier time!

• 💜Saturday, June 21st 1-4 PM Know Your Rights Protest Training HandsOffCentralTX is putting on a comprehensive protest safety event with local lawyers (protestor’s rights), Austin Street Medics (Emergency Medic training), de-escalation training with George Schorn, and nonviolence protest theory.

• Monday, June 23rd 6:30-8:00 PM ResistAustin General Meeting Join us for our next general meeting—open to newcomers, seasoned organizers, and everyone in between. Our vision is a world free of tyranny. We're going to use lawful, nonviolent civil resistance to get there. Our values are Collaboration, Integrity, Nonpartisanship, and Professionalism.

• 💜Tuesday, June 24th 8-9:30 AM Far West Banner Drop - Peaceful, energetic and FUN! We will be holding banners and signs over the interstate at peak traffic /visibility times - we wave flags, support our banners and thumbs up to the many honks and waves from cars and trucks below.

• 💜Wednesday, June 25th 11-12 Cornyn/Cruz Protest Rally Join the Rosedale Huddle and the Blue Action Dems every 2nd & 4th Wednesday for a Cornyn/Cruz Protest Rally at Republic Square, in front of US Federal Building on 5th Street between Nueces & Guadalupe Streets. Bring signs, loud voices, and recruit others to join you!

• 💜Friday, June 27th 8-9:30 AM  12th Street Banner Drop with the Rosedale Huddle - Peaceful, energetic and FUN! We will be holding banners and signs over the interstate at peak traffic /visibility times - we wave flags, support our banners and thumbs up to the many honks and waves from cars and trucks below

• 💜SAVE THE DATE: Thursday, July 17th Good Trouble Lives On: The next national day of protests!

ONLINE EVENTS:

• Tuesday, June 24th 7-8 PM Fight Back with Friends Indivisible hosts a national program designed to help you activate your community! Using the Empower app, we’ll equip you with the tools to connect with friends, family, and neighbors who need YOUR voice to get civically engaged.