By Pat Bryant*
Nearly every Tesla dealership in the United States and the world had 100 to 500 peaceful protestors out front Saturday March 29. Elon Musk’s electric car company earned rebuke, 6-week sales slumped continued, stock values dropped by half, and large stockholders sold out. Telsa’s destruction is Elon Musk’s payback for his role in firing hundreds of thousands of federal workers and crippling and destroying federal programs illegally without Congress approval.
Federal judges ordered Musk and the Trump administration to stop wreckage of America’s institutions. But Trump and Musk continue. A constitutional crisis looms where Trump may be able to rewrite the U.S. Constitution with the help of six republican members of the U.S. Supreme Court. Trump’s control of the three branches of government would create a one-man rule—a dictatorship. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress are taking no action. Republican lawmakers are refusing to come to town hall gatherings to talk about Trump and Musk institutional carnage. In many towns, Jacksonville included, citizens have organized “empty chair” town halls tat Republican Congress persons refused to show.
At Tesla in Jacksonville, Fla this reporter talked with several protestors who are resolute to destroy Tesla and Musk to save American democracy. A few of their concerns are below:
Cathy, a middle-aged woman, army retired, holding a homemade sign “Musk Un-American NAZI”. The retiree warned “our democracy is at risk in so many ways. What they have done to our top military brass to everything that is truly American. They are going after our museums. What they are doing is terribly insane”.
Colonel Lynnette Kennison, U.S. Army retired called President Trump a bully. “He is allowing Musk to destroy our institutions. They are going to be terribly hard to rebuild. We are imploding from the inside. I am worried about loosing Social Security and so many things”.
Julie Spellman carried a sign that read “Tax the Rich, Musk and Trump = Putin’s Puppets Follow the $$$ Julie”. Of Trump she said “he wants to destroy our country so his oligarch friends can keep their tax relief and takeover our country as a corporatocracy” Spellman is related to the benefactors that founded Spellman College in Atlanta a college for Black women.
A retired nurse carried a sign, “Deport Musk, Dethrone Trump”. She said “they have done more to destroy our country than anyone I can think of. Friends are no longer friends. We can’t talk. Senior citizens depend on social security. This is crazy. They are short staffed at Social Security.”
As this reporter was talking to a Musk/Tesla protestor and thirtyish man rode by angrily and close to demonstrators and yelled curse words. Cheryl an elderly woman remarked “he is an idiot. None of them have an idea of what’s going on. They have not talked to anyone who has lost a job or anything else. They are coming for my Social Security, and I am not happy about that.”
Tesla peaceful protests continue world-wide for Saturday April 5th noon to 2 pm.
Empty Chair Town Hall Call for Congress to Stand Up or be Voted Out
More than two hundred fifty people crammed into the Jacksonville’s IBEW (International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) Hall March 24 to hear what Senators Rick Scott, and Ashely Moody, and Congresspersons John Rutherford, Kat Cammack, and Aaron Bean had to say about the Trump and Musk destruction to the nation’s infrastructure. The problem was none of them came. Almost 20 speakers spoke and expressed disgust to their empty chairs in an auditorium of mostly White Democrats and Republicans.
Honorable Glorious J. Johnson, former at-large Jacksonville City Council person, and former public-school teacher, spoke about Rep. Aaron Bean’s record and his absence. Bean serves in a congressional district that was formerly a safe district that a Black person could be elected. Governor DeSantis overruled a district created by the Florida legislature that would have re-elected Al Lawson, a Black man. DeSantis created a safe district for Aaron Bean.
Glorious Johnson recounted Aaron Bean’s record as an elected official which fits his refusing to come to the town hall. “Allow me to introduce Representative Aaron Bean of Florida a man who grins while standing on the wrong side of history. Bean’s record shines brightly when it comes to serving the wealthy and well-connected, but it quickly dims when it comes to Black communities. Time after time, he has voted to slash health care, weaken public education, and suppress voting rights all while echoing worn-out phrases about “freedom’ and ‘fiscal responsibility.’ But whose freedom is he safeguarding? Not ours. Not the single mothers struggling to afford childcare. Not the students in underfunded schools. And certainly not the Black families disproportionately impacted by the policies he backs. Bean’s politics may resonate in privileged circles, but they do nothing for those left to pick up the pieces. Florida deserves better. We demand better.”
*Pat Bryant is a long-time journalist, human rights organizer in the southern United States. He may be reached at pat46bryant@gmail.com.
