I’m of the generation of protesting in the streets.

Not that I had access to any important streets growing up in my tiny Texas town, where even if we had marched, there would have been a total of ten of us.

As soon as I grew up and moved away though, I joined protest marches. None of the ones I joined made any great difference, but the ones before I was old enough to join — against the Vietnam War, and for Civil Rights — impacted those in power and brought about change.

The Black Lives Matter marches after George Floyd’s murder helped draw attention to issues of police brutality, and started a small sea change, with his murderer and others being convicted as a result. Protests and the Rule of Law won out. At least for a few and for a short while.

Since then, though, I haven’t seen much change initiated by protest marches. I’ll certainly continue to attend them, but I believe now Town Halls are the way to both get our Senators and Representatives to hear us, and to get the media focused on our issues.

Protest marches are drawing fewer people, according to Spectrum News:

I don’t believe the smaller attendance at marches is the result of apathy. Instead, I believe people are recognizing that marches have limited effect as compared to long ago or even more recently.

Marches that are most successful are ones at State Capitals while legislatures are in session and lawmakers are in their offices. During those protests, protestors often fill the halls of the Capitol buildings awaiting an opportunity to go in to speak directly to their Senators and Representatives.

These are peaceful protests that also have a visual impact on the lawmakers as they enter and leave their offices, weaving among protestors sitting on the floor in the hallways.

What makes these most effective is the opportunity to meet with your legislator face-to-face.

The same protocol isn’t available to protestors at the White House or Congress. For those, we need our legislators to conduct Town Halls. And we must commit to attending.

Town Halls are places to speak face-to-face with your specific Senator or Representative. Even when you aren’t personally chosen to speak, the applause or lack thereof from Town Hall attendees when someone speaks Truth to Power makes an impact.

Town Halls also provide a near guarantee of media presence and coverage. In this day of information overload and the current administration’s idolization of the camera while denigrating mainstream media coverage is paramount for our protests.

Protest marches aren’t generating the media coverage we need. When there’s no coverage, or too little, it’s too easy for Trump to spin things his way. He can and does claim that there are no protests.

Town Hall live coverage is harder to ignore or dispute.

Indivisible.org provides resources to find Town Halls in your area. It also provides an option to organize your own virtual Town Hall.

As a long-time protest marcher, I’m in favor of Town Halls where we show up physically and ask questions directly to our Senator or Representative. Where cameras, news, and video record and broadcast the pointed questions and the Congress person’s answers and reactions.

Phone calls are also effective

If you give your address or city, your Congressperson’s office has to include your thoughts and complaints in a tally. This is especially important if your views oppose those of your representatives in Congress, as mine do for everyone except Loyd Doggett (D).

Speaking of Senators, I’ve got Ted Cruz, and I’ll trade him foranybody you’ve got. Well, maybe not MTG or Boebert Barbie.

5 Calls, available both as a phone app and a website, provide you with direct contact information for your Representatives and Senators, including their local and Washington, D.C. phone numbers. The service provides detailed talking points and sample scripts for each issue, making it easy to voice your concerns effectively. Many constituents use 5 Calls daily to communicate with their congressional representatives.

That’s the good news, as reported by Harri Leigh on Spectrum News:

Currently, 1,600 hundred calls a minute are tallied, along with the caller’s views, and presented to the Congressperson. I’ve never gotten through to an actual Congressperson, but I almost always reach an Aide. When no one answers, you can leave a voicemail. Be sure to include your location or address in your voicemail.

Recently, I placed a call to Senator John Cornyn and received the recorded message that his voicemail was full. Hard to know if that’s on purpose on his part, or if, indeed, so many of us are calling that the voicemail function is overloaded. I’m hoping it’s the second reason.

We are not apathetic or lulled and overwhelmed into submission by shock and awe Executive Orders.

I believe many if not most lawmakers in Congress think we are apathetic or lulled and overwhelmed into submission by shock and awe Executive Orders. We are not.

It’s our job now to make sure they know we’re here, we’re proud, and we’re loud. Town Halls are great places to make our presence known and our voices heard.

Tell your Congresspeople you want them to do their job. Tell them not to let the Executive Branch and their hired goons run roughshod over those laws.

Tell them to their faces whenever possible, which is now at Town Halls. Meantime, make those phone calls.

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This post was previously published on This America.

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