Chico's No Kings - Take back Our Flag on Flag Day!

We at Indivisible Chico want to wish everyone in our community a happy Saturday and a peaceful Flag Day. We embrace our nation and our rights guaranteed by our democracy just as we embrace family, friends, and neighbors in this current time of stress and uncertainty and fear. Those rights are threatened for some of us right now, which means they are threatened for all of us, and we can't stay silent about it.

Now is the time to celebrate our flag and the freedom it granted us, including the freedom of individuality, the freedom as citizens to just be our own authentic selves in peaceful existence with our neighbors.

Every single one of us has the right and the responsibility as Americans to decide for ourselves whether we agree or disagree with the choices our government makes. Every action they take is in OUR name, as individuals who make up an entire nation of souls just trying to live our lives in peace. And when they take the wrong actions, we are allowed to inform them, clearly and peacefully, that their choices do not represent us. That they made the wrong choice.

That is a right guaranteed to us that is symbolized and promised every day by the flag of the United States of America. Every state has its own flag, to show us that every part of this democracy is built with the outreach and participation of individuals. Every flag we raise as individuals adds to the color and diversity of the whole.

The fabric of our beloved Red, White, And Blue, Old Glory is made up of individual strands woven together. The color and strength of a single strand of thread makes our flag possible.

So we encourage everyone to bring their colors to walk downtown Chico sidewalks this morning. Raise your flags in solidarity and your voices in song.

We at Indivisible Chico are just human American citizens trying to defend our rights by exercising them. The most important office of a government made by and for the People is the office of the Citizen, and those rights afford us specific responsibilities. Showing up and voting is one of them. Showing up and raising our voices and demanding to be heard, even outside the voting booth, is just as important.

None of us who show up today are paid to be there. We are practicing the rights that our forefathers promised us and that our veterans and others throughout our history have fought and died for. The only money spent on all of our efforts so far has come from the pockets of volunteers, of citizens of Chico and other areas. We speak up because we care about our rights and the rights of other people, not because it's a way to make money. It is absolutely not financially profitable.

It is our responsibility that we embrace just as we embrace our flag and the rights it symbolizes, the right to form one collective whole out of many parts.

So we wanted to extend a heartfelt "Thank you" to our community today. We hope to see you on the sidewalks in Downtown Chico this morning! Be safe. Participate happily in traditional civic engagement and education. Meet your neighbors with a smile and an open mind. And wave your flags.

We are all individuals. And we are all United in these United States. We are Indivisible. We are allowed the right to peacefully assemble to display that, together.

Thank you, everyone, for standing with us today!

- Indivisible Chico