Incident at first #ReproShareFair
Today PAAU organizers hosted our first Repro Share Fair! Staff members Lauren Handy, Caroline Smith, Kristin Turner, and PAAU activist Miles went to the Columbia Heights community in Washington, DC, to set up a table and give out free material aid and information to passers by. These free items included diapers, baby clothing, bibs, socks, wash clothes, bandaids, toothbrushes, period products, pregnancy tests, and more.
The table was an instant success with people coming by and excitedly taking what they needed. Vendors and locals were kind and welcoming, most agreed with both our actions and our message.
An hour into the tabling, two protesters arrived separately, one holding a sign and yelling at passers by to not support our message, the other live streaming and yelling at people to not take supplies. The first protester remained relatively unengaged for the duration of tabling except for yelling at people not to support us, while the other took a more active role. The second protester threatened to call the cops on any community members who voiced that they were upset with her behavior, she yelled out offensive comments along the lines of “I’m sure everyone that agrees with you is high on drugs,” and made anti-black comments to the street venders who were upset she was there disrupting their business. This protester identified herself as “Anarchy Princess” and at one point even pointed to a Black man and asked if we would keep his baby if he hypothetically raped us.
Once again these comments were steeped in anti-Blackness and were antagonistic to everyone involved. So, after engaging with this woman for a period of time we decided it was best to ignore her. She turned her attention to locals by getting into their personal space and taunting them which made tensions boil over, as many of the people around were glad we were there. At that point she started knocking literature off of our table, crumpling it, and throwing it in the trash. She also threw our literature at one of our staff member's faces. After this, she quickly flipped us off and walked away.
One boy who had watched what she did threw an egg at her as she tried to get away. The first protester who was holding the sign back away from our table by 10 or 20 feet, but since the protester she was with acted so atrociously, the young boy and two of his friends started to pelt her with eggs, going through an entire 18 pack of eggs.
People passing by attempted to deescalate the situation, and the PAAU Team decided the best way we could help was to leave. Since all of the baby supplies had been given out and the situation had turned violent, we left.
Progressive Anti-Abortion Uprising does not condone any form of violence, threats of violence, or racism.
For life and justice,
Lauren Handy, Director of Activism