I had mixed feelings about traveling to nearby Loyalton, California to film their Rally For Solidarity event - Loyalton is a small town north of Truckee with roots in ranching and logging. I knew from my friend who invited me it that there was going to be a counter-protest and things could get heated. Nevertheless, I was excited to continue pushing my comfort zone with filming - it was incredible to see what an impact my Truckee Vigil piece made on our community, and I wanted to incorporate more structure into this Loyalton video.
Immediately upon arriving I see big diesel trucks carrying Trump 2020 banners roaring through town, and there’s a palpable tension in the air. The Black Lives Matter protesters are on one side of the small main street, and the All Lives Matter/Trump 2020 protesters are faced off on the other side. Just to make things even more interesting, a third party touting the State of Jefferson flags and hot dogs is thrown in the mix, not wanting to miss out on the action.
And here comes big city Truckee boy with his fancy camera. I felt like at any moment someone would say “You’re not from around here, are you?”
To my relief everyone was fairly nice and respectful of my presence, but that can’t be said of how the two protests treated each other. Unfortunately the All Lives Matter protest was aggressive and disrespectful, even going so far as to throw a dead skunk at their fellow townspeople advocating for the rights of the black community in America. None of it really makes sense to me, and only reaffirms my belief in my work and how much more there is to be done to make real progress in this country.
