I never expected to be in Milwaukee for the RNC, but here I am. I always planed on photographing the DNC since it is taking place in Chicago. My feeling is that the DNC is going to be ugly, based on the rhetoric in Chicago, based on the anger at the city’s handling of the whole thing, and based on the large protest culture currently on the ground. So thinking about thrusting myself into the middle of it all made me just a bit nervous. My solution was to come to the RNC so that I would have a better idea how things might go. 

I dropped my dog Captain off at my daughter’s and drove the hour and a half to Milwaukee on Monday morning. The March on the RNC planned a press conference at 10, a rally at 11, and a march at noon. I had been approved for a press pass, so I needed to pick that up at 9. I left Chicago early enough to arrive by 8 because I had no idea what the city would look like in terms of blocked off streets and parking. 

The March on the RNC, by the way, is an umbrella organization that represents over a hundred groups that are interested in protesting at the convention (as is the March on the DNC). To show the wide variety of the groups, here are just a few that were included: Freedom Socialist Party, Denver-Aurora Community Action Committee, Democratic Socialists, American Party of Labor, Code Pink, Jewish Voice for Peace, Women Against Military Madness, Trans Resistance Action Committee, Starbucks Workers United, Reproductive Justice Action, Free Palestine Coalition, Climate Justice Committee. One advantage of something like the March on the RNC/DNC is that both Milwaukee and Chicago have been been in fights over the rules for protesting the conventions, and these umbrella groups were able to sue on behalf of all of the smaller groups. 

One of the problems I noticed with groups joining this huge organization up is that the messages of each group seemed quite diluted. Yes, individuals in the crowd were interviewed by various press and got their message out to whatever audience they had, but there were simply so many messages that I wonder if anything got through.

Also, to get ahead of myself a bit, I think each group sent its craziest members to Milwaukee! Holy cow. But I guess you would have to be obsessed with an issue to travel from all over the country to protest the RNC.

Anyway, when I pulled into the city, I quickly found the Red Arrow Park, where the protest was taking place. My first thought was that I must have misunderstood. This park was so small. How could it possibly fit the 10,000 people they publicized that they were expecting?

A few people were starting to unload trucks with tents and water. Across the street from the park, cops were manned at barricades that blocked traffic from entering the restricted zone. Other than that, I didn’t see anyone. I spotted a parking garage around the corner. It seemed too good to be true. I pulled in: $10 for the day (what???). And the garage was empty (as it was all day).

Of course, now I was so early. I found a bench and waited for things to get started. Slowly, people descended on the park. First, lots and lots of people with cameras, both still and video as well as iphones on selfie-sticks. Then protesters straggled in. 

One of my fellow photographers from Chicago and I had been texting and quickly found each other. We chatted for a bit and went off on our separate ways to find good shots. Over the day, I ran into a few people from Chicago – two other photographer acquaintances and a few protesters.

The program started on time, and as a press pass holder, I was allowed to be in the press pit, so to speak, right up front. But honestly, I wasn’t all that interested in listening to or taking photos of the press conference or any of the speakers (especially since that part went on for two hours – waaaay too long! They must have had a speaker from every one of the groups they represented.). Walking around provided much better entertainment, in my estimation.

And it did. I’m still working on my photos, but they will do a better job of telling that story. That also means I have no idea what anyone on stage said. Oh well…

A couple of things happened that my photos will not be sufficient to tell the story, both having to do with counter-protesters, who were quite provocative.

The first was a group of men with three banners and a bullhorn. I could hear that someone was loud on the opposite side of the park from the speakers, so I looked over and spotted one of their signs, which said “BLM Rent a Riot.” Oh boy. I immediately headed over there; I’m always looking for scuffles and confrontation (as crazy as that seems!). As I got closer, I saw another sign had a large picture of an aborted baby. And by sign, these were very large – 6 ft tall. The third sign was a picture depicting Mohammed wearing a dress. Yep. All pretty provocative. The man with the bullhorn was yelling the most outrageous things. I can’t even repeat them here! The comments on homosexuality and trans were so over-the-top, it was hard to believe. But his goal was to troll the audience, and he definitely succeeded.

The people from the organization assigned to keep order, the ones wearing yellow vests, did a really great job. Whenever things like this happened, they immediately put themselves between the opposing parties and did all they could to squash the reaction. So they directed protesters to walk away from the men and not interact with the counter-protesters, to not engage with or provoke them. One of them even asked me to not encourage these guys by taking photos (I ignored her). Over at the side were a few cops from Columbus, Ohio. I was amazed at their restraint throughout the day. They were immediately on top of every trouble maker, and they clearly made the decision to let people speak.

But one young man, who repeatedly told the crowd he was gay and was exaggeratedly flamboyant, refused to ignore these men. He had his own bullhorn he carried around with him. He had no fear. He pushed his way through the crowd to confront them and tried to out-yell them, and he did so with just as obnoxious statements. When security or police would try to get him to move away, he would turn on them and scream, “Don’t touch me! Don’t touch me!” or “She’s touching me!” (filled with expletives). He was clearly a professional at this.

He showed up again later in yet another crazy situation. He always seemed to be in the center of any conflict.

A group of five or six young anti-abortion people marched up to the park, and they showed up loudly. One woman was wearing a bloody wedding dress. They were promoting a wedding taking place at 2:00 in the park. A wedding between the abortion industrial complex and the RNC. The same young man got in their face with his bullhorn too – saying simply horrible things about the individuals in the group and promoting abortion. 

The “wedding” took place as the march returned to the park after the march. They performed it like a little play with costumes, props, and memorized lines. The people in the yellow vests immediately put themselves in between the wedding and the protesters returning. But that didn’t stop the young man. He walked right through them. When one woman moved toward him and asked him to stop, he yelled, “She’s policing me! She’s policing me!” and walked right past her.

As crazy as everything he was saying was, believe it or not, it was hilarious. Hard to explain. He was just so ridiculous that it was hard not to laugh. I caught more than one cop’s eye as we both shook our heads, smiling. As I said, entertaining.

The interesting thing about the group performing the wedding is that they were actually protesting Trump and the Republican Party, which was also the mission of the March on the RNC protest. They were actually on the same side!

As I mentioned, the rally was way too long, with way too many speakers, each screaming chants and raging about one cause or another. 

It seemed like there were nearly as many media people (photographers, videographers, reporters, streamers, etc.) as there were protesters! When I photograph protests in Chicago, there is usually a handful to a dozen of us covering the event. So this was so bizarre. This meant that it was hard to get a photo of actual protesters without a media person in the frame. For anyone who has travelled to popular tourist spots over the past ten years knows, Instagram content creators and TicTok streamers are everywhere, ruining the experience for everyone else. It kind of felt like that! 

Finally, it was time to march. Part of the good news was that after lawsuits and much negotiation, the March on the RNC secured a march route that included a path inside the restricted area and within view of Fiserv, where the convention is being held.

The protesters lined up in the street behind the banners that typically lead such marches. The press then gathered in front of the banners to get their photos and videos, often with reporters in the shot. The mass of press was insane and frantic, filled with jostling and pushing and tripping. 

Nothing really of note happened during the march. The biggest problem was the media, which kept slowing the whole thing down. So often there were media crowding the front to the point where the people carrying the banners couldn’t move forward. And the restricted area was blocked by concrete barriers. So when the protest reached these, they climbed right over. It was funny to watch. The only other bump in the march was that a group of anti-abortion protesters, of maybe twenty people, were on the route. They brought the march to a stop, leading to lots of screaming, cussing, and flipping the bird. But nothing more than that happened.

I would also say that the route was way too long! Yes, it was hot, and I was drenched in sweat, so that is part of it. But more importantly, the march lasted maybe two hours! After two hours of speakers. 

Overall, this was a pretty small protest. And it didn’t seem to be very impactful. Whenever my photographer friend and I ran into each other, we would compare notes, and one of the first things we talked about was how a protest this size in Chicago would be considered a failure! I am a horrible judge of crowd size, but maybe five hundred protesters gathered? Five hundred. All their press releases and interviews pre-convention said they were expecting 10,000. That estimate is so off the mark. Did some stay home because of the assassination attempt? I don’t know. But…wow. 

Before leaving, I had heard that Trump supporters might be gathering at a park on the other side of the convention center (the other officially designated protest site). It was a ghost town over there. Now I was anxious to leave. It was 3:30 PM, and I was exhausted. I had booked a room at Super 8 near the airport – hey, it was available and at a price I was willing to pay. And I am happy to report that this location is on the higher end of Super 8s! I sought out a local sports bar to drink an ice cold beer (this is a beer town after all) and have a bite. A television was behind the bar, and the chyron of one of the stories read, “Thousands Protest During RNC.” Yeah. Right.

Then I returned to the hotel to collapse in my room and watch the convention on TV. I really hadn’t heard much about anything happening Tuesday so I went to bed without a plan. More on that later. In the meantime, I’m going to start going through my photos.

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Read RNC Day 2, RNC Day 3, RNC Day 4