Make a Sign

What does it take to make a good sign for a march or protest?

I thought this was a good time to talk about this since this Thursday, April 4, at 5 pm, there’s a demonstration downtown Chicago at Federal Plaza (219 S. Dearborn).  The reason for the demonstration? To demand the full release of the Mueller report.

 The weather’s going to be fairly good.  Why not come and join hundreds more in Chicago and tens of thousands demonstrating this Thursday?

Now, I have to confess, I have sign inferiority complex. Yep! I don’t make great signs. I probably never will make great signs. But I do make OK signs. And, I am gathering a bit of experience in sign making.  So here are a few tips.

The Materials

What to put your message on—that’s the first thing to figure out.  Oh, you’ll see preprinted signs at demonstrations, but as far as I’m concerned, they aren’t the most interesting. There are several usual materials I see. 

• poster board.  They make it in neon pink and green so that can really stand out.  You can buy it from The Dollar Tree, 2 sheets for a dollar. Personally, I don’t like poster board because it seems to flimsy.

• foam core board. This stuff is much more sturdy and comes in white (usually) or a paper coating of black paper. This is much more durable and also can be gotten at The Dollar Tree for a dollar per sheet

• corrugated cardboard. My favorite. I cut up old boxes. Cost? Zero!

• a handle? That a matter of personal preference. You can just hold it up with your hand (which is mostly what I do) or you can make handle for it out of paint sticks  (get them from paint stores) or short lengths of furring strips. Either one you chose, you can use a staple gun to attach to the cardboard or foam core board. Or you can use good strong wide tape (possibly duct tape).

•markers—lots of colors and with wide tips if possible.

What Should it Look Like?

“Make it colorful,” says Ashley Simone, a WFI group member.  And she does.  “Use red for important letters.” She also suggests either drawing pictures on the sign or printing out images from the internet and mounting them on the sign.

And pay attention to the message. If you are lost for what to put on a sign, maybe get some ideas from other people, suggests Darilynn Dinsmoor, another WFI member.  She googles ideas from others and uses that as an inspiration to develop her own ideas.

“I also look up famous quotations on the issues and use those in some of my signs,” she says.

A Look at the Past

If you need some more general inspiration, here is a slide show of signs from protestss in the last 26 months.

Please join us and Indivisible and other affiliated groups this Thursday evening downtown Chicago. And you can make your own unique sign.

Reproductive Rights Are Under Attack in Illinois!

This information comes to us from Brigid Leahy, Senior Director of Public Policy, Planned Parenthood of Illinois. Here's what she has to say, and an invitation to learn more.

"Opponents of safe, legal abortion are doing everything they can to stop the Reproductive Health Act and the repeal of Parental Notice of Abortion Act, including spreading false information about the bills and medical care in general.

 
We want you to have the facts. Please join an Emergency Telephone Town Hall on Monday, April 1^st at 7:00 PM to hear from bill sponsors and advocates fighting to pass these bills.
 

Speakers include: Representative Emanuel "Chris" Welch; Representative Sara Feigenholtz; Jennifer Welch, President and CEO, Planned Parenthood of Illinois; an Illinois Caucus of Adolescent Health Youth Advocate, and more.

Legislation establishing reproductive rights in Illinois law was introduced in the Illinois House over six weeks ago, but THERE HAS BEEN NO ACTION. These bills are in real danger of not moving forward unless we demand our state legislators act now and protect our rights. 

More than a dozen lawsuits attacking Roe v. Wade are making their way through the lower courts.  One of these cases could be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court this year!  If Roe v. Wade is overturned, or undermined by the Supreme Court, harmful portions of the current Illinois law that are blocked by the courts could be re litigated. We don’t have time to waste.

It is clear that anti-abortion politicians, emboldened by the Trump administration and Kavanaugh on the Supreme Court, will say and do anything to put safe, legal abortion out of reach for people nationwide. Don’t be fooled, get the facts at the Emergency Telephone Town Hall on Monday, April 1 at 7:00 p.m. to learn how you can help defend reproductive rights and eliminate barriers to reproductive health care."

So, can you make it to this important phone meeting?

What If Tens of Millions Americans Had NO Health Insurance?

Are you one of the 21 million Americans who may loose their health care if the court case in Texas to eliminate the Affordable Healthcare Act (ObamaCare) goes through?  Or are you one of the 135 million Americans who has a pre-existing condition, and who may be denied healthcare if this court case is successful? Or are you among millions over 65 who are on Medicare who may suddenly have to pay for preventative healthcare that previously was without charge?

Are you? Or is someone close to you in one of those categories?

President Obama signs ACA on March 23, 2010

If you can say yes, then you should be concerned, VERY CONCERNED, about the Administration's attempt to use the courts to eliminate the ACA, since they have failed at eliminating it through the Congress. (Thanks to the late John McCain and other Senators who realized this wasn't a partisan issue.)

"Last night, the Department of Justice declared the entire law and all of its vital health care protections must go," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat from New York, said in remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday. "Make no mistake about it, this is an escalation of the Trump administration and Republicans' attacks on protections for people with pre-existing conditions."

You can read more about it here. 

But what else should you do? There are two things.

First, call the Department of Justice at 202-353-1555 and tell them that we see this decision as reckless and insensitive to the health care needs of millions of Americans who depend on the ACA. 

Next, call your Members of Congress. You have their phone numbers on your list of favorites, right? If not, go here to get the number for your two Senators and one Representative.
Call today and tell them that we want them to do everything they can to assure that every American has health care, which includes considering how to implement Medicare for all.

And take heart, just as Trump was instructing the DOJ to go after healthcare, the Democrats in the House of Republicans introduced the Medicare Buy-In and Health Care Stabilization Act of 2019 to shore up the ACA and reduce costs. H.R. 1346

Healthcare is not a partisan issue. The 2018 election made that clear when Americans declared that healthcare was their number one issue. And the results in the House evidenced that. Illinois Representative Lauren Underwood is a great example of an underdog who ran and won of a campaign focused on healthcare. (See her on the March 26th Rachel Maddow Show.)

As the next election gets closer, more and more Republicans are going to respond to what the people want, and will be running with a commitment to providing healthcare to all Americans.

What are you going to do? Nothing, or make some phone calls today and start thinking about how you can make a change in Washington by working to get responsible legislators seated in the Congress.


posted by Etta Worthington