We’ve been waiting very patiently for the Stemilt Grand Parade lineup to be published on the Apple Blossom Festival website because we’ve been wanting to confirm if Representative Kim Schrier was going to be present at the parade this year or not. Well, the lineup is finally out, and she is going to be there after all!
We’re hoping to respectfully be at the parade, but protest when she passes by.
Some of you might remember seeing us at the parade last year (more about that here). Wenatchee for Palestine was a lot smaller then, and a group of us attended the parade and stood in the crowd with our Palestine flags and protest signs. When Kim Schrier came by, we yelled some protest chants at her, highlighting her role in perpetuating the genocide. That was the only time during the parade that we were vocally disruptive; the rest of the time we just quietly held our signs.
Not long after the parade, Ruby at Kim Schrier’s Wenatchee District Office reached out to us and wanted to meet with us. That meeting was the only time we received any sort of concessions from Schrier. It didn’t lead to anything concrete; she didn’t change how she was voting, and we were not able to meet with Schrier herself. But we certainly managed to get her attention.
This year, we’re hoping to do something even bigger than last year, and we need your help to do it!
We’re hoping to get more people along the parade route chanting at Schrier rather than just our one corner of the route. We think this would send a very strong message both to Schrier herself and to the Wenatchee community as a whole that our community strongly supports Palestine and immigrants (since Schrier also voted for the Laken Riley Act, which allows ICE to target immigrants without due process).
We’re going to try to grab the same spot we had last year, which was at the corner of Orondo Avenue and Wenatchee Avenue facing the oncoming parade procession (so, we’ll be standing in Orondo Avenue). We’ll have the Wenatchee for Palestine banner and Palestine flags and such, so we should be easy to find!
If you would like to pick up Palestine and Mexico flags and chant sheets from us to use in the parade, feel free to stop by! Anyone is welcome to also stand with us for any part of the duration of the parade, though we welcome folks to stand anywhere along the route and chant at Kim Schrier from any location.
The plan is simple: when Kim Schrier comes by, wave your Palestine and Mexico flags, and if you’d like, join us in chanting at her! Feel free to wave the Palestine and Mexico flags during the rest of the parade, too. We think it would be awesome if all of the photography for the parade featured Palestine and Mexico flags in the background.
Chant list:
Kim Schrier, you can’t hide,
you supported genocide!
Viva viva Palestina!
Kim Schrier, go away,
immigrants are here to stay!
El pueblo, unido,
jamas sera vencido!
If you would like to print your own chant sheet, we have it available to print here in English or Spanish:
English
Spanish
Dual language