Indivisible rally set for Presidents Day in Williamsburg

Feb. 18--Josie Soltys is an accountant in Williamsburg who never imagined she'd be on the ground floor of a groundswell.

Now, to her own surprise, she's part of a loose grassroots movement -- dubbed Indivisible -- that's coalescing across the country in defense of what many consider assaults on core American values.

"As far as civil rights and the environment, I see them being jeopardized," Soltys said recently. "People should have rights, no matter who you are. And we should protect the environment. Period. At this point, I think if you just sit back and don't do anything, it's the same as condoning it.

"I have never been a political person. And I guess I still don't feel like I'm being a political person. It's more like moral and ethical. I just jumped in feet first."

Soltys has rapidly become an organizer with a nascent group called Peninsula Indivisible that, along with a sister group in Gloucester called Middle Peninsula Progressives, is holding a "Stand Up!" rally Monday in Williamsburg to raise awareness and offer practical ways to get involved.

It's set for 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Williamsburg Players community theater, 200 Hubbard Lane, and features speakers on issues such as climate change, civil rights, reproductive rights and political activism.

One of those speakers is Susan Platt, a Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor. Platt has worked on congressional political campaigns for decades and co-founded The Farm Team, a group that trains women interested in political careers.

But in her own long experience in the political arena, Platt said she hasn't seen progressive activism like this before, a gut-level reaction to the policies of the Trump administration.

"Sometimes you end up poking the hornets' nest, and the hornets escape and there's no going back," said Platt. "I talked to a group of women last week in their late 30s, early 40s. They said, 'We've never been active politically, we've never been particularly interested in politics. But we've seen how it relates to our livelihoods. Boy, do we see it now.'

"One woman said to me, 'I feel like Dorothy in "The Wizard of Oz" caught in the tornado, and all I want to do is put on my ruby red slippers and go back to Kansas.'"

Also set to speak is John Finn, a geography professor at Christopher Newport University in Newport News who teaches on the social science of environmental issues.

"A lot of my courses are at the intersection of social problems and environmental problems and how we create the world in which we live, which affects human society living in that world," said Finn. "It's a two-way relationship between humans and the environment (and) there's broad misconceptions in society that affect political discourse and political decision-making."

On Monday, he plans to address climate change, Scott Pruitt -- the controversial climate skeptic that Trump chose to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency -- and misconceptions about the Paris Agreement signed in 2016 by the United States, 191 other states and the European Union to curb greenhouse gas emissions.

"I want to conceptualize where that's coming from," Finn said of those misconceptions. "And why, in my opinion, that's wrong."

Other scheduled speakers are Josh Stanfield of Activate Virginia on House of Delegates elections; Jen Tierney of James City County Democrats; Elly Boehmer of Environment Virginia on the current administration's impact on Virginia's environment; Marklyn Louis of Planned Parenthood on legislation impacting the group; and Quena Dailey, deputy political director for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Tom Perriello.

Also scheduled are musical appearances by folk artist Carolyn August and The Lovecats, a pop/reggae/rock group.

The lineup skews heavily Democrat, but Soltys said the rally is open to all.

"We would accept any political view as long as they were on the same page as us as far as civil rights, the environment, refugees and immigration," she said.

Similar rallies are set for other cities on Monday, Presidents Day, as "(Not My) Presidents Day" events, including a rally outside Trump Tower in Manhattan. Soltys said local groups opted not to adopt that title because they want to be less confrontational and more inclusive.

Peninsula Indivisible has roughly 150 members, she said, about 50 of them active.

Dietrich can be reached by phone at 757-247-7892.

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