Dirge for democracy: Bloomington protesters stage mock funeral at Switchyard Park

A group of local residents gathered Saturday morning near the splash pad at Switchyard Park for a protest against the Trump administration organized by the 50501 movement, which is a national network whose name is shorthand for “50 protests, 50 states, 1 movement.”

The targeted audience for the protest was the Winter Farmers Market—Saturday was the inaugural market day of the season.

The demonstration took the form of a mock funeral procession. Pallbearers dressed in black shouldered a casket labeled “Rule of Law.” Veiled mourners wailed from time to time—their cries cut through the dirge played by a brass quartet, with a beat tapped out by a single drummer.

There are many dirges to choose from, sousaphone player Doug Davis told The B Square. But the one chosen for Saturday morning was “March and Canzona (Funeral Music for Queen Mary),” a work composed by Henry Purcell in 1695.

The piece might also be recognized as the theme music from Stanley Kubrick’s 1971 film “A Clockwork Orange,” where it was used in a modern arrangement.

After the pallbearers set down the group’s casket at an angle for display, Richard Denning, delivered remarks outlining the evolution of the rule of law in the United States, ticking through the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution, the Civil War amendments, and the expansion of democratic rights. Denning described recent judicial and legislative developments as threats to democratic principles.

As examples of threats, Denning pointed to judicial rulings that he said have placed one person—specifically Donald Trump—above the law as well as recent Supreme Court decisions that weakened the Voting Rights Act.

Denning also pointed to significant cuts to social programs like SNAP, Medicaid, and Head Start. The use of masked agents to detain people without due process, both nationally and locally in Indiana, was cited by Denning as evidence of the erosion of democratic principles and protections.

The theme of death, reflected in the mock funeral, was offset by the theme of birth that closed Denning’s remarks. Denning kicked out with the final lines from Abraham Lincoln’s “Gettysburg Address,” which some protestors joined him in reciting, “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

Denning told The B Square he’d been working to organize the protest for about a month, through the 50501 organization.

Some winter market patrons who were headed to stalls located outside or inside the pavilion, stopped, watched and listened, but most went about their business. Staff from the market cautioned the group about the use of amplified sound (a bullhorn) and the potential disruption of commerce, but by that time the protest had essentially wrapped up.