Cars honking, bells ringing, snare drums booming and chants for democracy: protestors dotted the sidewalks of Rockville Pike in front of the Tesla showroom on Saturday, Apr. 26, protesting against Tesla and the company’s CEO, Elon Musk.
The #TeslaTakedown is a grassroots protest movement that started in February of this year, just a few months after President Donald Trump’s election into office. #TeslaTakedown is just one of the tens of organizations in the United States (and the world) targeting Musk and his relationship with the Trump administration. #TeslaTakedown intends to encourage people to sell their Teslas and plunge Tesla stock price by boycotting the company. According to their website, “hurting Tesla is stopping Musk. Stopping Musk will help save lives and our democracy.”
A protest is held almost every Saturday from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. in front of the Rockville Pike Tesla showroom. I went to the one on Apr. 26, and it was my first time ever going to a protest of this kind. Cars were honking constantly, people in their cars were holding their thumbs up and everyone was chanting, “Musk and Trump have got to go.” Even Teslas that drove past had bumper stickers like “this is my last Tesla” and “I bought this before Elon went crazy.”
I was fairly surprised to see that demographically, even though I expected more young people of color, the majority of protesters were white and over the age of 50. The Trump administration’s changes to Social Security and retirement funding could have played a role in bringing people of the older generation to protest — especially in Rockville, a majorly Democratic suburb being just outside Washington, D.C.
Protester Edward Branagan is retired and is from Gaithersburg. Branagan is protesting for his son and his son’s federal job. “My son works for USAID and [the company’s employees] were one of the first to get fired. He was valedictorian in high school, senior class representative, went to Johns Hopkins and William & Mary… and now he’s looking for another job,” Branagan said.
With widespread federal employee firings and mass deportations occurring, Branagan said that he felt the need to protest. When I asked Branagan about the demographics of the protest, he said that older people who may have missed opportunities to protest in the past are utilizing the chance to do so now. “I think some of the older people missed [protesting] in the Civil Rights Movement and Vietnam War. I know I missed that, I didn’t participate,” Branagan said.
Catherine Zizlavsky is a stay-at-home mom and resident of Rockville. “I never thought I would see this in my lifetime. I was born in 1966, [I saw] things like the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA), advocacy for gay rights and racial justice. To get to this point, it just breaks my heart,” Zizlavsky said.
Zizlavsky said that she is trying to “do anything to make a difference,” such as by telling her neighbors and coming to out to different protests aside from #TeslaTakedown. “We’re so blessed to live in a place like Rockville where all of our representatives are amazing and stand up for us… but we’re losing it. We have a little white boy that we’re raising with three women and it’s like ‘you will understand what reality is and what is right,’” Zizlavsky said.
People are motivated to attend political protests and rallies like #TeslaTakedown because of the expression of free speech, in regard to the Constitution’s First Amendment. Every person I spoke to and almost every sign I saw being held up emphasized the importance of peacefully voicing opinion and belief. “If people think they are alone and afraid of what’s happening, they are not alone and that there are lots of people out there that don’t agree with how things are being handled,” Alison Mocko, a veterinarian and small business owner from Prince George’s County, said.
So, what about us? What about our school? Teslas can be seen parked in the parking lot and during student dropoff but does this mean their owners support Musk and Trump? “Based on recent events and the stuff that’s been happening during Trump’s presidency, I feel like Musk has had too much of a say in U.S. politics and government. The only reason I bought a Tesla was because it was an electric card and better for the environment, but I feel like my personal opinion of Tesla has really deteriorated,” senior Suqi Zhou said.
What we can do as young people is watch the news, talk to people and stay up to date with what is going on in the world. Soon enough, every decision and action we take will be in our hands both politically and socially.
