THE HISTORY AND BENEFITS OF A CEREMONIAL LAMENT WALK (Part 2)

  Read Part I here. Read Part III here.

From a pedestrian after observing the July 21 Noe Valley Walk: “When I read a few signs and saw what was happening I started to tear up then cry because I realized how much we have lost in terms of the Rule of Law and justice for all. How can I join in?”

From another pedestrian: "I love the whole concept of the Lament Walk. It's so powerful, and even with just the 15 people in the video you sent me, it looked really chilling and symbolically resonant. I have been thinking a lot lately about the importance of public lament--as a shared communal ritual meant to be highly visible and participatory."

TEN LAMENT WALKERS JOINED ON OCT. 18 "NO KING'S DAY.2"

IN OUR SAN FRANCISCO NEIGHBORHOOD; volunteer on Sun. Nov 23 for NEXT WALK IN GLEN PARK, SF anngrogan.romantasy@gmail.com

Noe Valley neighborhood, San Francisco Lament Walk (Ann is second in line)

Walking and marching is a shared community ritual. Each person carries a sign stating one element of the general theme, and the Walk is typically accompanied by inspirational protest music with or without lyrics and/or chanting. You may listen to the classical Playlist from a July 21st Walk here: https://app.box.com/s/l23y5j8s4s8vbl4gjlza6828vpznisma

Such walking has a long and esteemed history. As a form of street theater akin to a flash mob, it typically has three purposes:

first, to demonstrate resistance to the unwanted autocracy of a leader or government,

second, to express sorrow for and alliance with victims of political or social cruelty,

third, to encourage others to join in resisting repression of any kind in order to advance democracy, humanism, and justice.

It does so not only with each sign carried, but by a person at the end of the Walk handing out an informational flyer and listing specific opportunities and groups to join for local, state, and national protest actions.

The Roots

A possible source of inspiration to engage in political walks might be found in the writings of Henry David Thoreau who wrote a famous essay entitled “Walking, or, The Wild” (1861). Thoreau promoted a philosophy of pedestrianism, and he proclaimed, “Every walk is a sort of crusade.”

Thoreau influenced Gandhi in 1930 to defy British Rule in “The Salt March.”  Gandhi started with 78 men (and excluded women) from among his followers, with the goal of protesting the British colonizer’s tax on salt, a necessity. Over the next year or more, about 80,000 eventually walked or marched, of which 17,000 were women who became an integral part of the ongoing protest.

Gandhi’s peaceful approach to civil disobedience influenced Martin Luther King who had a long-lasting critical impact in advancing worker and minorities’ rights during the “March in Washington for Jobs and Freedom” on August 28, 1963 (about 250,000 marched).

Other notable walks include The Women’s March held after the presidential inauguration in January of 2017. It drew the largest ever single crowd focused on women’s interests and rights (about 1/2 million marched in Washington, D.C. while another million marched in various US cities. 

A jubilant group of about 250,000 Bay Area residents and friends marched in San Francisco and more nation-wide at the June 2025 Pride Parades – and we know how much social and political change those parades have influenced in terms of rights for the gay, trans, queer, and non-binary communities and individuals. (The Parade began 55 years ago as the “Gay Day Parade” in 1970; my law school classmates and I were proud to participate in the second-ever Gay Day Parade viewed left)

Political Walking Creates Maximum Impact

and Is Egalitarian and Uplifting

Political ceremonial, costumed walking is democratic :  Those who walk do not have to be rich or privileged; anyone can join in, (we can help provide black cothing), however young children will not be suitable to join because of the length, safety needs, or arduousness of a given Lament Walk. Pets are not suitable because of their needs and general inability to follow atypical, disciplined directions giving by those in charge of safety.

Political walking is inclusive :  Walking can easily include people with disabilities and people using walking assistance devices, if the walk is slowed down. In addition, walkers can alternately walk then stand silently or with music and holding signs in a line along a curb. Finally, walkers can stop to allow some to rest, then resume the walk.

Political walking is a focused, urgent call to action:   Each walker carries a sign that features a specific example of the theme, such as justice or rights lost in a particular political climate.  Pedestrians and drivers who pass have time to view each sign and focus on issues that concern them. By the final Walker handing out small flyers regarding the Walk theme, viewers may be connected to sponsoring organizations and opportunities for activism to create a more humanistic society and politics.

Political walking is impactful, theatrical, and just plain fun !  Walking is a public way to build community and dramatically oppose Executive Orders, laws, procedures, and programs that attack democracy and impose deprivations on citizens and guests in our country. It is a powerful way to express deep sorrow for and empathetic alliance with those suffering from attacks that violate the Rule of Law, our Constitutional protections, civil rights, environmental security, and human decency.

You can view the SF Walk by downloading the link to the July 21, 2025 San Francisco Lament Walk for Lost Justice https://app.box.com/s/b0ub8plij83pqx78ije9nuuoy2mdld3l 

Mission Local news report:  https://missionlocal.org/2025/08/hans-kolbe-noe-valley-resist-threats-democracy/ 

It was inspired by and is in debt to the organizers of the original two prior Walks, one taking place in May, 2025 in Lexington, KY and two taking place shortly thereafter in Auburn, CA (one at the Auburn City Hall and another at the walkers’ Federal Representative’s office); viewed in these videos: https://www.tiktok.com/@travelinghumanbeans/video/7499658894294125866 (Kentucky)  https://www.facebook.com/reel/2994798044059134 (Auburn, CA)     

A second Walk was held in August in the Mission District of San Francisco.

Political Walking Encourages Empathy and Moves Suffering from the Inside (subconscious) to the Outside (consciousness) to Free Up Energy for Additional Public Action Supporting Humanism

I have heard only one or two questions raised about the wisdom of engaging in Lament Walks (which as said, at the appropriate future time when democracy is restored, can be re-titled as a Celebration Walk of Joy!).

One question is: does the Lament Walk result in any "real" change?

Of course it does!

However, I was disapointed to read a participant in SDS's 60s protests, psychologist and podcaster Thomm Hartman, who said that "real" change "happens in the precincts, in the county offices, in the long nights where volunteers count ballots or knock on doors. With education, spokespeople, and specific demands." He said of mass (or other?) street protests: "The noise is cathartic, and the system stays the same."

He's right about the long-term effectiveness of traditional conservative democratic tactics: voting, writing one's legislators. However, to say that any protest whatsoever done by caring democrats is not "real" is supercilious at best and smacks of elitism. What about the rapidity of which No. 47 is dismantling our democratic institutions? Do we wait for the 2026 elections and poll watching then? Will we have a country left to fight for?

I disagree with Thomm that power does not bend to "viral content." Viral content, signage at general protests or Lament Walks, focus the public attention and frames the messaging about what to care about. He seems to caare about messaging: "Real resistance begins with message discipline" but then he ignores the power of general protest signs and continuing messaging and protesting with social media and legacy media coverage. Without stepping up to create our own messaging, we the protestors, are left to legacy media who have bent their knee, to frame the public message!

Signs build community and encourage our leaders -- including judges who watch TV-- to do the right thing and defend our Constitution. Protests let viewers and participants know we are not alone in wanting governmental change. Knowing we are not alone energizes, or opens up the possibility of stepping out of one's comfort zone to speak up or act out in public and it keeps our leaders moving forward on our behalf.

It will take all of us, each in our own ways that feel comfy and productive, to protest, not just voting or signing online petitions, and of course, not just ending our efforts by attending one No Kings Rally held every three months.

Not everyone can become a charismatic public leader or have the funds to get elected. Not everyone had the opportunity Thomm had to go to attend two universities to "get educated." How often does an upper class White male in the US pontificate about who is and who is not "educated" or making "real change?" In a very successful 60s women's movement.2 in which I was involved, our leaderless consciousness-raising groups operated well and in safety from the domination of men, to train each of us to step up and lead, to gain confidence in and articulate our own opinions and experiences, and to learn from others because we did not elect a "leader."

Thomm may argue we are well beyond the 60s, but the theory of how we build an educated, confident public inclusive of all not benefiting from race or class privilege, still stands through time. Accordingly, I would urge him to reconsider what he says, and talk to non-White and non-male resistors to learn how to understand their special relevance to the equation of recovering our lost democracy. Stop looking for heroes to save us, and become the hero instead (poem below).

A second question is: does the Lament Walk focus too much on the depressing reality of the daily abuse of civil rights and the intentional cause of the suffering of "others"?

As reported by pedestrians viewing the Walk

and those participating in one, no it does not.

Participating in a Lament Walk relieves emotional pressure and addictive "doomerism" and "amygdala hijack" explained here and by one poet who said:

Emotions are not something that come naturally to all of us, I know I sure don’t channel my own feelings very well, often, or comfortably. It’s an easy thing to find yourself doing, avoiding emotions. But if you keep them all bottled up, it’s not healthy either and they’ll eventually show themselves in nasty ways.

Many know about psychotherapist Jung's' theory of the subconscious: “Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” A Lament Walk allows us in a peaceful, non violent way to call forth and share with other Walkers and pedestrians, our deep sadness over loss of our former, if imperfect, democracy. It encourages us not to look away from abuse of human beings, become complacent, or withdraw from resistance which is tempting to do. By this willingness to face and express our sadness, we free up energy to move on and resist in activist projects we join.

A Lament Walk is not fatalistic or defeatist precisely because it aligns us in community with others and that is a beneficial result. In its formality and ceremonial discipline, a Walk sends a message of community and group solidarity.

We lack community connection today. Some might argue that in the US we have always lacked an ethic of "the common good."

I think that ethic existed for my parents and grandparents, but my and subsequent generations lost it. History proves us to be a nation in love with the cowboy mentality of the "rugged individual" with liberty interests of our founding fathers often superceeding the common good and egalitarianism; we seem to be going backwards to embrace just that. We are told in capitalism to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps and that failure, illness and lack (i.e., lack of material things and security) are principally our own individual faults.

However, a Walk does not tell us that, nor elevate anyone above the suffering others. It does not tell anyone what to think, but rather attempts to define the way a group perceives the political and social situation and by signs we carry, specify elements of the lament theme and communicate support for the kind of inclusive society that we yearn for and support.  

It does not stop us from joining other specific actions: we can "walk and chew gum at the same time!"

It enables participation and expression by those who are risk-adverse to large public demonstrations, because it is a moving protest with low risk of arrest or being tear gassed, and it is over in a short time.

It focuses on and attempts to explain or educate about something that we are lamenting.

A Walk is a deeply contemplative act of resistance, not a grito or scream, but a public sign of awareness and an urgent call to become aware, not shirk reality, and not jump to conclusions without thinking.

As Gandhi did. As MLK did. Two giants who saw the public impact and possibilities of walking or marching, surely not defeatist or fatalistic actions to those great leaders who did effect change.

Certainly not overnight change, but they did contribute to change. Now it is our turn!

***

The Missing Man

The hours come, and the man.” Sir William Scott in Guy Mannering

Cometh the hour, cometh the man—

and yet he doesn’t come.

The restless troops await,

awash in jumbled hopes,

drowned in fearsome dread.

The lieutenant’s missing

the sergeant’s dead,

the cook’s fled and water is gone,

no food in sight with mud for bed—

by whom will the troops be led?

The King’s throat’s cut, the Queen deposed

and sent to who knows where

by her own hand or some brutal attack

that left her lost in total despair,

with the knaves in charge, it’s clear.

Could false heroes always hide,

and we look in all the wrong places

and for only one gender—or any gender at all?

We should recall that the hero

is the person who lives inside.

###

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