Defusing conflict with a goofy grin 

It's hard to stay mad when LaVerne sidles up to you. “LaVerne” is the alter ego of Marianna Richardson of South Kingstown, a retired student assistance counselor who has seen it all after more than 30 years working with troubled teens.

That kind of job develops a high degree of emotional intelligence, and Richardson puts hers to good use in her work as a volunteer with No Kings.

She says, “I created a clown alter-ego after taking an online activist clown training with Indivisible,” the national grass roots organization working to defend democracy. “LaVerne shows up at various events [in South County] and she even marched in No Kings 2,” the march last October that drew 32,000 people to Providence.

Calming angry people is a useful skill in a polarizing time when social media amps up every disagreement. It’s just one of the elements in de-escalation training completed by peacekeepers, one of the three types of volunteers who will be keeping things safe at the March 28 No Kings 3 march at the State House.

An estimated 200 volunteers will be working behind the scenes and throughout the crowd on March 28, including marshals who help guide the crowd and medics and lawyers on hand to cope with any problems. (They’re looking for more, so if you’d like to volunteer, click here).

Richardson has already logged countless hours in various locations around the state, working behind the scenes on organizing committees as well as attending pop-up protests and the massive No Kings marches. “My superpower is showing up,” she says. “Everywhere. As often as possible.”

At 76, she has been protesting since the 1960s. “My cohort has the experience and the long view. I try to educate and inspire others. Also, it's often fun. My favorite thing lately is engaging police officers at rallies. I put my arm around their shoulders and say ‘I've been doing this since before you were born.’

“There are advantages to being a gray-haired granny!”

She loves most of it, like “making new friends in our wonderful community of resisters. I am an extreme extrovert. Getting together with everyone, marching, rallying, doing trainings–it all energizes me.”

She’s inspired by knowing that “many, many thousands of like-minded people [are] showing up all over the country. It really is up to the people at this point. When enough of us show up often enough, we will prevail.”

Not that it’s easy. “Getting others on board” can be challenging, she says. “Giving up favorite activities. All this resisting takes up a LOT of time. I never realized all the behind-the-scenes work that goes into planning these big events. Helping to plan No Kings 2 was an eye-opener.”

It can be discouraging, and hard to maintain that energy. She copes by “taking time for myself, [because] we really are in a do-or-die moment.” If we don’t work together, “we will lose our democracy. We are already living under a lawless autocracy.”

Bottom line, she says, "I can, so I must … [It is] a moral imperative.”

Want to give Marianna a hand? Click here.