Cause I’m a punk rocker
Yes, I am
Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of our 50501 CO newsletter!
In this newsletter we discuss how kindness can also be a form of rebellion. In addition, you’ll find information on upcoming activities from the 50501 calendar, actions you can take outside of protesting, and also find out about additional ways to connect with us.
See you on the streets! ✊✊✊
Actions and Activities
(The below list contains details on all actions this week and next week which have been submitted to our 50501 CO calendar; click the link above for more details and the full calendar)
All Cities
10/8: 6:00pm - 7:00pm - Team ENOUGH Welcome Session (For Young People Under 26) (Virtual - Hosted in Denver CO)
10/15: 6:00pm - 7:00pm - Team ENOUGH Welcome Session (For Young People Under 26) (Virtual - Hosted in Denver CO)
Berthoud
10/18: 12:00pm - 1:30pm - No Kings! (Intersection of Mountain Ave & Berthoud Parkway)
Colorado Springs
10/18: 12:00pm - 3:00pm - No Kings 2 Colorado Springs (America the Beautiful Park, Cimino Dr.)
Denver
10/11: 1:00pm - 2:00pm - Fox Takedown (100 E Speer Boulevard, Denver, CO 80203)
10/18: 12:00pm - 4:00pm - No kings! (State Capitol)
10/18: 1:00pm - 2:00pm - Fox Takedown (100 E Speer Boulevard, Denver, CO 80203)
Littleton
10/11: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Protest Against Tyranny (5700 South Broadway)
10/18: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Protest Against Tyranny (5700 South Broadway)
Loveland
10/11: 12:00pm - 2:00pm - Hands Off (US 287 from US34/Sprouts to Tesla)
10/18: 12:00pm - 2:00pm - Hands Off (US 287 from US34/Sprouts to Tesla)
Northglenn
10/10: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Protest at Gabe Evans’ Northglenn Office (Northglenn District Office, 10701 Melody Dr, Northglenn, CO 80234)
10/17: 11:00am - 1:00pm - Protest at Gabe Evans’ Northglenn Office (Northglenn District Office, 10701 Melody Dr, Northglenn, CO 80234)
’Cause I’m a punk rocker, yes, I am
I saw Superman recently. This line has been rattling around in my head since: Lois says she questions everyone, but that Clark trusts everyone and thinks they’re beautiful. Clark adds, “Maybe that’s the real punk rock.” As the credits rolled, “Punkrocker” by Teddybears featuring Iggy Pop kicked in—a swaggering reminder that rebellion isn’t always leather and spikes. Sometimes it’s how you treat people.
That resonates because autocracy sells the opposite. It sells suspicion. It tells you to narrow your circle, harden your heart, and file your neighbors into threat categories. It flatters the cynic and calls it wisdom. It handpicks enemies for you like a playlist.
Here’s the trick: hate isn’t just a feeling. It’s a management tool. It organizes attention. If I can get you to fear the person in front of you, I don’t have to explain what I’m doing behind you. That’s why every strongman project begins with a sorting exercise—us and them, pure and impure, “real” and “other.” Once that story sticks, the rest is paperwork.
Radical trust sounds naive in that world. It isn’t. It’s strategy.
Trust doesn’t mean “believe everything.” It means start with the premise that people are human before they’re useful to your argument. Refuse the cheap dopamine of contempt and do the slower work of seeing. Authoritarians can’t automate that; they only try to exhaust you out of it.
The early moves—the jokes that aren’t jokes, the nicknames, the daily drip of outrage—are designed to make cruelty feel normal and curiosity optional. Accept that, and policy rides in on the punchline. The later moves—purges, loyalty oaths, deputized neighbors—depend on a public already trained to enjoy the sorting.
So we counter with a different daily practice.
Three rules for punk-rock humanity:
Lead with dignity, verify with facts. Start from “this person is a person,” then check the claim. It’s not blind trust; it’s refusing to dehumanize while you verify. That order matters.
Separate harm from heresy. Disagreement isn’t violence. Fight policies that cause harm; don’t treat ideas you dislike as proof someone is disposable.
Make the circle bigger, not purer. Autocracy shrinks belonging until power fits in one hand. Democracy invites more people to the table and survives the mess that comes with it.
This isn’t performative kindness. It’s counter-programming. When you greet your neighbor by name, refuse the lazy slur at the meeting, or ask “what would make you feel safe here?” you’re not being soft—you’re jamming the gears. Hatred wants speed. Humanity forces a slowdown. That’s the point.
And yes, there are lines. Trust isn’t a suicide pact. We can draw hard boundaries around harm, organize to stop it, and still refuse to become what we’re fighting.
What does that look like in practice?
• In your town hall: argue policy like a bricklayer—square, specific, durable. No ad hominem, no victory laps.
• In your feed: don’t share dehumanizing memes about the people you’re trying to persuade tomorrow. Save your aim for the policy and the lie.
• In your coalition: build on shared commitments—clean elections, safe communities, honest data—even when you don’t share the same biography or bumper stickers.
• In your home: teach kids that calling someone “trash” is never a shortcut to truth.
The authoritarian bet is that fatigue will make us cruel. The democratic bet is that courage can be quiet and stubborn. That people, seen fully, will surprise you. Not always, but often enough.
So yes—question everything. Bring receipts. Draw your lines. But hold onto the radical, unfashionable belief that people are more than the worst story told about them. In times like these, that isn’t naive. It’s insurgent.
Argue policy square and specific, protect people, draw bright lines. Then let the chorus from the aforementioned song carry it home: “Cause I’m a punk rocker, yes, I am.”
Non-Protest Actions Bingo
The below bingo card contains a list of actions you can take (other than protesting) to help further the cause. If you get a bingo, tag us on social media to let us know!
1. Two Colorado State house representatives have proposed an amendment to the Colorado constitution which would allow the governor to suspend our state’s independent redistricting commission if “substantial evidence exists that one or more states have enacted congressional redistricting plans that result in severe partisan imbalance.” While the initiative wouldn’t be on the ballot until 2026 (and therefore wouldn’t change the congressional map until 2028 at the earliest), this would give our governor more tools in the fight against MAGA attempts to rig our nation’s electoral system.
2. As you have likely heard, the United States budget for fiscal year 2026 must be passed before the end of September to avoid a government shutdown. Both Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries have indicated that they are willing to compromise on passing the budget so long as Affordable Care Act subsidies are added back in. This cannot be the only item they fight for. Democrats have the ability to filibuster the budget in the Senate, and should use it to rein in ICE budgets/behavior, the rampant corruption of the Trump administration, and the use of the Department of Justice as a political hit tool. Call our CO senators and demand that they pressure Schumer and their peers to take a stand for what really matters to you!
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