Lots of questions, very few answers about the organizer of this event.

Please be careful about a January 27 event calling itself “The People’s March on Washington.” Some seemingly legitimate people have been recruited to work on it. And a bunch of people have also left the organizing group, disillusioned with what they believed was a lack of transparency and actual accomplishments.

A proposed event for a rally at the border led by the same individual --Lawrence Deshawn Silva Nathaniel-- in San Diego last spring collapsed, leaving first-time local activists holding the bag, as questions arose about finances, security, and intentions.

The upcoming DC event claims to have secured a permit from the National Park Service (they have applied), but can’t provide details beyond a receipt number, until a January 9th meeting “closed for security reasons.”

Here’s an excerpt from an email I received from a former organizer with the group:

I came across the original event page "The Peoples March on Washington". I saw a post looking for people to help organize, so I applied. Lawrence Nathaniel emailed me and signed me on right away. I was hired as National Community Organizer, no pay expected. I came to realize that he found almost everyone this way and mislead us by saying that he had a board, lawyers and proper permits. After only a few weeks, many red flags appeared. Several of us asked multiple times to see proof of permits, ADA accessibility, financial accountability and other logistics. He gave us a shabby email about fighting forward, basically empty words that didnt answer any of our questions. Although I found out through another team member that he has no legal aid or accountant, which solidified my worries that he may have been laundering donations. I wrote a long email to the entire team demanding answers from Lawrence. We found out there is a People Demanding Action organization, from which he probably ripped off the name. He placed an endorsement for The Womens March on the Press Release without permission as well. After sending my email, five others followed and left the team with me to create a legal, logistically sound March in the future. The original FB event page was taken down by FB and he created a new one titled, "The National People's March on Washington 2018." He hired new people immediately, one of which harassed me through my personal contact information that was given when I applied.

In a rambling 23 minute video posted on Facebook this past weekend, Nathaniel addressed his critics, making the claim he’s worked for Obama, Bernie Sanders, and Hillary Clinton. Although he’s 24 years old, he’s been homeless for 85% (or 50%, depending what part of the video you’re watching) of his life. And says he’s already put $13,000 of his own money into the People’s March. (Which has raised less than $1000 for an event that’s only 4 weeks away.)

Given his experience with people in San Diego, I doubt this is a money hustle. He borrowed money to leave town “after his uncle was shot in South Carolina,” and never repaid the lender. The few hundred dollars raised were supposedly donated to local activist organizations. There is no proof this happened. Still, we’re talking chump change here.

Nathaniel claims he’s being attacked by a few groups jealous about his intrusion into their Washington DC turf. We’re supposed to look past his platitudes and promises for the sake of bringing 45 to heel. I have no beef with any of the stated politics of the group.

It just doesn’t feel right.

So here’s what I know (h/t to Dave Troy ):

The website for People Demand Action , the organization claiming responsibility for the march, is copyrighted by the “ We Are One Foundation ,” which is nothing more than a website copyrighted by Presidential House USA , aka “The United States of America Presidential House” whose Facebook page was created in 2009 and was officially incorporated in October 2017.

These websites are all populated with clipart , and otherwise well designed. Except there’s nothing there beyond platitudes. No names, places, or things beyond this dude exist.

Specifics are of the “tba” persuasion, with the exception of announcements on the Presidential House Facebook page announcing Lawrence D. Nathaniel’s--as Founding President of the United States Presidential House--picks for his cabinet, including Secretary of Education and ‘Director of Economic Council’.

It’s difficult to tell for sure whether he’s setting up a shadow government or is simply delusional.

There are also ‘presidential’ statements in response to holidays and tragedies in the news. And an announcement for a Black Music Matters concert in Washington DC on February 17. Location, artists, etc, ‘tba.’

My fear here is a couple thousand people are RSVP’d on Facebook for an event without the needed infrastructure and support to happen. Claims are being made about security, port-a-potties, and other necessities that cost money and require humans to happen.

What happened in San Diego last spring was people who thought they were getting involved in politics ended up feeling ‘taken.’ The last thing we need is a resistance is creating any more discouraged people.

Moreover, I am concerned about Nathaniel’s representations about the Women’s March. The original date for this event was January 20, one day before Women’s March events are scheduled to take place in cities nationwide.

At one point the Women’s March was listed as an endorser for the People’s March. This claim is no longer being made. As a matter of fact, no established progressive activist organization has endorsed the People’s March.

There are ‘sympathy People’s Marches’ announced for six other cities. Only one of the links actually leads to an organization saying they plan to protest on January 27. A link claiming to be associated with a Pittsburgh event leads to a local chapter of Indivisible, which has no plans to protest on the date. The other four events are unlinked.

Here’s how I got involved.

I am an editor of the San Diego Free Press. One of my tasks involves assembling a weekly calendar of events aimed at progressive activists in our area. It is published every Friday and is regularly one of our more visited posts.

The calendar covers about ten days into the future, and runs as long as 4500 words, including contact info/links for groups sponsoring events and up to three paragraphs of details.

I’m ecumenical about what gets in. Democratic clubs, socialist organizations, Indivisible chapters, and community groups all get listed, provided I can verify the event.

Last March I started getting feedback from readers concerning an announced “Rally at the Border”. Then the event was canceled/postponed. More than 1,600 people RSVP’d.

I started digging.

...There are lessons to be learned from this experience, coming in an era where anybody with a Facebook page and some clipart can call themselves ‘The Resistance.” I am one of those who now feel fooled by the slick graphics and high sounding words connected with the We Are One foundation. While putting together the weekly progressive calendar of events, I routinely vet groups announcing rallies and demonstrations. I failed to follow up on my gut feeling that something wasn’t right here. There was little to no information about the organization sponsoring the event to be found. I googled. I searched Facebook. I asked around. But I didn’t ask the right people.

A couple of well-intentioned college students were recruited by Lawrence Deshawn Silva Nathaniel. Big promises were made. A slick website from the We Are One Foundation made it seem as though this--and promised sister events--were legit.

San Ysidro activist Olga Espinoza says she was contacted by Nathaniel on behalf of the WAO foundation after questioning a fundraising plea she saw on Facebook. She was asked for a list of grassroots organizations working in the area. Then she was blocked from any further communications. Later on, Nathaniel informed people his organization contacted both the SDPD and Border Patrol so that undocumented people during the rally could have a ‘safe space’ to protest at the rally. Activists working on immigration and border issues were aghast at the concept of cooperation with a federal agency associated with picking up people off the street. To them, it sounded like a trap.

Here’s a snip from a warning posted by activist William Johnson (emphasis mine):

[We]have been in contact with the organizer over the past week, and throughout the week we became aware of information we found to be very disturbing. The organizer, the “We Are One Foundation”, said that they talked to the Border Patrol, I.C.E., the Department of Homeland Security, and SDPD about their plans for the rally, and asked for their approval to hold it at Larsen Field. This problem is compounded by the fact that law enforcement seem to be the only organizations that the We Are One Foundation has talked to in San Diego, as many orgs and activists who have been working on Border issues for decades have publicly stated that the We Are One Foundation made no effort over the past 2 months to reach out to them or their organizations.

As is true with the People’s March, the We Are One Foundation/Nathaniel claimed to have sister events in two other cities, Laredo and Del Rio , Texas. I reached out to both groups. The folks in Laredo staged a border rally but said they’d not heard from Nathaniel in months. The Del Rio page redirected to another site no longer in existence.

David Troy has also written an article warning people about the People’s March at Medium .

He concludes:

Certainly putting pressure on this awful presidency is an important issue and it deserves to be approached in a serious and considered way by thoughtful individuals. I wish this young man all the best, but he needs to either work with experienced people or be fully transparent and organized. Let’s either end this thing, or at least turn it over to responsible and stable people — not someone who is play-acting at being “The People’s President.”

I know from my experiences trying to reach out to people via the March’s Facebook page that I’ll catch grief for voicing my concerns. To those folks who question my motives, I say: Let’s talk on January 28th.

Every significant protest I’ve attended going back to 1968 involved dozens of organizations representing different constituencies in their organizing process. The Peoples March on Washington has no coalition and no visible means of supporting a major event.

Facebook likes don’t equal a movement. Hard work does.