Dr. Sharpie uses her time machine to show Possum another historical protest….
Full script below.
Castor: Mm, wasn’t Sharpie going to show you some more protests on her time machine?
Possum: Yeah, protesting is complicated, and I wanted to learn more.
Castor: Just watch out for the rubber bands on her time machine.
Possum: Sharpie, you were going to show me another protest on your time machine.
Sharpie: Yes, we’re going back to April 19, 1775, in the town of Lexington, Massachusetts.
Possum: I know, those guys with the funny hats, they’re Minutemen.
Sharpie: Actually, they’re militia men.
Possum: You mean like those crazy militia guys who killed someone in the Capitol on January 6?
Sharpie: Nothing like them. The Lexington militia, and other units like them, were formed by elected governments, and eventually became the U.S. National Guard.
Possum: So what were the Lexington militia guys doing on April 19, 1775?
Sharpie: Waiting for the troops of King George. Paul Revere brought news that the troops were marching to the town of Concord to destroy supplies. So the Lexington militia men decided to meet the troops on the town green.
Possum: There are a lot more of the King’s troops than there are militia men.
Sharpie: The militia saw that too, so they decided to walk away peacefully.
Possum: Most of the militia men are white, but some are African Americans.
Sharpie: Slavery was legal in England then. Many African Americans felt protesting against the King might lead to freedom for blacks.
Possum: Hey, the King’s troops are shooting at the Lexington guys!
Sharpie: There were other times when the King’s troops shot at the colonists. Crispus Attucks, of African and Native ancestry, was the first one they killed, in 1770.
Possum: Sharpie, it looks like one of those guys might be dying!
Sharpie: April 19 turned out to be more than a protest. It turned out to be the beginning of a long war.
Possum: You mean a protest can turn into an actual war?
Sharpie: The colonists started protesting in 1760. They elected people to town and provincial government to represent them. But the King overruled their democracy, and sent in troops.
Possum: So that’s why we don’t like it when one man tries to have too much power.
Sharpie: The war that started on April 19, 1775, lasted for 8 long years.
Castor: So, what did you learn?
Possum: People wore funny hats in 1775.
Castor: No, I mean about protests.
Possum [sighs]: I learned that I need to learn more than I thought I needed to learn.
Castor: Yeah, happens to me all the time.
Possum: So Sharpie’s going to show me another protest next week.