“President Abraham Lincoln created the Emancipation Proclamation for the purpose to change the federal legal status of more than 3 million enslaved people. The irony is that there are 3.5 million truck drivers that the U.S. relies on to keep our country prosperous. Nearly half of them are living out of their trucks for the majority of their career. Today we are fighting to keep federal regulations from treating us as if we are owned like slaves. Not just for truck drivers but for the rights of all Americans.” These are the words of Operation Black and Blue, a trucking advocacy group against government overreach.
The group held a protest in Washington D.C. this week, wrapping up today. The protest rally was held at the Ellipse, just a few blocks from the White House. The group hasn’t released information regarding the number of protesters in attendance, but pictures on their Facebook page show a light turnout.
However, Facebook comments from fellow truckers do show strong support for their mission. Truckers who couldn’t attend in person were asked to shut down their rig and not drive this week, and some claim to have done so.
Here are some of the supportive comments from their Facebook page:
“I say we keep going until the whole country feels it. Most people have no idea how important we are to all of their necessities.”
“Thank you to all , men and women standing tall for all of us that can’t be there, I Stand with you all Proudly !!”
“I shut down from today till 8th Oct. Hope for good”
There were far fewer negative comments written, and most of those were related to the lack of news coverage and number of protesters.
Operation Black and Blue says they aren’t against any regulations that they deem reasonable and hold merit, such as Haz-Mat regulations or load securement regulations. However, they say they are arguing against the forced use of ELD’s and forced Hours of Service regulations. The group is also against speed limiters. “Why? Because these issues are ineffectual for the purpose of creating safer travel conditions on America’s roads and they violate our rights as American citizens,” the group states.
