U.S. truckers gearing up for Convoy to D.C. 2022

Hot on the heels of the convoy of Canadian truckers, multiple efforts to stage a similar convoy in the U.S. have emerged.

Brian Brase, a truck driver from Ohio, is one of the core organizers of a group planning the Convoy to D.C. 2022.

Brase said the organizers are finalizing their plans and do not have a specific date or routes they are prepared to disclose as of publication time. However, they did put a hard deadline of March 1.

“If it doesn’t happen before then, it will happen March 1,” he told Land Line.

Brase said his group is not the only one organizing convoys. However, he said most of the groups are working together “for the most part.”

“There are multiple groups trying to make this happen, and we’re working together for the most part,” Brase said. “We encourage them all to come to the table. If ours starts first we hope they will join. If they start first we’ll jump in on theirs,” Brase said. “This is bigger than any one person, company or organization.”

Brase said the convoy is organizing to protest vaccination mandates. He stressed it is not an anti-vaccination movement but rather about “human and constitutional rights.”

“This isn’t about the trucking mandates. There’s so much more in play there. We are just truck drivers standing up for our human rights, and as Americans it’s about our constitutional rights,” he said. “It’s about a human being deciding what gets injected into them. We’re not about shaming people who aren’t vaccinated or shaming those who are. It’s about choice.”

The vaccination mandates in the private sector and at lower government levels are hindering access to healthcare, education and law enforcement – to name a few basic needs – according to Brase.

“There are good people, good teachers, good nurses, good police officers losing their jobs over these mandates,” he said.

That, Brase contends, threatens access to basic services and the quality of the lives of truckers’ families left at home while they are on the road.

Brase stresses that this is not a partisan issue and that those supporting the convoy are diverse politically, racially and by gender.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is in opposition to vaccination mandates, but rather supports personal choice on vaccination. And, while the Association supports lawful protests, it is prohibited from calling for strikes because of anti-trust laws.

He also is stressing the need for all participants to conduct themselves peacefully and lawfully.

“We’re coming together as humans,” he said. “The bottom line is that the attendees of this convoy/protest are expected to carry themselves professionally and peacefully. We’re not there to cause mayhem and trouble. This is a peaceful convoy across the nation to restore our constitutional rights.”

The Convoy to D.C. 2022 organizers are planning to start the convoy from multiple locations in California. There will be other convoys originating in Texas, Florida and Maine, to name a few. Brase said all convoys will ultimately converge in Washington, D.C.

Announcements of the convoy’s routes and dates became problematic on Feb. 1 when Facebook removed the group’s page from the service. According to a statement issued to “Fox and Friends” by Facebook, the group had violated multiple community standards related to QAnon. Brase patently denies those violations but concedes Facebook’s rights to remove groups and individuals from its service.

“You can’t want freedom from mandates and then stand against Facebook for removing stuff when that’s well within their rights,” he said. “But we will keep getting the word out.”

Brase suggested those interested should continue to monitor Facebook, Twitter and Telegram for updates. LL