On Monday, Donald Trump announced that he’d be coming to Pittsburgh. Today, Donald Trump will be in Pittsburgh. He will be holding a town hall meeting at the Soldiers and Sailors Museum in Oakland at 5:30 p.m. with Sean Hannity of Fox News and a rally at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center at 7 p.m.

And there will be probably hundreds of people at each event, protesting his presence in our city, and I will be one of them.

It’s an interesting choice for Hannity and Trump to come to Oakland, land of college students who are overwhelmingly liberal and who have the liberty of skipping classes.

It feels like an invitation to protesters, one I’m sure many people will accept.

On March 11 in Chicago, protesters managed to create such a hostile environment for Trump that he canceled his rally.

Protesters have drawn criticisms from Trump supporters, who often use arguments that basically boil down to the phrase “freedom of speech” shouted ad nauseum into the gaping maw of the Internet.

But interestingly, also protected in the First Amendment is freedom of assembly, which essentially gives citizens the right to protest. Protest, the act of disruption, is an essential part of a democratic process.

Free speech doesn’t mean you are immune to criticism, nor has it ever meant that. Free speech means that the government cannot throw you in jail for your speech. Free speech means that people can peacefully disrupt your speech.

Standing up and saying that you do not accept rhetoric that is inciting violence and actively hurting people is a vital act.

But even some anti-Trump people in the media believe that protesting Trump only feeds the fire of his supporters and their (often bigoted, rarely if ever based in actual policy) views.

Jonathan Chait, a writer for New York Magazine, believes that protests and the attempt to prevent Trump from speaking is another example of political correctness gone too far, even as he believes that a Trump presidency would be disastrous for America, according to a March 13 article he wrote. He even went so far as to say the protests are interfering with democracy.

I think that idea is ridiculous. I think American people stepping up to express that they think fascist and violent discourse is unacceptable in America is a moral responsibility in a time when politicians are seriously considering deportations and barring Muslims from entering the country. That’s not “political correctness,” that’s exercising your right to protest speech that’s unethical and letting people know that their views will not become poisonous policy without a fight.

It’s a way of planting yourself on the right side of history.

When Trump arrives in Pittsburgh today, people will undoubtedly protest. And there will most likely be some backlash to their protests, people telling them they are suppressing speech or stoking a fire or even that they’re being rude.

But in the face of a political figure who is historically hateful and who has developed a fervent following, protest is a vital act. Good luck to everyone planning on protesting today. And I’ll see you there.