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I arrived at the Democratic HQ in Cambridge, promptly at 11. There were already 25 people there, holding signs out front. I introduced myself to a few folks, grabbed a sign and went out front with the rest to hold our signs in the light rain. More and more folks showed up, and I would say that by 11:30 there were 50 people on the sidewalk supporting Kerry.
The HQ is on the main drag of Cambridge, and there was plenty of traffic. The reaction from the cars was mixed, but I would say we got a thumbs up 3 to 1. That was very heartening. It is real easy to feel alone out here, and to see so many of us there, and more support from the cars on the street let me know that I am not the only person who wants this country to CHANGE.
Shortly after 11:30, we decided to walk to the park where the Bush rally was being held. As we got closer, there were cops blocking off the side streets. We passed one or two of these posts before we were stopped and told we needed to go the the (and I quote) "public viewing area". We were diverted DOWN AN ALLEY and then one street over, into a residential area where there was no traffic. We then walked several more blocks to the "public viewing area"
The "public viewing area" was the parking lot of a grocery store several blocks away from the park where the Bush rally was being held.
There was no one there and nothing to view. You could not see the rally from this "public viewing area". We were somewhere between 1/4 to 1/2 mile away from the park. It only took a couple of minutes for the group consensus to become "this is pretty lame".
We decided to see how close we could get to the park. We started walking towards the park and were turned away at the first checkpoint. I could here * speaking from where we were. The decision then was to walk back to the HQ. Luckily, the cops allowed us to stay on the main street and did not make us go out of our way to get back.
As we walked closer there were small groups of people standing on the sidewalks, a few with signs supporting Bush. There were a few comments made, nothing TOO nasty though. When we were almost back to the main drag through town where it looked like we would be diverting off the motorcade route, we just stopped. We got to stand there with our signs for about two minutes before the cops told us to move along or be arrested.
Me, being an opinionated asshole asked the cop "but there are people all up and down this street. Are they going to be cited? What are you going to cite us with anyway". We were to be cited with "unlawful assembly" because we did not have a permit. His explanation was that this was like a "private party" and we could not be here with these signs. I reminded him that this was in fact a public street, and asked him how many people does it take for it to be "unlawful assembly" He said a group of three or more. I then shouted to the group that if we break into groups of three or less, we could stay. The cop did not like that at all. He told us it was our last chance to move along. Some of the other people were trying to get the group moving at that point, and since I really wanted to see Kerry tonight, and the fact that I could sit in Jail until Monday if they wanted me to, I decided it would be best to take the cops advice.
We got back to the HQ and stood on the street with our signs, and I then left because I had left my wife alone to man our store.
I guess John Edwards is right. There are two Americas. One for republicans, and one for Democrats where you can't even stand on a public street with a sign.
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