I'm The Guy In The Maroon Shirt, Can You Spot Me (May 1 Protest) ???

WillyT

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Tue May-02-06 04:14 PM
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I'm The Guy In The Maroon Shirt, Can You Spot Me (May 1 Protest) ???

Edited on Tue May-02-06 04:28 PM by WillyT

LOL!!! Actually... I'm standin behind the guy taking this picture, but more on that later.

Yesterday's march in Sacramento was fantastic! Bought a bus pass (I know, I couldn't go totally boycottish) and rode in to the center of downtown. Almost all busses had to be detoured, and light-rail was definitely disrupted for most of the day. I was dropped off at one of the detour stops, which happened to be right across the street from Cesar Chavez Park. A couple of very elderly couples, one Mexican and one Philippino, got off the bus and headed for Chavez Park, where it looked like people were gathering for the march. I found this odd, because the little flyer I got at Mike Malloy's Forum on Impeachment the Saturday night before, said we were meeting at Southside Park, a good 12 or 15 blocks away. I watched the older couples toddle off toward their destination, and I went hunting for my next bus detour transfer point. As I was walking toward Southside Park I noticed thousands of people already gathered at the state capitol. They were waving American flags and listening to speeches. I thought that maybe I got a bum flyer. Some guy's joke, or an attempt to disrupt the day. Was I wrong.

I decided to skip my original destination, and join the marchers at the capitol. As soon as I got there they were lining up on the street parallel to Capitol Park, and chanting, "Si Se Pueda!!!" This was the first time in my life that I was completely embarrassed that I don't know any Spanish at all, except for maybe "Cervesa". I spotted a sign that said, "Si Se Pueda" one one side and "Yes We Can" on the other, and put two and two together and started chanting along with everybody else. Not too loud, cause I still wasn't sure of what the hell I was saying, or if my pronunciation was all that good. As I looked around I noticed that most of the folks at this rally were middle to upper-lower class Latinos. Most of them American Citizens. There were many migrant workers; leathery skin from years working in the Central Valley sun and heat, gnarled hands, and stooped backs. But most of the rest seemed regular everyday working folk; nice khaki shorts, expensive leather sandals or tennis shoes, hip sunglasses. I know I must be coming off as stereotyping or something, but what I'm trying to convey here, is that we make A HUGE MISTAKE as Democrats, if we don't understand what is going on here. These people are proud Latino Americans that are standing up for themselves and the people who came before them. Maybe it was their Grandpa or Grandma who struggled mightily so that they are now standing here as full American Citizens. And maybe their family has always been here. Before this part of the globe 'became' a part of America. And just maybe they resent the fact the the Ugly American sees them as servants, if not servile, just because they are Latino. They are quite well aware of how they are viewed by the unenlightened, and no amount of, "We're just talking about the ILLEGAL ONES!" is gonna change that.

Anywho, we stared marching around the capitol building and park. As we walked, there were smiles and laughter, and the amount of kids was astounding. From toddlers on their parents shoulders, to even smaller ones in strollers, to Jr. High and High School students. And let me mention the flag. These guys and gals, the organizers, are pretty sharp, for many reasons. One, is that they took the criticism people had of the Mexican flag being so prominent at the last protest, and they changed that. I may have counted 5 or 6 small Mexican flags yesterday, but 99.9 percent were large to medium sized American flags. American flag wrist bans, American flagged backpacks, etc... Good move.

As we marched, people were coming out of their offices, or looking out their windows, and there were two reactions to the size and loudness of the protest. Most were waving and joining in with the chanting, and others looked scared shitless. They had no idea what to make of this thing. And what I didn't realize (going back to my original destination flyer, and pay attention here protest organizers) was that they had been organizing three marches to the capitol all along. As the march I was in (about 20,000 strong) went around the capitol and down L Street, it then turned left on 6th Street and was met by the march I was supposed have started with from Southside Park (another 10 or 15 thousand) and the two marches became one huge march going down Capitol Mall back toward the Capitol Building. It was massively impressive to watch a protest march virtually double in size this way. It's a technique called "Convergence", and maybe it's been around a while, but this is the first time I'd ever heard of it, or seen it in action, and it was absolutely hair-raisingly effective!!! As we doubled in size and started back to the steps of the Capitol, there was a group in the middle of the mall, the grassy area that separates the two boulevards that make up the mall, performing Native American Dance. They had hugely feathered costumes, with rattles on their wrists and ankles, and metallic colored clothing. And as they danced with drums beating, the movement of those feathers as they spun and bowed and twirled, was totally mesmerizing the crowd as it passed them. It was at that point were I felt myself wondering just who the "guests" are in this part of the world. More shivers up the spine.

When we got back to the capitol, I had to pee. Sure you say, but you didn't need to know that right, LOL!!! Hang with me here. The Pot-O-Lets had HUGE lines in front of them, and with a couple of CHP choppers over-head, dozens of police on horseback, motorcycles, bicycles, and on foot, plus what I estimated to be around 40, 000 witnesses, just finding a bush for a few private moments of relief was gonna be impossible. So, having been born and raised in this town, and whose father used to work in the capitol, I knew how to find an alternative outhouse facility. Why not pee in the capitol? So, after going through metal detection protocol, I found a nice well kept pisser and did my business. Now what happened next is just pure dumb luck. I walked past the Guv's office, over to the rotunda, and toward the front doors of the capitol to see if I could get a guage on how big this crowd really was. But... one of those huge pesky American flags was blocking my view! So I went up the grand staircase to see what I could see through the windows that look out over the balcony. Now ya have to realize, that the giant 20 foot tall Oak doors to the balcony are usually kept locked. And they were when I got there. But... there was this photog dude from the LA Times, and a couple of his photojournalism buds, and I was like standing right next to them as I was thinking to myself, "You idiot! Why didn't you bring your camera!" And ya know, the press guy from the capitol showed up with a key to the GIANT DOORS, and he opened them, and looking as official as I could, even though I had no camera in my possession, I walked right on out on the balcony of the Capitol with my new friends from the LA Times, S.F. Chronicle, and Sacramento Bee. LOL!!!

It wasn't just the view from this perch that was impressive, as soon as the doors opened and we walked out, the crown responded to something one of the speakers was saying, and the noise was most deafening. More hair-tingling, spine-chilling, bone-raising stuff! :silly: I spent the better part of an hour out there just taking it all in, and in that time... Remember the two elderly couples at the start of this story? Well, as I'm trippin on the fact that a huge protest like this is a kind of massive organism when viewed from above, a truck with a big SEIU sign on it comes down 10th Street with another 5,000 or more protesters from Cesar Chavez Park, and the organism swallowed them whole and increased in size and volume, AGAIN. Whoever had this convergence thingy in mind... BRAVO!!!

Think about it. At most of the anti-war protests I've attended, there's been a sound stage at both the embarkation point, and the destination point. Elaborate schedules, various speakers with many agendas, total logistical nightmares for the organizers I'm sure. But here, it was almost literally a soapbox. They did have a speaker systems, but all the controls were hidden behind that pesky giant American flag. So you'd have a speaker come out to a little stand-up podium, with the crowd just a couple of feet away. Everything was designed to focus on the crowd, and it worked brilliantly!

Anyway, after a couple of hours I headed for home after attending one of the most satisfying marches in my life. Oh... on counter-protesters. Didn't see a one during the entire march. But... there was some guy chewin on the ear of one of the officers guarding the door to Guvnor Ahnold's office. He was saying that he hoped he'd get the same consideration, and use of the taxpayer's facilities when he gets his counter-protest to today's events in full swing. So if you happen upon, or see a picture of, a group of frustrated, bitter, folks whose fervent passion and numbers are only out-massed by the amount of Port-O-Pottys they think they need to rent, you'll know that this guy got his wish.

Ciao...

:hi::evilgrin::hi: