Hundreds of protesters push past barricades-MLK tomb to protest Bush visit

[BackDoorMan]

Hundreds of people pushed past Secret Service barricades Thursday to protest President Bush's visit to the tomb of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on what would have been the civil rights leader's 75th birthday.

Bush placed a wreath on King's grave before heading to a $2,000-a-plate fund-raiser in Atlanta.

Two people were arrested as the protesters pushed toward the street in front of King's tomb, abandoning a designated area several hundred yards away.

Authorities responded by parking three city buses on the street to block the protesters from the president's motorcade.

As Bush arrived, the crowd of about 500 people booed and chanted "Bush go home!"

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/a/2004/01/15/national1544EST0672.DTL


Is this just more of Bush/Rove's never ending bullshit or what, to use the media exposure, as if Bush cares for anything except the filthy rich...and to distort the fact, Rove timed it to collect a few million bucks to steal the upcoming election, so the Bush fascist can oppress the poor and black people even more in the coming years. Completely shameless, hypocritical, disgusting slimy swine, Bush/Rove/Cheney & Company are!!!

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

1. if MLK were alive today

he would be just as demonized by wingnuts as Jesse Jackson is. Despite the attempts by the right to soften him up, King was hardcore leftist and would oppose Bush and everything he supposedly stands for

[Cannikin]

3. I love that they broke Bush's isolation zone...

And actually had common people get close to him.

[DemBones DemBones]

25. King was demonized when he was alive, too, but you're right that

it would be worse today. The day after MLK was killed, I was shocked at how many of my co-workers said things like "Good riddance to the communist!"

I wasn't shy about telling them they were wrong, though, and they all backed down. I was a feisty little 20 year-old. The first to say something was a man my father's age, someone I'd always thought was pretty decent, who greeted me with "Well, they got Martin Luther Coon last night." I'm sure steam was coming out of my ears as I spoke to him. He slunk off in embarrassment a few minutes later.

Today, the old-time racists are dead but the right wing is more organized, more vicious, and more insidious.

[Disandra]

2. Local news media...

..is really covering this. They are not showing the CNN "a few people" protesting, but have wide shots of all the wonderful people who have showed up.

Atlanta, I think we did MLK proud today!

[Cannikin]

6. WONDERFUL!

[Skidmore]

7. Can you capture a shot and post it somewhere? nt

[Disandra]

12. No, I can't. But here is a link....

Channel 2-http://www.wsbtv.com/index.html

This one has a video link to the protests.

Also a news article on AJC:

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/0104/15kingvisit.html

About 1,000 protesters greeted President Bush in Atlanta shortly before 4 p.m. as he placed a wreath on the grave of Martin Luther King Jr. on what would have been the slain civil rights leader's 75th birthday.

...

Just before Bush's appearance, Buddhists chanting, students beating African drums and others shouting "Bush go home" burst past barriers but were driven back by police who, in an attempt to corral the protesters, parked four MARTA buses between the protesters and the grave site.

One protester held a sign that read "Bush - Zionist, puppet and liar."

Police had said they planned to keep the protestors 500 feet away from Kings crypt but the protesters, teeming just across Auburn Avenue, were much closer and could see the president as he placed the wreath.

[Cooley Hurd]

17. Awesome, Disandra!

Sorry for the small pics...

[Disandra]

18. Thanks for doing that!

I'm slowly making my way to the 21st century...and have only HTML skills, so thanks a bunch for doing that. :-)

Today, I am proudly yelling for the world to hear that I am from Atlanta!!!!!

[leftchick]

34. It was a multi-culteral affair, was it not?

CNN spouted it as being a "black peoples protest", Yet I saw on the 5:00 hour video at least as many white folks as black there not to mention the other ethnicities........ CNN Sucks!
:puke:

[Disandra]

42. Yes it was.

Black, Latino, Asian, White and every other color came out, in the true spirit of MLK's words. :-)

[Mari333]

4. IMHO shame on Coretta Scott King for allowing him there

she should have turned her back on him and told him to go home and not violate the sanctity of the ceremony.
Period.

[Disandra]

8. She didn't have much of a choice.

Bush is going to do what Bush is going to do. She smiled at the protesters there, and refused to not support them. IMO, she was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

She (along with the other committee members in charge of the event) refused to change their schedules to accommodate Bush.

[Laughing Mirror]

31. NO. Let him come. Let him face the people.

She knows what she was doing. This wonderful even would never have happened had she told him not to come.

[Disandra]

33. And even if she had told him not to come, he would have anyway.

Maybe today will be the day when Dubya realizes that he is accountable to the American people. I'm sure the protesters shocked his wittle-bitty mind when they told him exactly what they thought of him.

;-)

[Sugarbleus]

5. WTG Atlanta protestors!!

We need to stage stronger protests in coming days. Way to go Atlanta

[underseasurveyor]

9. I say BravO to the protesters.

We gotta start pushing back.....

My enormous Thanks to them all :-)

[Ready4Change]

10. One result of this protest

Poor coverage of Bush's visit to Kings grave.

I've been watching the news trying to catch a glimpse of what's going on down there, and for over an hour I've only heard reporters talking of Bush's visit. I've not seen one video shot of what sounds like a tense situation. I've also heard the reported number of protesters climbing, from 2-300 at first to, now, about 500.

So, while the protest isn't being broadcast, at least Bush isn't getting any milage from the visit, nor detracting any attention from coverage of the Iowa Caususes.

[Ready4Change]

13. Update, coverage on Fox

Low angle shots of protesters and signs, hard to get a visual estimate of numbers. Reporter said 400. One interesting sign read "Uproot Bush."

No shots of Bush, or Bush supporters, at all.

[BrotherBuzz]

27. The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised (1974)
By Gil Scott-Heron

You will not be able to stay home, brother.
You will not be able to plug in, turn on and cop out.
You will not be able to lose yourself on skag and skip,
Skip out for beer during comme rcials,
Because the revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be televised.
The revolution will not be brought to you by Xerox
In 4 parts without commercial interruptions.
The revolution will not show you pictures of Nixon
blowing a bugle and leading a charge by John
Mitchell, General Abrams and Spiro Agnew to eat
hog maws confiscated from a Harlem sanctuary.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be brought to you by the
Schaefer Award Theatre and will not star N atalie
Woods and Steve McQueen or Bullwinkle and Julia.
The revolution will not give your mouth sex appeal.
The revolution will not get rid of the nubs.
The revolution will not make you look five pounds
thinner, because the revolution will not be televise d, Brother.

There will be no pictures of you and Willie May
pushing that shopping cart down the block on the dead run,
or trying to slide that color television into a stolen ambulance.
NBC will not be able predict the winner at 8:32
or report from 29 dis tricts.
The revolution will not be televised.

There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of pigs shooting down
brothers in the instant replay.
There will be no pictures of Whitney Young being
run out of Harlem on a rail with a brand new process.
There will be no slow motion or still life of Roy
Wilkens strolling through Watts in a Red, Black and
Green liberation jumpsuit that he had been saving
For just the proper occasion.

Green Acres, The Beverly Hillbillies, and Hooterville
Junction will no longer be so damned relevant, and
women will not care if Dick finally gets down with
Jane on Search for Tomorrow because Black people
will be in the street looking for a brighter day.
The revolution wi ll not be televised.

There will be no highlights on the eleven o'clock
news and no pictures of hairy armed women
liberationists and Jackie Onassis blowing her nose.
The theme song will not be written by Jim Webb,
Francis Scott Key, nor sung by Glen Campbell, Tom
Jones, Johnny Cash, Englebert Humperdink, or the Rare Earth.
The revolution will not be televised.

The revolution will not be right back after a message
bbout a white tornado, white lightning, or white people.
You will not have to worry about a dove in your
bedroom, a tiger in your tank, or the giant in your toilet bowl.
The revolution will not go better with Coke.
The revolution will not fight the germs that may cause bad breath.
The revolution will put you in the driver's seat.

The revolution will not be televised, will not be televised,
will not be televised, will not be televised.
The revolution will be no re-run brothers;
The revolution will be live.i

[Timefortruth]

11. Maybe all the protesters will begin to demand real free speech zones.

Isn't the essence of free speech being heard?

If I'm only allowed to speak my mind in a locked closet, what is the point of speaking.

Free Speech Zone is just more Orwellian propaganda which means exactly the opposite of what it says.

[Faygo Kid]

14. I totally agree - "free speech zones" are an abomination

There was a time in this country, pre-GWB, when the role of the police (as defined by a different Supreme Court) was to protect the protesters' right to be heard, not the tender sensitivities of right-wing millionaire candidates. Bush needs to know the protesters are there. If he doesn't like it, fine - go back to Texas, partner with brother Neil and make a gazillion dollars. What kind of president is this? Also, what kind of Supreme Court will we have if Bush gets four more years? I think we know. Good post; good point.

[Timefortruth]

16. Where is the ACLU on this, had it been challenged anywhere?

I admire them for taking controversial defendants like Rush, but this is way more important.

[Disandra]

24. They are there...

And have been protesting this for some time. Some links:

http://www.inform.umd.edu/News/Diamondback/archives/2003/03/07/news1.html

http://www.labournet.net/docks2/0003/wto45.htm

http://www.freedomforum.org/templates/document.asp?documentID=13065

http://archive.aclu.org/features/f072100a.html

These suits just take time. :-)

[Malva Zebrina]

35. and take the frump with you

let the both of them along with their two,overly protected, lacking in intelligence, bratty progeny, live in Crawford, Texas--forever!!! They deserve it. They are a dried out as all the pictures I have seen of that godforsaken, parched, impotent piece of 1600 acres. There is nothing lush about the Prarie Chapel--let them all go there and pray that their lives may be productive in some other way than their own selfish interests.

May they retire and enjoy their retirement in Crawford, and may their most looked forward social event for the rest of their miserable lives be a visit to that Main street, pathetic, diner to get hamburgers as their "dinner" on a Sunday night where they can discuss the current events and the local prejudices against whoever it is they will hate for that week.

[ngGale]

15. Wow! I'm impressed..

Wow! I'm impressed too with the lack of concern for the "Free Speech Zone." To my knowledge this is the first time the zone has been broken. And Coretta Scott King is a real 'Lady' for handling said event. Go Atlanta...

[Bolo Boffin]

19. Huzzah!

If alive today, MLK would have been confined to the "free speech" zone with all the other Bush protestors. Take back the monument, then take back the country.

[Kazak]

21. Free Speech Zone =

America

[Cleita]

20. Hmm, if most of the National Guard are in Iraq and Afghanistan

maybe we should start ratcheting up civil disobedience a notch by refusing to be herded into free speech zones as a violation of our constitutional right to assemble and protest. At least that is what our free speech right is supposed to be, isn't it?

[DemBones DemBones]

30. They claim it's for his "security" but if they can

search the Bush supporters and let them near to him, they can search the protesters and let them near, too.

[lovedems]

22. This is so great! Atlanta, the democrats across the country are proud

of you today! This is the kind of stuff that gets the * nervous.

[lurk_no_more]

23. The man is such a slug

A photo opt and a fundraiser, how trivial can you get? Congrats to the protesters, no one deserves ridicule more.


And then there were none!
” JAFO”

[AP]

26. Bush was trying to provoke them. He wants racial division and protests.

[spindoctor]

28. A big hand for Atlanta

Through the barricades!!

That's what you do with "designated protest zones".

You guys rock!

[Malva Zebrina]

39. I agree!!! Bravo for these protestors

I more or less crossed off Georgia as a place I wanted to visit, but this tells me a lot about the underground of Georgia. Bravo to these protestors. They are far more brave than many of our "respected" respresentatives and this is where the movement must start.

Thank you all you protestors in Georgia. Thank you

[blondeatlast]

29. Up-to-date INDEPENDENT reports of the protest can be found here:

http://atlanta.indymedia.org/mod/search/dosearch/index.php?dosearch=1&searchtext=concerned+black+clergy

I'm still trying to locate a place we can send our support to.

[Disandra]

32. More coverage....

From: http://daily.misleader.org/ctt.asp?u=1175719&l=14725

BUSH EXPLOITS MLK'S GRAVE FOR POLITICAL FUNDRAISER

On last year's Martin Luther King Day, President Bush eloquently honored the
memory of Dr. King, saying "I believe power of his words, the
clarity of his vision and the courage of his leadership." This year,
however, instead of honoring the legacy of Dr. King, President Bush has
decided to use Martin Luther King Day as tool to force the federal
government to subsidize a fundraising trip for his re-election campaign.

The New York Times reports that the President "hastily planned" a visit to
Dr. King's grave, and then will immediately go to "a $2,000-a-person
fundraiser in Atlanta." Even though Bush may spend the majority of his time
hobnobbing with donors at the fundraiser, because he will briefly visit Dr.
King's grave, he is allowed to deem the entire trip "official" and then bill
taxpayers for portions of the huge cost of hotel rooms, rental cars,
security, and travel. And those are no small costs - the Washington Post
notes that Air Force One alone costs $57,000 an hour to operate.

Civil rights leaders are outraged at the blatant exploitation of Dr. King's
birthday as a tool to force taxpayers to bankroll a political fundraiser.
Rev. Timothy McDonald, an organizer of Atlanta's Martin Luther King Day
celebrations said, "It's the epitome of insult. He's really coming here for
the fundraiser. The King wreath was an afterthought." Despite Bush's
platitudes about Dr. King's legacy, he is so focused on his fundraiser - and
so neglectful of the Martin Luther King Day celebrations - that he has done
little to prevent his visit's security detail from limiting access to a
historic black church where a civil rights symposium will be taking place.

[grasswire]

36. Zappa

"The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre."

[blondeatlast]

37. Atlantans: Please send contact info so that we may send our support--

I've been searching for some time and can find no "official" site for the protest or affiliated organizations.

Don't post here; PM me and I will get the word out.

Go Atlanta!

[YNGW]

38. Atlanta

>As Bush arrived, the crowd of about 500 people booed and chanted "Bush go home!"


Only 500 people out of a city and surrounding area of 5 million.

Ouch!

[kentuck]

40. When did you hear he was going to be in Atlanta?

Not bad for short notice. Most of the time, the Bush crowd only lets their supporters know what is going on and everyone else is kept in the dark. Secretive MF'ers!

[Kathy in Cambridge]

41. Middle of a work day and not announced until last night

500 folks sure as hell beats the four Freepers I saw protesting Bill Clinton's speech during the height of the Monica scandal!

But I'm sure you'll claim a paltry showing of 500 anti-war protestors as a victory for your ideological cohorts.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

43. If Atlanta was anything...

like the Bush event I went to in Milbrae, CA, there were probably MANY more people who wanted to get there but couldn't.

If you didn't get there VERY early you were pretty much SOOL. They shut down the freeways and streets surrounding the hotel before he arrived, leaving literally hundreds of folks trying to get to the site but unable to get past the barriers. I only got there because I knew a back way that most wouldn't have known about.

That's another way they make sure the protestors don't get near Bush.

[young_at_heart]

44. It IS shameless!

What a major slap in the face........you have to wonder at the arrogance!