Just Got Back from DC - Democratic Underground

Autonomy

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Sat Sep-24-05 09:13 PM
Original message

Just Got Back from DC

Edited on Sat Sep-24-05 09:33 PM by Autonomy

What struck me the most was how many families with children were in the gathering at the Ellipse and in the march down Pennsylvania Avenue. Young moms and dads pushing strollers with their toddlers, all wearing "Impeach Bush Now" tee-shirts, marched next to three generations, parents, grandparents and teenaged children. It was definitely an inter-generational event. There were multitudes of high school and college students proudly defying the stereotypes of apathetic youth. Infirmed octogenarians in wheelchairs rolled along the route, shouting out anti-Bush slogans in loud voices. This was no college-aged group of radicals. They were working people, home owners, church groups, and retirees.

The speeches before the march were, for the most part, inspiring, and occasionally tear-jerking. Cindy Sheehan, George Galloway, Jesse Jackson, and about 20 other people spoke to the crowd just as it was gathering on the ellipse. That part went on too long, and everyone started to get itchy to get marching. Just then it started to rain. Not a cold rain, but a quick, refreshing drizzle, which started and ended perhaps more promptly than some of the enthusiastic speakers.

Lots of the usual groups were there in force as well. Hippies, punks, and anarchists by the microbus-load. Code Pink were dazzling. As soon as they came into sight, everyone turned and gawked, every camera focused on them. They were eye-capturing in their pink clothes, hot pink wigs, and glitter makeup. They were extremely well-rehearsed, with several dozen similarly clad women singing parodies of well-known songs with the lyrics changed to fit the theme.

People from all over the country came to represent. I was wearing my Berkeley sweat shirt, which attracted a variety of Californians, including some from San Francisco, Santa Cruz, Marin County, Sacramento. There were buses from Iowa that made the 17-hour drive straight through, only to hop right back on the buses after the march for another 17-hour trip back home. I talked with people from Illinois who drove to pick up some folks in Connecticut and bring them down. There was a group of ladies dressed like cowgirl-rockettes who I think were from Texas. They also entertained us with songs.

At one point, just in front of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, a string of women, holding hands, snaked through the crowd going against traffic. Suddenly I noticed a blond woman in the middle, wearing a hat, with a bright smile on her face. "Cindy!", I yelled, barely being able to contain myself. She turned toward me and said, "Hi!", as if she knew me. Yes, I was star struck for a moment by the sight of Cindy Sheehan only five feet from me.

The reports I've seen so far on the number of protesters are, as we all expected, grossly underreported. For what it's worth, my on-the-spot estimation was that there had to be at least 500,000 people there. Take it for what it's worth. But certainly, definitely, there were far more than 100,000.

Oh yeah, there were about 50 freepers making frantic arm motions along one of the blocks on the route, but I couldn't hear a word out of their frothing mouths.

edit: typo