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We made the news today, oh, boy

Oct 22, 2006
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[Still demonstrating after all these years. That's me in the spotlight, on the right in both pictures. The woman in the bottom photo was active in street theater against the war in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1969. She looks a lot better than I do. Insert George Orwell quote about having the face you deserve after 50 here.

Some people felt that profanity undercut the message - people behaving with the decorum of caca-throwing monkeys. Mark Holmberg had a good column in The Richmond Times-Dispatch making the same point at the rally against the marriage amendment. Maybe I should have used a more tasteful sign (no pun intended), but I was in a hurry and I grabbed a poster I had already made and used at Larry Syverson's vigil in front of the federal courthouse. Of course, the real obscenity is the body count in Iraq. As Lenny Bruce observed, you can show someone getting their head blown off in the movies, but you can't show a blowjob. AP Photos]

Richmond demonstration against Bush

Dear Colleagues,

I want to thank all of you who came out this past Thursday to the Science Museum to express your dissatisfaction with Bush, his administration and those that support him. There was incredible energy that day and we definitely had an impact, if not directly on Bush, through the many media outlets that have picked up on our event.

We were assured during earlier conversations with Richmond City Police that we would have a strong visual connection with the Science Museum that day, in spite of having to stage our protest on the south side of Broad Street. Imagine our surprise when we arrived to a line of (vacant) James River Bus Line motor coaches positioned bumper to bumper along the entire block to physically and visually separate our street-side protest from the Science Museum. The new company slogan painted on the buses ("Not Just a Bus Company Anymore") had extra meaning that day. But, in spite of the attempted separation, there could be no squelching of the large and highly energized crowd that had gathered to protest the President's visit.

Numerous groups were represented, including The Virginia Antiwar Network, Hampton Roads Peace & Justice Coalition, Food Not Bombs, the Campus Antiwar Network, Richmond Defenders, Moth Squad, Richmond Greens, Code Pink, Veterans for Peace, Military Families Speak Out and others. Code Pink arranged a display of hundreds of shoes symbolizing the many innocent Iraqi deaths as a consequence of the war. Each pair of shoes received a tag with the name and age of an Iraqi woman or child who has died since this Administration's initiation of its "preemptive" military campaign to bring about "Iraqi Enduring Freedom" to that country.

As is usually the case, there are wide ranging estimates in the media regarding the numbers of protesters that were in attendance. At around 4PM we were just under 400 strong (actual count). But this was just a snapshot in time. As many of you know, supporters came and went during the three and half hours in which we conducted our event along the southern line of Broad Street. It would be safe to say that well over 500 people ultimately came out to protest Bush's visit to Richmond that day. And, as is usually the case in downtown Richmond, there was a considerable show of support from cars traveling down West Broad Street.

To our surprise, Bush made his debut through the front door of the Science Museum, his motorcade passing within 100 feet of assembled protesters at 5:02PM. The ensuing roar from the crowd was unmistakable in its depth of feeling and emotion as people vented their frustration, anger and sorrow at what this man and his followers have done to damage the very soul of this Nation and our relationship with the rest of the World. The same emotion was replayed at around 6:15PM when he and his motorcade departed the Science Museum in the direction from which they had come.

We received considerable attention from the media in connection with our event. Press and film crews on the south side of Broad Street included the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Associated Press, National Public Radio, WRIR, TV Stations WTVR (Channel 6) and WRIC (Channel 8), Southern ((i)), Richmond Indymedia, the Richmond Defender, Commonwealth Times (VCU) and, likely, numerous others. News of the event has subsequently been picked up and broadcast on numerous blogs/discussions lists. I have include just a couple of links to news stories below. I would like to point you to the Democratic Underground thread, however, where follow-up comments from people both within and outside of our region express surprise as well as overwhelming support and thanks for those that came out and took a stand in Richmond that day.

Richmond Times-Dispatch - http://tinyurl.com/tx99h

Daily Press (Associated Press article #1) - http://tinyurl.com/yefcd9

WTKR (Associated Press article #2) - http://tinyurl.com/y36g5y

New York Times (single line at the end) - http://tinyurl.com/ydoqhf

* Democratic Underground - http://tinyurl.com/y3ojgy

Again, we want to thank you all for coming out. Each and every one of you made a difference that day. Please give yourself a big pat on the back.

Garrie Rouse

for the Virginia Antiwar Network