Hi everyone, my name is J.C. Wilmore. I'm a Democratic activist and a member of the Richmond City Democratic Committee ("RCDC"). I live in the heart of Richmond, Virginia, at the foot of Virginia's Capitol Hill and I serve as the 6th ward chair for the RCDC. Richmond's Capitol Square is near the center of my ward.
On March 3, 2012, I attended a rally at Capitol Square against the various anti-choice bills being promoted by Republicans in Virginia's General Assembly and I took my camera, a Nikon D5000, with me. The D5000 can shoot both stills and video, and on this occasion I was shooting mostly video.
I could not believe what unfolded before my camera, as the Virginia Capitol Police and Virginia State Police crushed this demonstration with overwhelming force. All I could do was keep shooting video and try to avoid arrest by the riot police. I left Capitol Square at 3:05 PM to process, edit, and publish the video I'd shot. Last night, my friend Lowell Feld of Blue Virginia posted my first, shorter video documenting the overreaction by Virginia's Capitol Police and Virginia State Police. Lowell has updated his diary several times, and it has become a little cluttered.
I am posting this diary to get the my longer video entitled "Bob McDonnell's Virginia" out there where perhaps it can do some good. "Bob McDonnell's Virginia" is about 12 minutes long and it documents what happened on Virginia's Capitol Square between 1:53 PM and 3:05 PM on March 3, 2012.
I hope you will watch my video and share it with friends. Please pay close attention to the various titles and timestamps, particularly around 3:18. You will see the precise moment when the decision was made by the Capitol Police to unleash the State Police against the protesters.
Thanks in advance for watching, and for your support and comments, as well as your poll answers. This video is in HD, so you can watch it here as an embed, or expand it to full screen. Please watch and answer the poll afterwards.