Let’s get this straight, right up front – I’m fed up with the flat out liar, liar press underreporting the numbers of people who were part of the rally and march in Washington, DC today. Tens of thousands??!! – What is this, a new way to count? If there were over 500,000 people gathered in the mall, I suppose you can truthfully say that there were "tens of thousands" – like FIFTY tens of thousands!!! Sure, any number over 20,000 can accurately be called "tens of thousands". It’s become a joke – this refusal to give a real count on the numbers who participate in these peace marches.
If half a million people march in the streets of our nation’s capitol and no one knows about it, does it make a sound?
What difference does it make whether the rest of the world knows how many people surrounded the capitol today? The real question is: what’s the point of all of us getting our bodies into the street if our bodies don’t count? Why bother? If you go by the myth being perpetuated in the press that 30 or 40,000 people cared enough to brave the cold and travel to Washington to demand that our Congress do their job and follow the will of the people, then as many as 500,000 people might as well have stayed home. For me and at least a couple dozen fellow patriots who traveled from San Diego, that represents over $15,000 spent on airfare, hotels and all of the other expenses involved in getting here. Might as well not waste the money.
But it wasn’t a waste – it was a historical experience even if it’s never reported in the history books. Our representatives in Congress know about it. I don’t know if this ever happened before – where HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of American citizens literally encircled the capitol building. It was an activist surge of monumental proportions. I was there, in the heart of it and as a seasoned demonstrator I personally witnessed aspects of this event that filled me with hope.
Maybe it was the huge turnout of young people that gave this march a different feeling than any previous demonstrations. I’d estimate that close to half of the people around me were under 30 and that lent a different energy. Because there were so many people who were not seasoned protestors, there was a more fluid nature to the event – it felt more like a swarm than a march. People spread out beyond the barriers the Washington police had set up to contain us. Thousands morphed into spectators by leaving the march to claim turf along the Senate and Congressional office buildings. No one was reckless or destructive – they simply took over the "People’s House" with their presence. They sat on the steps, perched on the walls, stood triumphantly along the sidewalks as we surged by.
My friend Barbara who was serving as a marshall at the front of the march tells me that the original plan had been to have the marchers process up half of the street on Constitution Ave. and then make a U-turn back on the opposite side of the street. Maybe if there really were only "tens of thousands", this plan would have worked. But a surge of half a million people doesn’t make U-turns! Apparently Congresswoman Maxine Waters told the police to remove the buses blockading us from completing our trek around the capitol complex and the police complied. Except for an action by a group of young people at the end of the event, the police were nearly invisible. Compared to the wall of riot-gear clad police that I’ve encountered in past demonstrations from Miami to Boston, I wasn’t even conscious of a major police presence. I’m certain they were there, but they were not in your face.
There was something else different about the march yesterday – something less tangible. While the message was more urgent than ever, it was delivered with hope. Many of the signs were satirical and outright amusing. There were lots of references to pulling out with all of the sexual undertones, such as the one showing Bush Sr. bemoaning the fact that he "Shoulda pulled out". Another said, "Better be nice to America, or we’ll bring democracy to your country."
So our surge on the Capitol was fun and enthusiastic and massive. For the record, those who were there are saying there were half a million of us.