It is the strangest of coincidences that this happened, I have to say. I was driving home from lunch, looked up, and saw people on the sidewalk in front of a banquet hall protesting Gov. Rick Snyder. Thankfully, I lived close, so I ran home and grabbed my camera to document all this and see what happened. Turns out that Snyder was doing a meeting with the local (Farmington & Livonia) Chambers of Commerce, hence the protestors. A lot of interesting observations from this event, and some real disappointment, which I will talk about in here.
(This is going to be my first photoblog, so I hope to God this comes out right.)
A few observations to make before I get to posting pics below the fold. First of all, I was EXTREMELY disappointed that the media barely acknowledged our presence. Two reporters, one whom just had "media pass" on and another from WWJ Newsradio 950 (full disclosure: I have freelanced for them before), both walked right past us with no acknowledgement. The Detroit Free Press already put up a story about the speech, with scant acknowledgement of the protests, and only the Governor's take on it.
Secondly, and I will put up the pics to prove it, there was a crapload of police presence versus two dozen protestors, tops. I counted six cars altogether, posted around the hall and across the street, and wondered how much this cost to have this level of security. To their credit, the cops didn't interfere with us at all, just stood and watched or sat in their cars and watched.
Finally, one brave soul from the Chamber left the speech in his massive pickup truck, and after he pulled into the street, rolled down his window and yelled, "Go back to work!" Nice gentleman, I'm sure his workers love him as a boss. Thankfully, there were far more people driving down the road who honked their horns in support, and even a gentleman from the Chamber audience who came over, talked to the protest organizer, and offered his help to get the group online (this protest had been organized through handouts at stores around the area). It was really nice to see that. Also, one of the people protesting was a school board member from the area, she said she hesitated about coming because of her position, but that the cuts to the kids angered her, and she wanted to support the unions in this battle.
On to the photos (below the fold, of course)!
This guy was by far the most energetic of the bunch, and was sure to include support for the police in his chants.
Exactly.
Two police cars (the SUV was unmarked) across the street. There was another one there beforehand, also unmarked, didn't get a picture of that one.
As people leave the event, two cops are set on our side as well. Only one car is shown in frame, though. Interesting note about the event: there were some nuns, several Muslim imams, and a couple of rabbis. Didn't know that faith groups are part of business luncheons.....struck me as very odd, and several of the protestors noted they felt the same way. (If anyone has any idea why this would be, please note it in comments)
A very good question that can only be answered, "Republicans don't believe in corporations sacrificing anything."
Finally, my favorite picture of the day. This three-year-old was so cute and asked to hold the sign himself. He was so behaved and didn't complain, sipped from his little sippy cup and walked around or stood with this sign. =)
So, there's my coverage of this. Interesting time, enjoyed myself, I was glad to get this documented, and I sincerely hope everyone keeps this up across the state. One last note, and it was in my head during the protest, was that what the governor is doing, what the Republicans have been doing for the last decade now, is to split small business owners who might be sympathetic to our side away from us, to make it seem like their corporate giveaways benefit their small businesses, when in reality, it just makes it easier for them to get swallowed up in the corporate tide. One major thing we should be doing is finding ways to demonstrate to small business that the Republican Party doesn't care about them, it cares about the BIG donors, the banks, the massive corporations, the Koch brothers, etc. If we do that, it could go a long way to helping us reach our ultimate objectives in this fight. Feel free to put ideas for that in the comments too, and I'll do my best to pass them along.
Peace.
Updated by wolverinethad at Fri Mar 25, 2011 at 05:22 PM EDT
Rec list? SWEET! I haven't been here in ages. Thanks guys, but more importantly, let's keep spreading the word. We have a lot of work to do to stop this stuff. The fight is in our backyards now, not just national anymore.