We drove to Kansas City to attend the protest at 47th and Main in Mill Creek Park (near the J.C. Nichols fountain and the entrance to the Plaza). We had good weather and good attendance. I estimate the size of the crowd to be between 300 and 500.
We stood on the picket line on the north side of 47th Street with our signs. I alternated "Faux News Channel, fascist groupies", "Stop Mad Cowboy Disease", and "somewhere in Texas there's a village missing an idiot" signs. I had the opportunity to flip over the "one finger for ignorance, two fingers for peace" sign for the benefit of a few individuals in some passing vehicles who were verbally deficient in expressing themselves.
One friend held a "Mourning in America, 577 killed, 3300 wounded" sign.
Someone passed out small American flags to everyone on the line.
The crowd was a decent mix, but I think most would be surprised by the number of middle aged and older individuals. There are always a number of veterans in attendance. I noted what appeared to be a handful of anarchists dressed in black, wearing black bandanas over their faces.
The Kansas City Police Department had five officers conducting surveillance from the parking garage at the southeast corner of the intersection. We all occasionally waved and photographed them photographing us.
One individual was on stilts and dressed as Uncle Sam, carrying a sign which stated, "I am ashamed."
We had an overwhelming number of supporting waves, honking horns, peace signs, thumbs up, and smiles. People were amused by the "Mad Cowboy" sign. We stand out there to let them know they are not alone. There are also the stone faced looks, the shaking heads, an occasional thumbs down, and of course, the single finger salute. Our favorite retort - "Look, they're showing us their IQ!" got everyone on the line laughing.
One angry individual yelled, "Support our troops. Support our troops." People on the line responded with shouts about inadequate supplies of body armor and a Guard unit having to improvise steel plates for unarmored vehicles. Someone else yelled, "Like when the administration cuts veterans benefits."
Everyone on the line was aggressive in responding to challengers. It sometimes seems to shock them, as if they expected us to start crying or cower in the face of their bullying and brilliant, to them, verbal repartee.
After all of this time I wonder if any of them is capable of coming up with something original. After the first few weeks and after almost a year and a half at over 200 vigils, marches, and protests I haven't witnessed any of them being able to come up with anything new. Their cognitive dissonance is caught up in an infinite feedback loop.
A few passersby challenge us from their vehicles, but the traffic noise sometimes makes it hard to hear what they're saying. We've taken to laughing at them, then cupping our hands over our ears and mouthing the words, "I can't hear you." It drives some of them to near apoplexy. One individual, driving east out of the Plaza, rolled down his windows and started yelling at us. I yelled, "What?" and then, as he drove past the picket line, everyone else loudly took up the question as his vehicle approached them. This continued for 50 yards. His head looked about ready to explode.
I turned to the nice older lady standing next to me and said, "We're not going to take their crap anymore." She laughed and nodded in agreement.
We were on the line from around 1:30 to 3:30 p.m. We saw a number of media still photographers, but I didn't see any television cameras. The events were scheduled until 6:00 p.m., so they might have arrived later.
We walked through the crowd and through the park, turned to look at the crowd and saw how large it was, then walked to our car for the hour long drive home.