I don't know where to start. There's still unread messages and votes to tally on my other
diary but I'm still electrified by Churchill's talk tonight and thought I'd throw it out there.
Much of his speech followed what Inverted posted on his diary on Monday from the Counterpunch transcript. So I won't go in to much on what he said but would like to share my ramblings on the event itself.
Continued below
The talk was scheduled to begin at 7 pm. All day the University of Hawaii had been getting calls from all the major network affiliates as well as Fox and CNN to set up satellite feeds. Check your morning news shows for clips. (No shoes were thrown, or anything close to it so it may not get much air time from the RWCM).
Around 5:30 pm, I wandered down to the Art Auditorium and there were about 25 people milling around (and a parking lot full of satellite dishes and tv vans). By 6:15 pm the area outside the Auditorium was packed and the media were surrounding a small group (15 - 20 people at most) who were protesting. Supposedly these were the local chapter of College Republicans. The most frequent comment I heard around campus earlier was "What College Republicans? We have a College Republican group?"
They opened the doors at 6:30 pm and for about the next half hour, it got messy, but not ugly. What do you expect when 800+ people show up for an event in an auditorium that only holds 400? Arrangements had been made to carry a live video feed in another auditorium, but the technology gremlins were up to their mischievous ways and the feed didn't work. Frankly, I was amazed that campus security managed to prevent hundreds of people from storming the auditorium. There were chants outside to move it outside. Unfortunately, the media took 2 hours to set-up and moving wasn't an option. Finally, speakers were set up outside so at least people could hear Churchill speak.
And did he speak. He is a compelling orator. Within a few minutes, you could hear a pin drop. Outside, a few individuals tried to shout some stuff but were shushed by the rest of the crowd. After that, nothing but silence, applause, some whoops and quite a bit of laughter. That was truly the amazing thing. He absolutely held the audience. No one shouted any objections or booed. I didn't even hear a single snort or hiss.
Among all the amazing things I saw and heard tonight, was Yuri Kuchiyama who introduced Churchill.
Here was an 83-year old Japanese-American woman who could barely see over the podium, who was interned during WWII, who met Malcolm X in 1963, slowly making her way up to the microphone to praise Ward Churchill. Folks, it just doesn't get better than that. This is why we have universities and I am proud of mine tonight.