On a blustery, rainy Saturday afternoon over 26,000 gathered at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA to hear Senator Barack Obama and his running mate, Senator Joe Biden. It was an amazing day in the political life of the region, with a disturbing event to which I was an eye-witness.
Estimates of the crowd were 26,000, but I have never seen anything like it in sleepy Fredericksburg. The gates opened at 3:00 and throngs were stretched for blocks around the campus. The event was scheduled to begin at 5:15PM but these things never start on time, Obama and Biden had been in Greensboro, NC earlier in the day and I figured maybe they'd get there by 7:00PM or so.
The crowd was joyous and hopeful. Americans of all races, colors, and creeds talked among themselves and all expressed hope that this year would be different, the year that The Old Dominion finally secedes from The Confederacy.
The lines moved slowly. There were metal detectors, and no liquids, backpacks, etc. were to be allowed. The field where the candidates were to appear held around 12,000 or so, and clearly there were far more people than that in line.
We were approaching security, and it started raining: Heavily, with lightning and thunder. We were now under the tent where the metal detectors and Transportation Security Administration staff were screening attendees. We got to the front of the line...and everything stopped. The rain was now torrential. Many of the people already inside started to leave (no umbrellas were permitted, and everyone was out in the open during a thunderstorm, not good). It was almost 5:30PM.
A TSA officer stood up on a table and announced, "No one else is going to be allowed in. Please stand aside so those leaving can exit. Please exit yourselves." There was a crowd of 100 or so people under the tent, and no one really wanted to go out into the rain.
Standing next to my wife and me was a young African-American woman. She was in Muslim garb. Another TSA officer told her, "You have to leave." She said, "I'm waiting for people inside."
He said, "You have to leave. NOW." He grabbed her by the arm! She screamed, "Get your hands off me!" He threw her to the ground. My wife, a veteran of the Vietnam War, Berkeley Theater, shouted, as did others, "You can't do that!" at which time people in the crowd surged towards the TSA guy and the woman he had manhandled. Other TSA officers threw at least two other women to the ground. There was a developing melee and I said to my wife, "We're too old for this, we gotta go." I guided her out of the tent along the crowd that was still waiting to get in to the event.
We told many people we passed about what we had seen. In the newspaper the next day, nothing. I don't know if there were any arrests made. I did call the Obama campaign to tell them about this incident. Whether this has happened elsewhere I cannot say. I do know the size of the crowd overwhelmed the organizers and the law enforcement officials, including VA State Troopers, Fredericksburg police and campus security.
It was supposed to be an inspiring and uplifting day, and I will say that I now believe Obama can win in Virginia, but the events I have described continue to trouble me. We never did get to hear Joe or Barack speak. Friends who did say they were customarily great.