Tuesday, January 10, marked the opening of the Florida Legislature. Generally, opening day is simply one of pomp and ceremony. But it also was the first of Awake the State rallies for 2012 here in Tallahassee.
Last year, I participated in four of the Awake the State rallies. While our rallies did little to deter the damage that Gov. Rick Scott and the Teahadist legislature insisted upon inflicting on the poorest, most vulnerable, and the entire school system, they were still worthwhile as a means for educating people about the issues. When I went to my first rally last year, I did not have a sign. As I walked up to the crowd, someone handed me a homemade sign that read, "We're Living in a Plutocracy, Not a Democracy." I took that sign and worked Monroe Street, a major road in front of the Old Capitol.
Later, I made my own signs for subsequent rallies and I diaried my experiences here and here.
Because there was a fifty percent chance of rain yesterday, I decided to do my morning power walk before heading downtown to the Old State Capitol for the 11 am rally. When I left my house, I grabbed that old sign that had been given to me last year. Even though it was worn and some of the writing had faded, I felt the message was more appropriate than ever.
Parking in downtown Tallahassee during the legislative session is a nightmare, so I chose to park in an old residential neighborhood, some distance away. By the time I got to the Old Capitol, I was fifteen minutes late and the crowd was very sparse. It was disheartening. I saw about eight people lined up on Monroe Street with their signs working the passing cars so I went to join them. As I walked up to a gap in the group, the woman immediately to my right gasped and said, "That is my sign you are carrying!" I never knew who gave me the sign the previous year, nor did she remember to whom she gave four extra signs that she had made last year. She was thrilled to see it again and her comment made me even prouder to carry that historic sign.
While this year's Awake the State rally was not as large as last year's because the teachers' unions did not show up, it was more varied. Very few people of color and young people were at last year's rally. This year, students from FAMU marched one mile from the campus to the rally protesting cuts to education. And we had all the young people from the Occupy Movements, with representatives from all over the state. Based upon the tee shirts and signs I saw, there were Occupiers from Key West, Orlando, Gainesville, Sarasota, Panama City, and Jacksonville. I heard there were Occupiers from Miami and Tampa also.
It was a typical MoveOn rally with a lot of speakers on various issues, some of them better than others. As always, there were lots of signs, mostly homemade. I tried to to get as many pictures of signs as possible, but missed some of the best ones. Below are just a few signs. The woman in the first picture below was the one who made my sign the previous year.
After the speakers finished, a number of the Occupiers from Tallahassee and I went back to Monroe Street with our signs. I talked to the young lady next to me and told her that I wanted to visit the camp after we finished. She offered to take me back there and graciously allowed me to use her picture.
Occupy Tallahassee has a camp on a vacant piece of property owned by the City of Tallahassee which is located about three blocks from the Old Capitol. The young lady who took me there said that there are about ten to twelve full time Occupiers while many others like her rotate in and out of the camp. Occupy Tallahassee has a permit to use the site through the end of January. Afterwards, they are not sure what is going to happen. When I asked aobut the police, my guide said that, the relationship between the Occupiers and the police has been cordial thus far and there have been no problems.
Below are some pictures of the Occupy Tallahassee site. There is an awesome painted old school bus there too. Unfortunately, Occupy Tallahassee does not have a live stream site yet, although they are located in a hot spot. In one of the pictures, you can see a solar powered battery generator. Everyone I met at Occupy Tallahassee was extremely welcoming and open. They are also very smart and committed to saving the future for us all.
And finally, the awesome Occu-bus!