The pictures speak for themselves. Noon rally today, at Legislative Plaza by the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville.
The weather was perfect, a little on the warm side. Someone pressed a bottle of water on me: Keep hydrated!! Probably in the ballpark of 300 people - not bad for a first effort. Onlookers around the edges with various degrees of engagement. And lots and lots of cameras; professional and decidedly vernacular. And damned near as many devices as people, most recording or talking or messaging &c.
Update: I added a couple of pictures at the end of a school group on a field trip to the State Capitol.
Speakers were informal. No megaphone. It went by that call and response like in New York. I barely listened because I was scooting around for visual angles.
The signs were nearly 100% homemade/hand made.
Bit of a trick to estimate the crowd, because a lot of people were hanging around various shady corners of the Plaza.
And, too, the people on the steps? Some were from the demonstration, and others definitely were not. (One couple wondered what 99% meant, after I explained, he said: "Hey! I wanna be the 1%!!")
Signs made right on the premises:
It's Nashville, so there's music references.
I had that song in mind lately, so I'll toss it in for sound track to this diary post.
UPDATE: I forgot to say that I'm dedicating this song to Erin Burnett, whose TV show is debuting at a time that shows her off at her worst. Talk about clueless!!
Nashville is the state capitol, too, so there's lots of public employees around.
And a bit of a carnival atmosphere.
Even someone who almost looks like they're at the wrong demo. (That's Hank Sr., not Hank Jr. they're standing up for.)
Thoughtful declarations.
Declarations on specific issues were to be found.
Graphs and charts.
Stuff to think about.
Stuff to scratch your head over, and say WTF?
Young activist gathering petition signatures.
Someone communicating something to somebody somewhere.
There were several of these masks around, and a few things declaring "Anonymous."
Teamsters and other unions were represented.
And a bunch of people expressing the various things they wanted to say. Problems with corporate personhood and the like was a theme oft repeated.
There were school groups touring the state capitol, much like would happen any day.
And then, coming out of the capitol, they got steered away from the plaza. But they gathered for a moment at the top of the steps for a civics lesson:
These are people expressing their First Amendment right to free speech and peaceable assembly.
Just one of the hundreds of gatherings around the country. Nothing special or extraordinary. Just some of the 99%
