I keep scanning for some sort of meaningful news coverage of Saturday’s March On Washington. Silly me - I should have known it would never come. But I finally got what I was looking for this morning at TPM Cafe:
What brought us all to our nation’s capital for the march? Netroots organization, something that shows me that the days of the massive protest aren’t yet numbered. Instead, it shows me that the large-scale event can and should remain one of many arrows in our progressive quiver, like targeted fundraising, candidate recruitment, messaging and rapid response. Each tactic has its strength, just like each has its weaknesses. Saturday’s march, for instance, was successful at bringing people together and painting a picture of exactly how strong the progressive movement is. How diverse it is. How much potential it has. When we looked around Saturday, like we have before, staring back at us were men and women of every age, every race, every economic group. There were families of soldiers current and fallen, veterans, union members, church groups, longtime activists and first-time participants. In fact, if the number of children we saw were any indication, the future of the progressive movement is strong
The parents who brought their kids have way bigger balls than I do. I went to the big global day of protest back in 2003 in NYC and there were elderly and children everywhere, but this did not stop the police from riding in on horseback with pepper spray cannons, in a spot I’d been standing in only moments before. As much as I would have loved to be there on Saturday, I just couldn’t trust my daughter’s safety to the DC PD. Still, I was there in spirit.
The DC PD showed restraint and good sense (I was in the peace march). There was only one incident where they could have lost their own control and it would have been bad, but they maintained discipline and calm and the whole thing was totally defused.
Putting Out Fire With Gasoline…
THESE ARE NOT ANOMALIES. This is how the police act MUCH of the time. It’s based on the way they see themselves and those who dare to question the authority and might of the State. This is what’s wrong with……
I went with my husband and 9 year-old daughter to the 2003 March in NYC. The police hostility was absolutely terrifying–I’ve been afraid to attend a demonstration ever since.