In Atlanta many people gathered in front of the CNN Center in Centennial Olympic Park (one estimate on IMC put it at about 400) to voice their outrage by “drowning out” the State of the Union address in unison with others gathered around the country.
As it moved closer to the time more and more police gathered around the park’s perimeter. There was a hockey game in progress and the police seemed intent on making sure that the protest would remain isolated from the other events in the area.
Even before the event officially began, there was confrontation between the police and the protesters. The signs and banners could not be outside the metal gates of the park.
In a chilling exchange one young woman was told, “yes, you have free speech, In There, not out here”. “Out here” was the sidewalk. The same sidewalks that we had always been told were the limited space in which one could voice their opinions. But “Out there” would have also meant that we would have been able to reach many more people as they left from the game.
Behind her on the gate stood a familiar figure, a hooded person draped in black. He or she is all of us in one way or another. Deeper in the park were people from many different groups and backgrounds… drawn together by one compelling desire… the desire to see Bush driven out of office and forced to face up to the crimes that he has committed against the peoples of the world — from Afghanistan to the victims and survivors of Katrina’s disaster in New Orleans and far beyond.
One man that I spoke with earlier had come from one of the nearby hotels to see what was happening. He told me that he and some 2000 Meteorologist, most of them professors from different campuses across the country were staying across the street and attending a conference of the American Meteorological Association.
We talked a bit about what Bush and the Christian-Fascist are doing and he told me that many of those that he knows in his field feel like they are now being told what they can and can not say in their lectures and that they really need a strong movement among scientifically minded people on the campuses — even if they have to start one themselves. The solemn and the festive went hand in hand, both the urgency of the moment and its marking. Red flags waved in the air as vibrant youth moved through the crowd of florescent green signs — sometimes almost dancing with the chants in rhythmic waves.
Each speaker exposed a little more of the horrors of the Bush Administration, they included:
Denise Thomas, co-founder of “Georgia Military Families Speak Out“, told how her daughter had been denied access to her medical records and then was forced to spend a year there even though she was medically unfit for duty. Another woman told of how she has lost a personal friend and that the military refused to tell them how or why her life was lost.
Reverend Timothy McDonald, a minister with People for the American Way and National President of the African American Minister’s Leadership Council drove 5 hours to be at this event and spoke to the traditions of social change that cannot be lost and of the passing of Coretta Scott King. Lilith, a member of the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade,
James Thomas, United Auto Workers member from Chicago
Deepali Gokhale campaign organizer for Racial Justice Campaign Against Operation Meth Merchant Daniel Sachs, local folk musician, John Fortune, Defenders of Democracy and a statement was read from Hampton University organizers.
When one of the MCs asked the crowd “what would you be willing to give to get rid of Bush” and one woman ran up to the microphone and declared “My Life! That is what, My Life.” As Bush began to speak, the outrage of the people erupted into a roar and people staying at the hotel across the street gathered along the windows of the conference rooms looking out at what was going on. The roar could easily be heard for blocks as the atmosphere crackled with the electricity of the moment. This would not be a silent unmarked moment in history.