We had a massive protest in alliance with The World Can’t Wait movement, here in Reno NV. Over 40 people showed up, most with signs and flyers and stood/marched in front of the Thompson Federal Building for almost 2 hours, in defiance of the dropping temperature! Most had heard of the protest over Air America, on local radio station KJFK, 1230AM, on a show hosted by Christiane Brown from 3-4pm. Ms. Brown was there as well, with her daughter, a very savvy kid at 11 yrs of age!
For Reno, 40 people turning out for ANY event is massive. The two organizers, Rick Strandlof and myself, Rich Haber, had called and emailed local media, including the two local newspapers, several local radio stations and 3 major TV networks, with a press release crafted by us with the help of Lisa Stiller, a local activist and media mogul, who hosts a regular show on SNCAT, the local access TV station. We had also posted the protest in 3 local email groups but as I said, the local radio station reached most of the people that showed up.
We made a serious mistake, not expecting so many people. We didn’t take enough time to plan what else to do besides holding signs. Next time will be much different. NBC channel 4 covered our march and included footage of the one in LA as well!
We won’t be ignored next time, since we expect a few hundred to join us any time we’re ready. Hopefully, we can start raising funds to charter a bus or plane fare for as many can make the trip to Washington DC, when the country wakes up and starts marching on the White House, as we had to do in the 60s and 70s, to end the “Police Action” in Viet Nam.
Thank you for creating the momentum for a REAL GRASS MOVEMENT to dump these people on their collective asses.