Media Credit: Joseph Warner, Daily Mississippian
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Wielding
hand-printed signs that read “Impeach Bush Now!” “No war” and “Honk for
Peace,” more than a dozen members of the Ole Miss College Democrats
rallied in front of the Lafayette County Courthouse in the Square
Tuesday night to call for President George W. Bush to step down from
office.
The 15 protesters assembled on the courthouse lawn,
waving their placards in the air and shouting their messages to gain
the attention of drivers navigating their vehicles around the Square.
The
sounds of car horns blaring their support of the protesters’ messages
filled the brisk night air often during the demonstration, which
started at 8 p.m. and lasted for more than an hour.
“I think
it’s great that this many people are politically active,” said Kevin
Phillips, president of the College Libertarians and protest
participant. “Even people blowing their horns is active. It’s awesome.”
While
many drivers indicated they shared the protesters’ beliefs, several
others yelled profane comments from car windows or made obscene hand
gestures. A few passersby called out sharp words to the demonstrators
and expressed their love of Bush; some paused in front of the rally to
engage the participants in spirited debates about Bush’s presidency.
“The
whole reason I’m out here, whether we get cheers or jeers, is because I
want to open people’s eyes,” said Katie Wetherbee, a second-year law
student. “Even if they drive by and give us the finger, it’s their
First Amendment right [to do that] just as much as it’s ours to be out
here.”
John Flynt, a senior journalism major and the event’s
organizer, said he got the idea to organize the rally after hearing
radio advertisements sponsored by creators of the Web site
http://www.worldcantwait.com. Flynt said he learned the group was
organizing Bush protests nationwide that would occur at the same time
as Bush’s State of the Union address and wanted to bring the movement
to Oxford.
“We feel very strongly that this impeachment rally is
the best way for America to gain credibility in the world and show them
that it’s the Bush administration who’s responsible [for the Iraq War]
and not the American people,” he said.
Mack Poindexter, a freshman English and Southern studies major, said he felt Bush needed to focus more on problems in America.
“I
think Bush is only leading a small minority in the country,” Poindexter
said. “We need to focus on domestic and economic issues like poverty,
and we need to worry about upholding the law rather than changing it.” |
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