March On Washington

The protest march in Washington this week was an impressive event, despite mediocre reporting in the press.

As my family and a couple friends made signs and joined the tens of thousands on the mall in Washington, two things stood out to us: The amazing diversity of the crowd, and the overwhelming sentiment that Bush’s policies were not just failed but actually criminal.

Signs called for Bush to be investigated, impeached, jailed, or all three. And these weren’t signs held by some radical anarchists. Overwhelmingly the crowd consisted of parents, grandparents, and children. Families marched together. College students and business people marched together. Government employees and Iraq War veterans marched together.

The sentiment was echoed by Sean Penn, one of many speakers, who asked rhetorically- after a long list of Bush Adminstration offenses: “Is impeachment still off the table?”

At one point we left the march to take in a view of the spectacle from the steps of the Capitol, where other protests were being conducted, including a mob of several dozen attempting to gain entry to the building shouting “this is the people’s house.” Armed Capitol police officers and barricades reminded them it wasn’t really.

In another protest, three women (triplets) stood solemnly on pedestals reminding onlookers of the sacrifices women have made in this war. There were also protesters dressed up as war prisoners, recalling the abusive detention at Guantanemo Bay and elsewhere.

From the Capitol steps we could see the marchers with signs still slowly leaving the mall heading north while the lead group in the march, including some congressmen and some actors, were returning to the mall from the south. Organizers said this was the first time ever that a protest march completely encircled the Capitol.