Guest post by Kimba
There was plenty of walking room along the path to the Lincoln Memorial. We passed some interesting people along the way, some who did not agree with the Tea Party's political views, or the underlying divisiveness, racism, fear and hatred that seems to define a lot of those in this movement.
One of those was a guy named Gary. He held a sign in protest stating that MLK's dream could work. And he apologized to us that his ancestors were slave owners.
Once we got close to where the crowds were, we got a better look at those who were attending this event. This crowd seemed to be composed of those older people who could easily be frightened by the things that Fox news reports. I could even believe that these same people don't use other sources for their enlightenment, and rather, would trust an organization which manipulates them by using the fear of "brown" people with different beliefs taking over their beloved America.
There were also some young people there, and some families. People who seemed to have never stepped outside their bubble and interacted with people of color. For the record, we saw a few people from India, and a few African Americans there as well.
Apparently, everyone more or less obeyed the request not to bring posters. We didn't see any except for those who were protesting (there were few). Most of the Tea Party members, instead, wore clothing that had the American Flag on it, or made entirely of a replica of the American flag. They also wore hats or head bands with the stars and stripes. Some carried various flags. Some wore tee shirts with slogans on it.
As we got closer, we could here someone from the stage saying "Obama no!" "Obama no!."
There really didn't seem to be a lot going on. People were waiting around. Then someone introduced MLK's niece. The applause was polite, but barely there. She didn't seem to connect with the audience, from what I could see. She sang a christian song, but it apparently wasn't one that the right wingers could relate to. She left the stage and an African American minister spoke. The crowd really could have cared less. People were walking and talking the whole time. The crowd was pretty fluid. My camera has a recorder on it, but there was nothing to record. These folk mostly kept to themselves.
By this time, it was getting past noon, close to 12:30. We wanted to take more photos and wanted to get up on one of the walls to do so. There were many (white) people sitting on the walls snapping away. When we went to an opening, we were told by the gentleman there that the police would come and tell us to get down, so we shouldn't get up there. Now mind you, the Tea Parties were all along the wall everywhere taking all kinds of photos, and there were no cops to be found asking anyone to get down.. I don't think we were wanted, but we told the guy very politely that we would take our chances and we got up there and took photos anyway.
Around 12: 35, there still was not sign of Palin so we decided to leave. A lot of others decided to leave, too.
My whole take was that this was an event where the people who attended were waiting for Palin to speak and made the trip soley for that purpose. Other than that, the crowd was subdued, not a lot of excitement. People did stare at me and my family and other minorities, but it was only because there were so few minorities there.
As I stated earlier, we did not stay around to hear the Queen's screech. Many others left right along with us before she came out. Nothing really happened, it was an unenthusiastic crowd by all accounts, especially when King's niece and the minister were speaking, though that may have changed when Palin came out.
Got quite a few photos of some of the attendees.
Only three incidents stand out in my mind about this event:
1. An elderly couple was in front of us and my daughter and I were discussing how sad it was that Fox news was using fear to exploit a lot of the older people, and how untrustworthy Fox really was. The couple got visibly angry and walked faster to get away from us.
2. The attempt to not allow us to get photographs of the crowds.
3. On my way back to the Metro, an elderly gentleman ask me about my camera and I was polite and friendly and responded back. He then stated that he brought his camcorder so that the media could not get away with under counting the number of people who attended this event.
By the way, I am not good at estimating crowds, but I don't think there was greater that 100,000 who attended, if that much. My daughter puts the estimation at around 50 thousand. You can see in the photos that there were a lot of space between the crowds. Just simply not that big a deal.
My daughter and my friend, who I am visiting, have become more educated by this experience. They were fascinated by what they saw and it just brought an awareness about the Tea Party members that wasn't there previously.
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Pictures taken by Kimba:
(Captions by Patrick)
The white masses are arriving:
Dr. Kings's dream is certainly not dead, but was nowhere to be found at Glenn Beck's rally:
Glenn Beck hails Dr. Martin Luther King, the socialist and anti-war activist - or doesn't he....?
$ 10 if you can spot a black guy:
More real Americans arriving:
Glenn Beck and Abraham Lincoln ™:
I hope that this guy is not anti-solar power and anti wind-energy, that would be a real letdown:
Some protesters were also there and made fun of the teabaggers:
Restoring Bush...I mean, restoring honor, sorry:
Many white people having a big picnic in the sun:
OK...I have looked up this website, and I still don't know what they want:
(EDIT - One of our readers explained:
"The Taxation w/o Representation refers to Washington DC residents not having a congressman or senator. They are the only citizens of the US who do not have representation, yet they do have to pay taxes like everyone else.")
"Hope and change enemy" struggling to find a good view:
I guess he doesn't mean that HE is a communist, right?
That's the end of the pictures. Communism has arrived in the USA. Hope you are all happy now in the new communist paradise. ;-)
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Note by Patrick:
Many, many thanks to Kimba for writing the report and taking the pictures for us!
Kathleen and I had a very relaxing day in the zoo today. It was necessary. The monkeys seemed so much more loving and intelligent than Palinbots, I can tell you.
By the way, I have recently started to watch a lot of the hilarious Kathy Griffin, since I realized that virtually all episodes of her incredibly funny "My life on the D list" series are on youtube.
After I saw the episode of Kathy Griffin visiting a "baby and toddler pageant" in California, I thought to myself that Sarah Palin should probably re-consider her claim that the USA is an "exceptional" country. ;-)
On a more serious note, Kathy Griffin has not just produced very funny, but also incredibly moving episodes of her "D-list" series when she for example visited Washington D.C. in order to stage a rally for the abolition of "Don't ask don't tell" and performed in prisons and also performed for the US troops in Iraq.
Have a nice evening, everybody!
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UPDATE:
New Left Media, who in the past brought us already several unique, unfiltered views on the teabaggers and right-wingers, visited Glenn Beck's Whitestock and interviewed the teabaggers. The result confirms the impressions from previous events: The teabaggers believe everything what they want to believe if it fits their prejudices, and what Glenn Beck, Fox Noise tells them.
Good job, Koch Industries! You can be proud of yourself, all your millions weren't spent in vain.
I wanted to add another clip, because it was brought up by the interviewer that Glenn Beck said in an interview that he believed that Barack Obama is a "racist." The brainwashed teabaggers wouldn't believe that Glenn Beck said that. But of course he did - and he also said that President Obama has a "deep-seated hatred against white people":
For more controversial quotes from Glenn Beck (there is no shortage of them), please visit Wikiquotes.
Guess what - Rupert Murdoch agrees with Glenn Beck regarding his "racist" comment. Somebody should have told the teabaggers:
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UPDATE 2 - BY PATRICK:
My personal view on the current "anti-Muslim sentiments" in the USA, which seem to get more and more out of control:
I have witnessed in Germany in 1992/93 how a racist "mass rage" can spin out of control.
Starting with horrible crimes committed by radicalized, badly educated right-wing youngsters in East-Germany, a wave of right-wing violence flooded the country for about 1-2 years. I still remember it vividly, it was horrible. Basically every day, there were reports of attacks against foreigners, acts of arson etc. The Jewish historian Robert S. Wistrich noted a few years later:
More information about the background of this wave of right-wing attacks in 1992/93 can be found HERE.
I have witnessed in Germany in 1992/93 how a racist "mass rage" can spin out of control.
Starting with horrible crimes committed by radicalized, badly educated right-wing youngsters in East-Germany, a wave of right-wing violence flooded the country for about 1-2 years. I still remember it vividly, it was horrible. Basically every day, there were reports of attacks against foreigners, acts of arson etc. The Jewish historian Robert S. Wistrich noted a few years later:
"It is tempting to dismiss the neo-Nazi movement and violent skinhead gangs who have envenomed race relations in Europe in recent years as politically insignificant in view of their small size, lack of leadership, coherent organization or ideology. Except in Germany, their numbers do not usually exceed a few thousand, and since they are generally in the 14-25 age group, they have no major influence on electoral politics. But the wave of racist violence in Germany in the early 1990s, with brutal attacks on Turks, Third World immigrants and handicapped people, as well as the desecration of Jewish cemeteries and Holocaust sites, was a chilling reminder of the fascist potential still lurking in the lower depths of European society. In 1992 alone, there were 2,506 racist attacks (nearly double the previous year), 697 cases of arson and 17 deaths caused by neo-Nazi skinheads in Germany. Their message of hate is relayed through skinhead music, pioneered by racist rock bands in Britain, and computer games as well as racist literature."
More information about the background of this wave of right-wing attacks in 1992/93 can be found HERE.
Fortunately, it was later possible to get the situation in Germany under control again and stop the wave of violence after a major combined effort, but only after many people had died, including several "foreigners", for example Turkish citizens, who burned to death in their homes.
This kind of mass rage can easily happen again in other places as well. All you need is an incident, a reason to ignite the flame. There seems to be already a broad base of people in the USA who are heavily prejudiced against Muslims, and we have seen the first "incidents" against Muslims. What would for example happen if a Muslim "hits back" and hurts a "white person?" Wouldn't that give people a reason to "strike", to "retaliate" against the Muslims?
That's why Glenn Beck's and Sarah Palin's game is so dangerous: If you whip up the masses, you might very well see some (unwanted?) results.
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Two of the worst right-wing racist attacks in Germany in 1992/93:
This kind of mass rage can easily happen again in other places as well. All you need is an incident, a reason to ignite the flame. There seems to be already a broad base of people in the USA who are heavily prejudiced against Muslims, and we have seen the first "incidents" against Muslims. What would for example happen if a Muslim "hits back" and hurts a "white person?" Wouldn't that give people a reason to "strike", to "retaliate" against the Muslims?
That's why Glenn Beck's and Sarah Palin's game is so dangerous: If you whip up the masses, you might very well see some (unwanted?) results.
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Two of the worst right-wing racist attacks in Germany in 1992/93:
This should be seen as a warning for everyone who thinks it's a good idea to stir-up anti-muslim sentiments.
Arson attack in Moelln (Mölln), West-Germany in 1992:
Arson attack in Moelln (Mölln), West-Germany in 1992:
Two Turkish girls, aged ten and 14, died in the flames, also the 51-year old grandmother. Nine other family members were injuried, some very badly.
Link to the translated German wikipedia page (there is not much material to be found online).
EDIT: I found more photos related to the attack in Moelln.
Images can be so much more powerful than words.
Don't let history repeat itself.
Faruk Arslan, father the 10-year-old murdered Yeliz Arslan with a picture of his daughter.
Moelln - Evening after the attacks
Demonstration after the attacks - 1
Demonstration after the attacks - 2
Grandfather Nazim Arslan in the burned out flat.
The destroyed flat.
Gravestone Ayse Yilmaz (who was 14 years old when she died in the arson attack).
Inscription: "Here lies our beloved daughter Ayse Yilmaz, who was murdered in the German city of Moelln by inhuman forces through a savage arson attack."
Nazim Arslan on 23 June 1993 before the Second Criminal Division, High Court of Schleswig, Germany:
"I still can not believe what happened on November 23, 1992 to my family. It is so horrible and cruel. My wife Bahide is dead, my granddaughters Yeliz and Ayse Yilmaz are dead. My daughters-in-law are disabled and in pain, the family is no longer what it was. My wife Bahide was the center of my family - my life.+++
... We were asked to come here, we have come because labor was sought in Germany - and we have worked. We both have worked.
... The horror and the terror are still always with me. Every time I go to the Mill Road (Mühlenstraße) and see the burned-out house, I think of this cruel night. ... I hear the screams, see the flickering light from the fire and the blue light from the fire engines, the loud noise of the fire and keep seeing the picture of my wife disappearing in the smoke and the fire.
... It is so incomprehensible to me, why, why my wife had to die and the two girls. Because they were Turks? Because these men wanted to execute their inhuman political ideas?
We were invited here, we came as guest workers. We were guests here! Do you know what hospitality means in Turkey? ... I cannot understand such a vicious crime."
Arson attack in Solingen, West-Germany in 1993:
The Solingen arson attack of 1993 was one of the most severe instances of anti-foreigner violence in modern Germany. On the night of May 28 to May 29, 1993, four young German men belonging to the far right skinhead scene, with neo-Nazi ties, set fire to the house of a large Turkish family in Solingen in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Three girls and two women died; fourteen other family members, including several children, were injured, some of them severely. The attack led to violent protests by Turks in several German cities and to large demonstrations of Germans expressing solidarity with the Turkish victims.+++
In both cases the victims were Turkish muslim families. During these extreme right-wing attacks in Germany in 1992/93, Turkish citizens were often the "preferred" victims.
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