The first ever event that I can recall held in Vancouver and sponsored by Moveon.org was held this evening at Fort Vancouver Way and Mill Plain Boulevard, in front of the Fort Vancouver Library at about 5:30. Given some of the vitriolic rallies in other areas of the country, I went down, camera in hand to witness how they acted.
I am very pleased to say that Vancouver did not display a violent or vitriolic outburst that has been seen in other areas. In fact, there really wasn’t much to see at all, other than the 35 or so people basically sign waving, some with homemade signs and some with more professionally made looking signs.
Although relatively peaceful, it seemed to lack any organization. People just seemed to appear from their cars, some wearing their “uniform of the day,” dirty looking work clothes with yellow safety vests and hard hats.
There were no speakers, no chanting of the commonly heard chants we’ve heard in other cities and not even a bullhorn. I also noticed the distinct lack of a single American Flag and since Tea Parties are accused of only being “White People,” not one single Black Person was present. Some moderate horn honking was noticed, but not as much as one would expect given the heavy traffic at that time of the day if they have the support claimed.
As I always do, I wore my Viet Nam Veteran cap and unlike at every single Tea Party event I’ve attended, not one person held out their hand to say “thank you for serving.” At Tea Parties, usually a dozen people will thank any Veteran they identify.
It was a cold, wet, windy day today and perhaps that kept more people from coming out. I know it wreaked havoc with me trying to capture video. Trying to hold the umbrella and camera in one hand and bracing against the wind makes for some pretty jumpy video.
I noticed too, as I crossed Mill Plain to capture photos and video of the main crowd in front of the library, that once I was on the other side and took a couple photos of the signs, I turned around to tape the main body of the rally and every single one had left the corner and was heading for coffee across the street, leaving the corner completely empty.
As can be seen in the photos below, some of the signs make little sense for our area and seem to support a call to oust Wisconsin governor Scott Walker. Others just made no sense at all, spouting the usual anti-war, anti-corporate stuff widely seen, while ignoring that the legislation Wisconsin just passed affects Public Unions that are draining the struggling middle class of tax dollars, not Private Unions that remain subject to the disciplines of the marketplace.
Given that the announcement listed 41 professional left-wing sites, I’m really surprised more people didn’t attend and it wasn’t better organized. Vancouver’s “Defend the American Dream” didn’t even rate bused in protesters like other areas have received.
At least Vancouver’s event was actually peaceful, when I left.
