Guest blogged by Winter Patriot
This thread is intended as a place to talk about vigils in your area, your plans for this evening, and any de-briefing you may feel like contributing afterwards.
Please don’t go OT on this thread. There’s an open thread immediately below for everything else.
This might be a good place to remind you that tonight’s gatherings will be ideal places to spread the word about The Whispering Campaign … And please bring a few pages with you. Or, better yet, stop by Kinko’s along the way, and bring a whole stack of them!
Candle light vigil tonight in Sacramento.
At the old courthouse 9th and I street at 7:30.pm
So many locations here to choose from ! But we will attend the candle light vigil tonight at the Wellington Green Mall, in Wellington Fl.(Palm Beach County) at Forrest Hill and 441, 7:30pm
Did someone provide the link for locating nearby vigils tonight?
In case they didn’t:
Candlelight vigils August 17 in support of Cindy Sheehan
Y’all be careful tonight.
Peace.
In Nashville, the Orange State capital, we will vigil at the Parthenon in Centenniel Park at 7:30 pm. With this afternoon’s cooling rains, it should be a much more pleasant night to come together and hope (and pray) that our Iraqi madness will end soon, before more Caseys must be planted and more Cindys must have their hearts uprooted.
We’ll be here, doing our part in Wichita.
I must be the first back from the vigils. Also my first time to comment– after reading you guys since the election. It helps keep me sane more or less. In Ames, Iowa, we had 30 signed up and about 65 or 70 who came. I wish there were more young people–lots of middle age and on up. Couldn’t find my peace sign necklace but could have worn my old McGovern button. Kind of fun to do this again. Hope it helps!
Just back from my local vigil. I was interviewed by the press coz I just got back from Crawford. I must tell you that I really really really really hate to be photographed so this was a huge sacrifice for me. My kids have not been able to take a pic of me for over 10 years. I’m that camera shy. BUT I HAD TO BE THE MEDIA…so I did it. Hope I didn’t look too stupid.
I went to a vigil in Bel Air, Maryland where I grew up (about 20 miles away), although there were about 7 other large vigils taking place near by.
I took some pictures and also made contact with the photographer for the local paper there who was taking pictures. Yes, the small paper was covering it. Will post pictures as soon as I get them developed. The Aegis should post the pictures on their website tomorrow. Will get in touch with the photographer again, I hear he is very good.
I would say there were probably about 40 people there, standing in front of the courthouse in Bel Air.
Most people, in the supposed "Bush supporting" county, drove by and honked approval. Only one idiot yelled out the window of his redneck pick up truck "SUPPORT OUR TROOPS" To which I yelled back "we DO support the troops."
Hope some of you post pictures here.
J.
Over 200 people of all ages gathered for a vigil in Long Beach, California. Motorists were honking in support. The longer we marched, the more cars came to support us. The event was covered by tv, radio and newspaper reporters and photographers.
This is just the beginning.
Over 250 people gathered at main beach in Laguna Beach. I was happily surprised by the amount of support from the commuters. Considering it’s South Orange County, It gave me a lot of hope.
Here in Wichita, Kansas, at least 90 people showed up to support the candle-light vigil, at the Peace and Social Justice Center of South Central Kansas, for Cindy Sheehan, the Gold Star mother staying at Camp Casey, Crawford, Texas, demanding to see the president.
People lined the streets, some with candles, some with posters, others with flags. One mother brought a picture of her son who was sent to Iraq yesterday.
Some of the posters said “Let the Iraqis patrol Iraq.” Others just said to get out.
There was a unity to the purpose of the crowd, not only in support of Cindy Sheehan, but that the war had to come to an end and the US had to leave.
One woman talked of being at the site at Crawford and some people, present, talked of making a trip there to support her.
For more information:
http://ottoswarroom.blogspot.com/
Over 250 people gathered at main beach in Laguna Beach. I was happily surprised by the amount of support from the commuters. Considering it’s South Orange County, It gave me a lot of hope.
In the very rural southern oregon coastal town of Reedsport there was assembled approximately 20 of us. There was a lot of positive and enthusiastic feedback…, honking, thumbs up and smiles.
Hundreds showed up at our vigil at a very busy intersection in our area of Seattle. All four corners jam packed with good solid folks holding candles and signs. The responce from the traffic was overwhelming. Honking horns and peace signs everywhere. It was amazing. Can’t think of a better way to support our troops.
BRING THEM HOME NOW.
I was unable to attend the vigil tonight but my heart was with Cindy, the troops, and all of you who stood in the Light.
I live in Laguna Beach and am happy to hear about the big turnout. Some friends attended a vigil in Costa Mesa at 19th and Newport with about 60 people and had tremendous support from the commuters in that O.C. city as well.
The peace vigil/rally for Cindy is Friday in my town (Bend, OR). Downtown at 8:30. Not sure why it wasn’t tonight, but there are regular peace rallies every Friday. I’m planning on making it. We are the red part of Oregon, but getting bluer every day.
Anyone see Seymour Hersh on The Daily Show last night? He scared the heck outta me. Says something really big (bad) is being planned in Iraq and we need to get the troops home NOW. Is anyone in the government listening???
re #6 Thanks for speaking up, Doodles. It ‘s good to be reminded that there are people reading us who never — or hardly ever — say anything. There are more Brad Bloggers out there than you might think!
Reading all the post-vigil reports has been very inspiring, so thanks to everyone who contributed them. Thanks also to Anon, who didn’t report on his/her vigil yet; it’s so great to read that the red part of Oregon is getting bluer every day. That’s not an isolated phenomenon, either. It’s happening all over the country. Or in most parts, anyway.
JPentz is right to say the whole country is really purple, but it’s nice to see the shade of purple getting deeper and deeper.
Huge crowd, at least 400, was out at candlelight vigil in Eugene at the federal building! Very cool. Brought home a flyer, "America Stands With Cindy." 😉
At least 300 people at the Veteran’s Memorial Park in Beaverton, Oregon, a suburb of Portland.
Draped on the memorial was a pristine vintage American flag with a peace sign in the star field.
Very subdued yet focused. We stood in big circle, sang a few choruses of "Give Peace a Chance," greeted one another and talked quietly.
Passing SUV’s (this is suburbia) slowed down. There were some professional photographers and one small television camera. We made a pretty impressive crowd, filling the small triangular park.
I met some ladies who live a few blocks from me.
And told everybody to get on the BradBlog!
Vigils to support Sheehan protest (BBC online)
More than 1,000 anti-war vigils have been held around the United States in support of a bereaved mother protesting outside President Bush’s Texas ranch.
more
Cindy Sheehan "the REAL uniter"
Here in Portland, Oregon, we had at least ONE really big vigil. At 23rd & Hoyt we had somewhere between 250 and 500 very well behaved candle and sign holders that spanned 3 generations of anti-war protest and ages 6 to 75.
There were at least 3 different broadcast media present and a photo-journalist from our local daily rag THE OREGONIAN. I looked on the paper’s website this a.m. and couldn’t find any coverage of the event so I wrote a letter to their new editor asking if I was just stupid and couldn’t find it.
Event was really WONDERFUL from a personal emotional point-of-view. It was just so good to see that some people have HOPE and haven’t given up.
Of course, the numbers will need to multiply exponentially for it to actually change anything, but everything must start somewhere, and this event did NOT have a lot of lead-time.
There were many other events in the Portland area, though this was looking like it was going to be the biggest in the early eve last night based on RSVP’s. Would like to hear if any of the other ones had good crowds and/or media coverage.
I refused to upset myself by scanning the MSM looking for whether they were going to run any of the footage they collected.
Charlie L
Portland, OR
CLL2001@Gmail.com
P.S. For future reference and a little "hint" on dealing with the media, the fellow from the newspaper who came and stood next to us (big digital camera, didn’t take out his notebook until he was talking to somebody else, so I thought he was a "photog" at first and didn’t realize he was a "photojournalist" and he wasn’t wearing press creds) started his conversation with "I’m from the Oregonian. Would it be OK if I stood here and took some pictures." He engaged my wife and I in conversation and seemed very supportive, but never did say he was more than a photographer. Be careful what you say to media people, especially if they come off friendly — they may be looking to get you to open up enough that you say something they can discredit you (and the event and the movement by extension) with.
re #21 Charlie: There will always be people who are looking to discredit you / the event / the movement … even to the point of planting phony "demonstrators" who then "turn violent" … it’s been done before, and it worked well; I don’t think we should forget that.
But in my view we cannot allow ourselves to be governed by fear of being slimed. The media have less credibility than ever, and they are wasting their last slime trying to discredit Cindy Sheehan. We must continue to speak the truth, and to live it. Soon nobody will believe the slime-mongers anyway. Thanks for your report, and much else. Cheers and best wishes!
I’m posting what I wrote in response to MoveOn’s request for info about the vigils:
"I attended a vigil in a Miami park. Lots of good people, very peaceful, no bad incidents. I’d estimate the crowd to be about 120-150 people, old/young, gay/straight, black/white; several families with children; dogs were well represented, one with a sign reading DOGS FOR CINDY!. :o)
One good fellow had brought alot of signs–saying BRING THEM HOME NOW; STOP THE WAR; and some saying (in Spanish) WE SUPPORT YOU, CINDY!
For me personally the best moment was telling a woman with a microphone ‘bush has finally united the country!’"
There were people with what looked to me like "professional" cameras & mikes, so I hope the press reports on it.
The local organizer spoke briefly, then one man with a nephew in Iraq read a letter he had written to Cindy, very moving.
After everyone had candles lit & it got darker, we lined the road & I was amazed at the response from passing cars…not just honking, but LONG & SUSTAINED HONKING, people hanging out car windows yelling support! Very enthusiastic & supportive response & I did not witness a SINGLE negative response..which I found pretty amazing.
Note to the two nice guys–hey, they COULD be Bradblog readers!–who offered to help guide me back home (I was a BIT far from my own turf & had half-jokingly said that I didn’t know HOW the hell I’d find my way back):
Thanks for being so nice, and I only got a tiny bit lost on my way home!
Is it too politically incorrect to say that I got the impression those two nice guys were gay? and the two nice guys in the convenience store I stopped at for directions were black? and it was no surprise to me that they were all nice….I’m a small, middle-aged, straight, white lady, and I just talk to people, finding in my travels that it’s such bullshit to be afraid to approach people who are a different color/age/orientation/whatever from me…I talk to people & 9 out of 10 times (oftener, really) I find nice people, ready to help, converse, & be friendly.
I don’t say that to suggest that this makes me somehow ‘noble’ or anything like that. Not at all. And I do run into my share of nutjobs! I’m just saying….
Ah, you guys know what I’m saying!
Thank you, Cindy! And thank you, George-you-pathetic-weasel for finally actually being a uniter hahaha!! God, how you all sleep at night is simply beyond comprehension.
Great experience, I learned so much. Good local media coverage. People support Cindy’s message and are angry. They want answers, action and information. Lots of interest in the Whispering Campaign, and other leafleting projects such as Opt Out. People are fed up, which is going to make it hard to keep the focus on Cindy’s message, but we must try to do that!
Charlie L (21) Your PS is very good advice.
The Nashville event was very well attended (over 300 people) and involved folks standing in a large circle in the rain (which we really needed) in front of the Parthenon in Centenniel Park. All four TV stations covered the vigil and all but Fox (what a surprise) gave the Nashville vigil good coverage on the 10:00 pm news. I saw a Vietnam vet interviewed who said we needed to get the troops out of this "immoral war" NOW. They also introduced the vigil story with news from Iraq and from Camp Casey. (The Fox affiliate did a story on Camp Casey but nothing about the local vigil.)
Vigils in middle Tennessee also occurred on the main highway in Summertown, outside the Farm (a large, three decade old commune there) and in Clarksville, the home of Ft. Campbell. I look forward to hearing from both of those vigils. Ft. Campbell is shipping out 18,000 soldiers to Iraq, some for the third time now. I know the Clarksville Free-thinkers made that vigil a meaningful event — they always do. They have been holding candlelight vigils at least monthly for the troops for more than a year now.
JOAN (23)
I understand what your saying about people, when I got home last night, I felt ‘clean’, having shared that time together, with such a group.
Sadly, W & friends probably sleep like babies.
Nice evening in Sacramento also. About 300-400 people showed up at the courthouse even though there were a total of 12 vigils within 20 miles here.
It was covered by the Sacramento Bee with a photo on the first page of the A section positioned to be visible at the news stand with the actual article appearing on the first page of Metro (B) section.
I hear there are to be more vigils localy on saturday.
The Bee mentions a person who came up on a bicycle and left in tears shortly after, although I did not see that myself.
The Bee has also been covering the Ohio govenor’s problems and has started to pick up on some other similar and related items.
Localy they are called the Left Wing and Liberal newspaper by the repubs, although I would consider it to the a little right of middle, particularily their political columnists.