First person report from DC March

September 20, 2009 · Posted in Roanoke Tea Party Posts 

September 13, 2009-  Washington was great!!!  There were wall-to-wall people.  The mainstream media will play it down as usual.  ABC did not even put it on my email headlines this morning. We did not get as much attention from them as “Elton John Wants to Adopt Ukrainian Child”. (N0 comment necessary) or “Saudi Minister Undergoes Surgery in US”.  Why did he not get surgery in his own country???  Could our system be better than his?????
We chose to drive to DC to accommodate our grandchildren. There were so many people they had to close down the streets into the city. The Metro was jammed, and we were fortunate to get out because we left early before the rally was over because we had children with us. There were people there from all over the US.  When looking from the base of the Capitol steps down the Mall, there was nothing but people.  We could not even get close enough to see the stage area. It was very encouraging to see so many and to feel the support that was obvious from everyone.  We had to stand in line for about an hour just to buy tickets for the Metro. Locals on the train said they had never seen this happen before.
The press did carry the story about 10,000 at a rally in California.  That was nothing compared to the crowd in DC. There must have been 300 on each of the Metro cars. There were 6-7 cars per train that ran constantly all day long.  One train we figured carried 2,000 every time it left the station. That happened about every 15 minutes. At this rate, it did not take long to get to 100,000 people coming in from five different directions. This continued all day. In addition, there were 450 busses parked in the bus lot in Fairfax, one of only many at the end of each line.  Many charter busses took their passengers straight into the city.
We were packed like sardines on the train, and we did not even get to train station until 11:30.  People started arriving on the mall at 7:00 AM and were still arriving when we left the mall area at 3:00. However, the closeness was OK as we had opportunity to talk to those around us who were just as frustrated at this government as we are.  We even sang songs as we rode Metro into town. There were citizens from every state, many having flown in for the rally.
Standing at the foot of the Capital, we could see just throngs of people from the steps all the way to Washington Monument and side-to-side from the Smithsonian to the Botanical Gardens- just wall-to-wall people. The news reports locally said that Homeland Security was taken off-guard at the vast number of people. Streets were blocked into the city, and there were many delayed schedules on the Metro. There were very few police, but there were no incidents of unrest or rudeness.  These were just law-abiding citizens, very polite and friendly. They were especially nice to our babies, Joshua and Samuel, and helped us maneuver the stroller to get on and off the Metro as well as to make our way into the crowds. Their remarks were all similar, “Look at the babies.  That’s why we are here.” Maybe we should have “rioted”. That would have surely gotten the media’s attention.
There were TEA Parties all over the country yesterday.  So we were not alone in our protests. We took pictures of the creative signs displayed- all hand made.  My favorite was one that said “Welcome Back, Carter”. One man’s T-shirt said, “Since when did a Moral Wrong become a Civil Right?  It doesn’t- Read the Bible.”  Many were in support of Joe Wilson and felt he had provided the best response to last week’s speech.
The media can stifle reports of the event, pretend it did not happen, down play the numbers, but America will not stand for that very long.  We know the truth and our voices will be heard.  Just wait until election time.
Sherry Hearn

Here’s a report on last week’s 09.12.09 March On Washington, from Roanoke Tea Party member Sherry Hearn, along with some more photos from the march taken by Tom Mealy.

Photo from the 09.12.09 March on Washington

Photo from the 09.12.09 March on Washington

September 13, 2009 –  Washington was great!!!  There were wall-to-wall people.  The mainstream media will play it down as usual.  ABC did not even put it on my email headlines this morning. We did not get as much attention from them as “Elton John Wants to Adopt Ukrainian Child”. (N0 comment necessary) or “Saudi Minister Undergoes Surgery in US”.  Why did he not get surgery in his own country??  Could our system be better than his??

We chose to drive to DC to accommodate our grandchildren. There were so many people they had to close down the streets into the city. The Metro was jammed, and we were fortunate to get out because we left early before the rally was over because we had children with us. There were people there from all over the US.  When looking from the base of the Capitol steps down the Mall, there was nothing but people.  We could not even get close enough to see the stage area. It was very encouraging to see so many and to feel the support that was obvious from everyone.  We had to stand in line for about an hour just to buy tickets for the Metro. Locals on the train said they had never seen this happen before.

The press did carry the story about 10,000 at a rally in California.  That was nothing compared to the crowd in DC. There must have been 300 on each of the Metro cars. There were 6-7 cars per train that ran constantly all day long.  One train we figured carried 2,000 every time it left the station. That happened about every 15 minutes. At this rate, it did not take long to get to 100,000 people coming in from five different directions. This continued all day. In addition, there were 450 busses parked in the bus lot in Fairfax, one of only many at the end of each line.  Many charter busses took their passengers straight into the city.

We were packed like sardines on the train, and we did not even get to train station until 11:30.  People started arriving on the mall at 7:00 AM and were still arriving when we left the mall area at 3:00. However, the closeness was OK as we had opportunity to talk to those around us who were just as frustrated at this government as we are.  We even sang songs as we rode Metro into town. There were citizens from every state, many having flown in for the rally.

Standing at the foot of the Capital, we could see just throngs of people from the steps all the way to Washington Monument and side-to-side from the Smithsonian to the Botanical Gardens- just wall-to-wall people. The news reports locally said that Homeland Security was taken off-guard at the vast number of people. Streets were blocked into the city, and there were many delayed schedules on the Metro. There were very few police, but there were no incidents of unrest or rudeness.  These were just law-abiding citizens, very polite and friendly. They were especially nice to our babies, Joshua and Samuel, and helped us maneuver the stroller to get on and off the Metro as well as to make our way into the crowds. Their remarks were all similar, “Look at the babies.  That’s why we are here.” Maybe we should have “rioted”. That would have surely gotten the media’s attention.

There were TEA Parties all over the country yesterday.  So we were not alone in our protests. We took pictures of the creative signs displayed- all hand made.  My favorite was one that said “Welcome Back, Carter”. One man’s T-shirt said, “Since when did a Moral Wrong become a Civil Right?  It doesn’t- Read the Bible.”  Many were in support of Joe Wilson and felt he had provided the best response to last week’s speech.

The media can stifle reports of the event, pretend it did not happen, down play the numbers, but America will not stand for that very long.  We know the truth and our voices will be heard.  Just wait until election time.

Sherry Hearn

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