Rally at the National Mall/ Washingrton Times

Reflections from a participant in Sunday’s rally at the National Mall: “At no time was president Obama nor his policies mentioned during the proceedings.  The entire affair was about as apolitical as a gathering can get.  True, most wore shirts which said something about congress and their propensity to ignore the will of the people, but nothing vocal nor hateful…a good portion were my age, around 60, so they probably remember Woodstock.”

At 7 this morning I was dismayed to find I had slept through my Alarm….I walked the four blocks to the Greenbelt, MD metro station and could see the crowd gathering already on the platform…ohhhh boy!   To top things off, metro still had the turnstiles set for evening rush hour the night before so there was only one available for the hundreds trying to get up to the platform!  What a way to start the day.   Met some nice people and gave them directions to the event and told them the best stops to get off to get to the other end of the Mall.  Had to switch trains and take one more stop to the Smithsonian.  My new friends and Iwalked the long walk to the opposite end of the mall past the Al Sharpton stage setting up (hardly anyone there).  I was surprised to see the old wooden stage still standing which was used by the Beachboys when I used to come down annually on the 4^th of July.

It only took us  45 minutes to an hour to get to the mall from Greenbelt, Maryland and nobody seemed in a rush and everyone was being courteous and letting families stay together and giving each other room!  People were offering each other water on the mall…a good portion were my age around 60 so probably remember Woodstock.  It was like a peace or love gathering, with everyone being so polite and nice to each other.    Since I was wearing my VFW cap…everyone shook my hand and said “thanks for your service” , but it really hurt my hand because when I woke up this morning it really hurt and I could hardly hold anything with it and get dressed in a hurry….don’t know what I did to it.

Some stayed back and set up their folding chairs towards the Washington Monument where they could still see one of the many “jumbo-trons” set up around the mall.  I elected to keep walking and see how far in front I could actually get.  At 9 AM it was totally packed on both sides of the reflecting pool (which still hasn’t been cleaned…those dirty birdies… by Park Service even though they got emergency funds for it as a “shovel ready” project).   I stopped and took a picture of NM and Florida pillars at the WWII Monument and pool but realized that if I wanted some pictures, I’d have to at least get on the other side of that massive granite structure to the reflecting pool side.

I was amazed at all the t-shirts everyone was wearing and knowing that I wouldn’t get close enough to a celebrity for a pic, starting collecting shots of some of these strange shirts, it became a hobby.  I got quite close to the main stage but realized that it was a poor vantage point rather than being further behind where one could see the jumbo-trons.  During my trip back to the WWII Memorial, I was surprised to see a huge hornet on my socks near my ankle and he/she let me have a real bad sting.  Good thing I’m not allergic but it sure hurt and swelled up.

Music played, then suddenly a flock of about 20 geese in perfect V formation flew over us and followed the reflecting pool down towards the Lincoln monument just as Glenn’s voice came over the speakers.   What a coincidence?  Talk about show business! But I know they couldn’t have planned that.

The speeches were powerful, short and to the point from Glenn as he introduced other individuals including an ancestor of the Mayflower pilgrims as well as a direct ancestor of one of the native Americans who met them.  The Mayflower preacher gave the invocation, we said the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the National Anthem.  Glenn said a few words and mentioned great Americans that he respected such as Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington and MLK (Martin Luther King).  MLK was mentioned approximately 20 times in the first 20 minutes but nobody mentioned that MLK didn’t belong only to blacks but to ALL OF US,  and how it was appropriate that as we honor heroes of the past that we remember him.  The main point was America has to “return to God” since it was founded on faith in God.  We were also there to help raise money for the Special Operations Warriors Foundation (many of these heroes were from my hometown near Hurlburt AFB, Florida).  The foundation wanted to raise enough money to send 500 surviving children of “heroes” to college.  Mothers of wounded and dead warriors were introduced by Sara Palin who talked about her son in the service.  At no time was president Obama nor his policies mentioned during the proceedings.  The entire affair was about as apolitical as a gathering can get.  True, most wore shirts which said something about congress and their propensity to ignore the will of the people, but nothing vocal nor hateful.  Nobody gave out congressional addresses hoping that someone would “TP” their residences.  Everything remained peaceful with cheers and applause for the many heroes we were introduced to. 

After a couple hours I was really over heated and tired and knew that it was going to be horrible getting back.  I started working my way to the rear lying to people saying I was going to stand in line for a porta-pottie (I’d never use one of those!).  On the way some others that were sneaking away early and I came across 6 individual protesters with signs saying Glen was a “racist”.  I thought this was incredibly unfair since Glenn has his Founding Father Fridays where he brings college history professors on to share stories of our founders and once a month he devotes this to Blacks and their early history in the colonies.  I learned more African American History from those monthly shows then I ever learned in college.  I learned of the famous black spy who helped us win the battle of Yorktown.  The first casualties at the Boston Massacre and Concord were blacks and that in the early colonies, usually a community could only afford one church which was also their community hall and those churches were usually integrated black and white. Also, that we had a brilliant black who was the first black speaker of the house (fourth in line to presidency) in the later 1800s.  I was said you needed a dictionary and a thesaurus to follow him because he was that sharp.  So much for Glenn Beck being a racist! Another sign implied that if you are against government “giveaways” that you are against “poor blacks”.   Huh?   Give it up Reverend AL!  Last time I looked there were plenty of poor white folks in this country also, so you don’t have a ‘lock” on that claim just like you don’t realize that there were plenty of what would loosely be called white slaves in early colonial days in the form of “indentured servants” who sometimes had to work for menial or non-existent wages for many years before they “earned” their freedom.  Rev King’s niece was there with Glenn honoring her uncle.  She is presently Chairman of the MLK foundation.  One of the key ideas in this gathering is that AMERICANs must take care of their country’s future ‘TOGETHER.  Perhaps Reverend Sharpton would have been better off bringing his small crowd (very poor showing) down to the rest of the mall as there were many blacks in attendance for the Glenn Beck presentation and then he and his racist followers would have realized that they would have been welcomed with open arms and we would’ve all been able to honor Martin Luther King TOGETHER.  Those protesters were basically ignored as they were too small a group and I overheard one elderly lady say…..”Pray that one day God opens their eyes”.  There was absolutely no malice, hatred or anger shown to the protesters.

Anyway finally got to a subway and got to the apartment and collapsed before downloading pictures and video and writing my summary of things as they were.  It was really a good peaceful gathering and everyone was friendly and courteous.  On my walk back up the mall I was amazed that even with probably 500,000 already there and two hours into the program, people were still arriving in droves…..    I hope all future gatherings on the National Mall will be so peaceful.

Postscript: What I saw today was "history", this was a "civil rights" march or call that was peaceful but  not just for "whites." It was a call for civil rights for AMERICANS (and there were blacks there....so it was a call for black white, green, brown, whatever.... ) and Glenn Beck was honest and open and that's what MLKs niece said also.....Rev Sharpton still upset and on Geraldo was claiming that they were doing "different things"...no they weren't...this was civil rights for "everyone" and what Glenn said came from his heart and people knew it...Ms King noticed and I and others knew it was genuine feeling.  Sharpton was only upset that the spotlight wasn't on him...They raised over 5 million for warriors fund.  This was perhaps a predominantly white gathering but there were many of other colors, ethnicities and races in the throng....It was, indeed, a "rainbow" crowd.