I stood at the corner of 16th and Eye streets, looking to the North, waiting for the crowd to move down. First there was no sign of them, then the came forward slowly, marching toward me taking up the entire width of 16th Street. One by one the cross streets fell to the Police as they blocked traffic ahead of the march. The cute reporter took her position atop the stepstool and the Klieg lights again turned on. The camera crews with booms positioned themselves in the middle of the street, hoping to catch all manner of sounds from the crowd as they came by.
A man with a bullhorn and microphone set stood in front of the AFL-CIO and lead the green-shirted supporters in chants in Spanish and English before the crowd arrived. Slowly they overtook K street, with a massive banner 20 people wide, lead by a vanguard of men carrying American, El Salvadoran and Honduran flags. The news crews cleared the street in front of them to keep their picture pristine and photographers from everywhere snapped pictures of the sign and the crowd.
Little American Flags were all over the protest, dotting it like letters on a page, chants of ¡Si Se Puede! and USA USA! were common throughout the crowd, and signs read in Spanish and English “No person is illegal” and “We are immigrants, not criminals!” were common throughout the crowd.
The group stretched for five blocks and while it was mostly a Hispanic march, there were africans and whites and asians in the march as well. International ANSWER provided some of the signs, and there were also folks in the t-shirts bearing the International Workers’ of the World logos, and a group of anarcho-socialists who were arguing not just for the erasure of borders but laws as well.
Sadly, the card reader for my camera is sitting on my desk, so pictures will wait for tonight. Sitting in Pershing Park, thanking powers that be for Open Park, people are still headed for the Mall, but the traffic has mostly died down to normal rush hour levels and the world has not yet come to a fiery end as the day’s protests have been peaceful so far. Look for my pictures from the event later this evening, or enjoy Wayan’s as he’s posting direct from the scene.
This post appeared in its original form at DC Metblogs
I live and work in the District of Columbia. I write at We Love DC, a blog I helped start, I work at Technolutionary, a company I helped start, and I’m happy doing both. I enjoy watching baseball, cooking, and gardening. I grow a mean pepper, keep a clean scorebook, and wash the dishes when I’m done. Read Why I Love DC.
