Teach Your Children Well
Bush came to visit on Friday not without his own welcoming committee. Okay, so people weren’t really welcoming him. I took more pictures than I have in the past at other protests. This time, instead of focusing on capturing how many people were there (around 500-1,000 which is a great deal considering his coming here was a secret until just a couple days beforehand and it was held at noon on a Fri) I wanted to capture more of the whole experience. I want people to be able to look at these and see that protestors are really not extremists but hard working people who are concerned about America and want positive change. I also think it provides the background for an interesting characer setting. You really get to see the emotion in the faces of people. Click to see more (or just click on the blog title)
Another child holding a protest sign from World Can’t Wait. I really loved watching this little girl and I love when I see kids being taken to protests by their parents. What I find particularily touching about this photo is the way her father’s glove is visible on her shoulder. There’s a real sense of warmth there.
Reading this man’s sign, you can’t help but be touched by this huge sense of loss and the grief this administration has caused without a thought for the fallen.
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I really liked this man’s posture and face and the emotion they convey
This was a person standing in front of me, who simply held up two fingers to indicate his interest in peace when several limousines and gov’t protection vehicles drove by us (one of which Bush probably was in.) Let’s hope Bush likes to look out car windows.
Across the street from the hotel Bush was speaking at, we lined up and held up various signs.
I liked the sense this man in the bottom left corner conveys.
Again, I’m really drawn to looking at the people within the context of the picture.
This is a reflection of protestors from a passing CTA bus.
reflections of protestors across the street in the hotel windows
January 10th, 2006 at 1:14 am
Thanks for posting this, its nice to see photos like this, I always like your photos. That does seem like a lot of people to show up to protest for something that was not a major political event or even well known. I wonder how often this happens, I never hear about this stuff in the news, Its interesting to think people probably just heard about it a day or two before he arrived and wanted to show up.
I know that when Bush travels in other countries the reception is overwhelming against him, but in those cases everyone knows he is coming. Everything about the administration including his photo ops are so staged, it is so rare to hear or see the unvarnished fact. Its really great to see these people protesting, its very meaningful and inspiring. I am glad people are witness to truth and voice it and record it. the president doesn’t even seem real anymore, hes just like a phantom, a weird straggler of something that once was, flickering like old black and white television reruns. The public is so against him now, the power of the public in some ways is much greater than anyone wants to admit, this is a nice document you have presented, I like the ordinariness of it, the real life of it. it kind of amazes me that more than thirty pwople could get together and protest this man and his policies on a cold workday afternoon with practically no pre-notification.
I wish I could see back from the future and see how we look to them, these moments now what are they saying right now in the future?
January 10th, 2006 at 8:37 am
Thanks. It takes me a long time to edit and post pics so I am glad someone saw them. This was one of the smaller protests I have been to but that is because the hidden secret Pynchon-ian protest society didn’t have much time
I actually found out about this one through a friend I met while protesting the inauguration but there is also a website that has more info. about protests.
What my main point was is that I think there is still a stigma created around the idea of protestors. As in they are radicals and anarchists (the few self identified anarchists I’ve met actually voted so even anarchists aren’t too radical) But mainly, the people that come are those who have really lost loved ones or jobs or are just reasonable people who object to the administration’s policies. It’s very reasonable and level headed, despite what most people think.
The basic fact is this: most people aren’t there to cause violence or harm to any other human being. We are there because we believe in exercising the freedom our bill of rights gives us and to ensure we continue to have this right.