On the Ground at the “One Nation” March
- Posted on October 3, 2010 at 12:20am by
Meredith Jessup
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Hundreds
of buses streamed into the nation‘s capital in Saturday’s early morning
hours, bringing thousands of liberal and progressive demonstrators to
the National Mall for the “One Nation Working Together” rally — an
event meant as a hopeful counter to conservatives’ resent resurgence in
America.
Your loyal news staff at The Blaze was on the ground to get an accurate picture of who showed up, what brought the various labor, special interest and ideological groups together and what kind of message they hoped to send to the rest of America with their collective voice.
I arrived at the scene this afternoon to find a steady flood of people walking away from the Lincoln Memorial only halfway through the scheduled rally program. I soon learned that they all had buses to catch–most had arrived in town this morning and most would leave before the sun began to set.
Within minutes one becomes quickly acquainted with the landscape’s color scheme: red shirts = CWA union members; light blue shirts = teachers union members; dark blue shirts = auto workers; and, of course, the infamous purple shirts of the SEIU.
With crucial midterm elections just a month away, the message of
today’s rally was clear: conservative policies such as endless war,
racism, pollution, hate and division have hurt the country’s working
people and voters have had enough. By and large, today’s message was
about finishing the “change” they started with the election of
President Barack Obama in 2008.
The first people I spoke to were a captive audience, waiting
patiently in the long lines for the restrooms. Two teachers from New
York told me about how their union — the American Federation of
Teachers (AFT) — had arranged their transportation to Washington for
the march, an event they learned about from their union leadership.
When I asked what message they hoped to send with their attendance
today, they insisted that the nation’s public schools are failing
students because of a lack of funds.
Earlier in the week I spoke to AFT spokesman George Jackson who stressed that the teachers union became involved with today’s “One Nation” rally as a way to “bring people together” from all different backgrounds. “There is a concern about where we are as a nation,” Jackson told me,” a recognition that we need all ideologies — not liberal versus conservative — everyone has an idea to offer.”
While he said the AFT was looking forward to “a great march,” Jackson declined to comment when I inquired what commonalities AFT felt it had with other groups endorsing the march, including Communist Party USA and Planned Parenthood. According to Jackson, AFT sent 200 buses of members “from across the country” to Washington today.
Making my way toward the Lincoln Memorial from the Washington Monument I bumped into four men having a spirited discussion about Fox News. One of the men — a member of Brooklyn for Peace — was eager to share his thoughts with me. “I would not go near Glenn Beck, he’s a total idiot,” he said. “So is Sean Hannity; they don’t tell the truth. And Fox News — or as I call it ‘Fraud News’ — because they don’t tell the truth, they lie.” When I asked him if he had a preferred source for his news, he condemned the “corporate-owned media” and replied, “Jon Stewart and, uh, Stephen Colbert. And the internet.”
After speaking with a group of people from Boston working with Jobs With Justice-affiliate City Life/Vida Urbana –a Boston-based group that opposes mortgage foreclosure “any place, anywhere, anytime,” I asked a group of health care workers what they thought of President Obama‘s plans to reform the country’s health care system.
Three SEIU members from United Health Care Workers – East out of Brooklyn, N.Y., had mixed opinions about “Obamacare,“ calling the plan ”good and bad.” They praised expanding health insurance to low-income individuals, but lamented that it was “more than enough” to extend children’s coverage to age 26. “They should have [coverage] until the age of 21,” one man told me. “After that, they should be out of the house and working.”
The SEIU members also weighed in with suggestions for education reform and condemned charter schools for their “demands” on children. “They put too much (sic) strong demands on even on little kids — four years old — they want them to have concentration like they are in concentration camps,” one woman told me.
Overall, the three SEIU members all gave the Obama administration a “thumbs up” for job performance. “The only ones who are going to give a ‘thumbs down’ at this point are the tea party Republicans; they’re dragging down his ratings,” they told me. “Just let him do his job.”
Further down the Mall I came across a gentleman encouraging marchers to”Stop Ryan!” John Heckenlively is a Democrat running to unseat incumbent GOP Rep. Paul Ryan and says he made the trip from Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District to meet like-minded people. To grab the attention of passersby, Heckenlively and his campaign assistants asked them to help him defeat Ryan, “Glenn Beck’s best friend in Congress.” In this crowd, it seems, Glenn Beck’s name definitely draws attention… of the negative sort.
Heckenlively condemned Congressman Ryan’s “Roadmap” budget planned,
which he characterized as an attempt to privatize Social Security. When
I asked him how he would help solve the shortfalls facing the
entitlement program, he responded: “We‘re assuming there’s a serious
problem which there really is not. Social Security is solvent until
2037 if we do absolutely nothing. So, all you really need to do is
fairly modest changes in the system — things like raising the cap — and
Social Security is solvent for the foreseeable future.”
I wished Heckenlively a safe trip back to Wisconsin and continued toward the front of the rally where I met a 40-year veteran teacher from Lima, Ohio. As a member of the National Education Association (NEA), the educator speculated that “oppression” from “corporate greed” brought marchers to Washington Saturday. “Trying to take pension systems away, trying to make jobs lower-paying than normal, shipping jobs overseas — it all seems like a ploy to further the cause of the rich,” she told me. Like other teachers I met at the rally, she insisted the schools needed better funding and the property tax system for funding local schools was “unfair.”
At this point I had spoken with dozens of individuals and walked about three miles. I parked myself on a bench to take in the scenery of the bright autumn day, but it was interrupted by the noticeable presence of trash scattered about the grounds.
Rally signs and water bottles littered the area and trash cans
spilled other refuse out to where passing pedestrians kicked it down
the sidewalk.
The marchers left the Mall today in a condition that paled in
comparison to the pristine scenery left behind by 8/28′s “Restoring
Honor” crowd.
As the small remaining crowd dispersed, I noticed this man:
Your loyal news staff at The Blaze was on the ground to get an accurate picture of who showed up, what brought the various labor, special interest and ideological groups together and what kind of message they hoped to send to the rest of America with their collective voice.
I arrived at the scene this afternoon to find a steady flood of people walking away from the Lincoln Memorial only halfway through the scheduled rally program. I soon learned that they all had buses to catch–most had arrived in town this morning and most would leave before the sun began to set.
Within minutes one becomes quickly acquainted with the landscape’s color scheme: red shirts = CWA union members; light blue shirts = teachers union members; dark blue shirts = auto workers; and, of course, the infamous purple shirts of the SEIU.
Color-coded activists
Earlier in the week I spoke to AFT spokesman George Jackson who stressed that the teachers union became involved with today’s “One Nation” rally as a way to “bring people together” from all different backgrounds. “There is a concern about where we are as a nation,” Jackson told me,” a recognition that we need all ideologies — not liberal versus conservative — everyone has an idea to offer.”
While he said the AFT was looking forward to “a great march,” Jackson declined to comment when I inquired what commonalities AFT felt it had with other groups endorsing the march, including Communist Party USA and Planned Parenthood. According to Jackson, AFT sent 200 buses of members “from across the country” to Washington today.
Making my way toward the Lincoln Memorial from the Washington Monument I bumped into four men having a spirited discussion about Fox News. One of the men — a member of Brooklyn for Peace — was eager to share his thoughts with me. “I would not go near Glenn Beck, he’s a total idiot,” he said. “So is Sean Hannity; they don’t tell the truth. And Fox News — or as I call it ‘Fraud News’ — because they don’t tell the truth, they lie.” When I asked him if he had a preferred source for his news, he condemned the “corporate-owned media” and replied, “Jon Stewart and, uh, Stephen Colbert. And the internet.”
After speaking with a group of people from Boston working with Jobs With Justice-affiliate City Life/Vida Urbana –a Boston-based group that opposes mortgage foreclosure “any place, anywhere, anytime,” I asked a group of health care workers what they thought of President Obama‘s plans to reform the country’s health care system.
Three SEIU members from United Health Care Workers – East out of Brooklyn, N.Y., had mixed opinions about “Obamacare,“ calling the plan ”good and bad.” They praised expanding health insurance to low-income individuals, but lamented that it was “more than enough” to extend children’s coverage to age 26. “They should have [coverage] until the age of 21,” one man told me. “After that, they should be out of the house and working.”
The SEIU members also weighed in with suggestions for education reform and condemned charter schools for their “demands” on children. “They put too much (sic) strong demands on even on little kids — four years old — they want them to have concentration like they are in concentration camps,” one woman told me.
Overall, the three SEIU members all gave the Obama administration a “thumbs up” for job performance. “The only ones who are going to give a ‘thumbs down’ at this point are the tea party Republicans; they’re dragging down his ratings,” they told me. “Just let him do his job.”
Further down the Mall I came across a gentleman encouraging marchers to”Stop Ryan!” John Heckenlively is a Democrat running to unseat incumbent GOP Rep. Paul Ryan and says he made the trip from Wisconsin’s 1st Congressional District to meet like-minded people. To grab the attention of passersby, Heckenlively and his campaign assistants asked them to help him defeat Ryan, “Glenn Beck’s best friend in Congress.” In this crowd, it seems, Glenn Beck’s name definitely draws attention… of the negative sort.
John Heckenlively
I wished Heckenlively a safe trip back to Wisconsin and continued toward the front of the rally where I met a 40-year veteran teacher from Lima, Ohio. As a member of the National Education Association (NEA), the educator speculated that “oppression” from “corporate greed” brought marchers to Washington Saturday. “Trying to take pension systems away, trying to make jobs lower-paying than normal, shipping jobs overseas — it all seems like a ploy to further the cause of the rich,” she told me. Like other teachers I met at the rally, she insisted the schools needed better funding and the property tax system for funding local schools was “unfair.”
At this point I had spoken with dozens of individuals and walked about three miles. I parked myself on a bench to take in the scenery of the bright autumn day, but it was interrupted by the noticeable presence of trash scattered about the grounds.
Garbage at the World War II Memorial
As the small remaining crowd dispersed, I noticed this man:
Hmm… Faith, Hope and Charity. Where have I heard that before?
After striking up a conversation, I
learned this Silver Spring, Md., resident also attended the “Restoring
Honor” rally on 8/28 and came to Saturday’s march because he thought it
was “important to see the other sides and come to my own conclusions.“
When I asked him what ”conclusions” he came to today, he said, people
seem to be divided “emotionally.”
“I think there are some fundamental things
going on in our country right now economically that we have to come
together on, I don’t care what your political viewpoint is. But my sign
and me coming here is more than just being political,” he said.” It’s
just a way for me to get engaged with how people are feeling… the
message is universal.”
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