Judy Hanna is a candidate for Ohio State Senate - see http://judyhanna.com for details An Activist's Diary of Inauguration Day, January 20, 2005 by Judy Hanna "All who live in tyranny and helplessness when you stand for liberty we will stand with you democratic reformers we stand with you those who deny freedom to others do not deserve it themselves." George Bush, Inaugural Address, January 20. 2005. What about my pursuit of liberty and feeling of helplessness under the tyranny of my government who is intent to take away what I hold valuable, such as reproductive rights, a system of effective and efficient social welfare, and the services vital to my community that continue to diminish because of economic constraints? My quest on Coronation Day, part deux, was to gain for inspiration, to catch a glimpse of the great activists of our day, to hear their calls that we will continue to fight to stand what we believe in, that our rights are secure though a bit tenuous at the present time. I wanted to come back home invigorated that the power of the people will be heard and that hard won rights and scientific truth will continue to be the mantle in which we rally under. I was seeking the eloquence and inspiration of those luminaries who have motivated me to continue to work for the rights of all individuals, to hear the refrain that truth will prevail and rights will be preserved. Little did I see and hear that I had envisioned. At DuPont Circle, between 1500 and 2000 participated in the Woman's March and New Orleans Jazz Funeral Procession complete with coffins, chants, and cheers. The Raging Grannies from Detroit were a thrill!! I wonder how enraged the grannies became when they attempted to take their sign down to the parade route only to be told that though freedom and liberty is what the human race wants as its bestowed by its Creator, our American moral leadership does not allow for the Raging Grannies to have their first Amendment right of free speech granted. Though I did bear witness to Kim Gandy, President of the National Organization for Women (NOW), on a video clip via the internet from the event, I did not see her while I was at the march. As a matter of fact, I did not see many nationally recognized women leaders that certainly should have been heartened after the rousing success of the March for Women's Lives, in April 2004, and made their presence felt in DC on Inauguration Day. The stark reality that a women's right to choose hangs in the balance of a Supreme Court Justice's health, I ask what will drive you to get out in the streets and make your appearance known? We are all tired fighting for our rights, but we defeat ourselves by becoming fatigued in this fight for freedom and liberty, never mind equality and justice. "What we need is a velvet revolution!" Granny D Haddock exclaimed with frail voice that braved the cold in McPherson Park. Her clarity of principle and purpose, for building away from corporate greed and blatant capitalism that is running us all amuck and moving more towards the spirit of fairness and community. This is what I uphold as a moral value that we all should subscribe to! Cheers rang out for this woman, who at 95 is a great American who has been an agent for the cause of liberty and freedom and should be a Medal of Honor recipient. Oh, I forgot. She has been honest in her conviction to uphold the humanity of all the people living in our country and believing in fair and free elections and for all those who have the right to actually have their vote be cast and counted. Our President would rather honor George Tenet, Tommy Franks, and Paul Bremer, exemplary public officials, who have recognized their honor has been simply to shut up and follow orders. God Bless America! The absolute, apparent, rather blatant demonstration of might and force on, near, or surrounding the parade route was tremendous. Everywhere you turned there was no denying that you were being watched. Does this make us a police state? Where is the line between the individuals' rights as is defined in the Bill of Rights, and the collective notion that has befallen us that we must sacrifice for the sake of security? When did I consent to a full body search, and back pack inspection, as though my Sierra Club backpack, white, middle class, glasses on the face identity, was seen as a potential terrorist threat? Where does the line of authority and rights of the individual intersect? It must be that the backpack or water bottle could actually become a weapon of mass destruction. Security checkpoints along the parade route were quite militant in their approach to access and inspection. A man in camouflage gave a stern warning to me to delete a picture that I had just taken of the barricades and entrance tent. Not to be outdone I simply turned the camera off and asked why not be able to take a picture for posterity. His response? "Step out of the way ma'am you are not welcome down here." The line up the hill snaked for blocks and I asked, "Do you believe that these people are actually going get through the line in time to watch the parade?" He laughed and that said it all. Freedom and liberty aren't going to be happening here. Anarchists rallied along the streets chanting poignant remarks that held truth even for those who do not subscribe to their ideology. "Look how the government treats you, as though you are a criminal." Street dancing, drumming, freedom of expression was a good distraction when being faced with the reality that all people were detained on the presumption that one amongst us could be the real dirty bomber. Heck, we were almost all white Caucasians milling about, not the color of the profile of a potential killer waiting to wreak havoc on us all. I am proud to say that at one checkpoint I was easily able to get through inspection without not even having to step through a metal detector. I surmise that this particular tent was in place to take care of those who were ticketed, privileged enough, invited to sit in the bleachers to watch the parade. I applaud this particular security detail in that they were kind, humorous, and understood the reality that we were all peaceful people. It was not until I read the newspaper the following day that at this particular corner a citizen was sprayed with pepper spray for overstepping some hypothetical bounds. In addition, a flag burning had occurred at the location as well; those democratic reformers were seeking liberty that the government was not going to support. No surprise that the media coverage gave scant coverage of the multiple events of protest throughout the city. As I watched some of my recorded coverage after arriving home, commentators exhibited disdain and a sense of mocking that large groups of people would venture out and protest the day. Reports from the parade route noted that there were limited sections inside the barricades for signs against the President could be brought in, though not held too high to be an obstruction. At my location on the parade route there was lively banter and chanting and signs held high enough to completely obstruct my vision of any movement along Pennsylvania Avenue. A woman, presumably Republican, goaded the crowd to cheer louder as she hurled insults down upon the mass from her perch in the bleachers. She didn't seem to recognize that the louder she became at calling us traitors, the louder the chanting became. I guess that is more and more the American way, to not be able to recognize truth as it is blatant in front of you. Carrying the White Man's Burden, this hedonistic philosophy that we in the west have the right answer for all those in the world who don't adhere to our standard, again cloaked in the red, white, and blue, is surely an insurmountable task. I only can wonder when one day we will recognize how deplorable we as a nation are at this time, repeating time over and over again. This tactic of needing to infringe on other governments and dictate to them what is best for their benefit is an ages old tradition started once upon a time by the first society that took over another society for the sake of their homeland security. Incredulous at how so many people are able to see the truth if you don't put identifiers on the language you are using, and you are able to describe a circumstance that all can accept as bad and evil and corrupt and exploitive. Once you begin to identify then names and places with the previously described scenario of a government hiding the truth, and breaking international law and not believing in another country's sovereignty; you say France and Great Britain and Russia and Rome and Egypt and Japan and China and people can agree that these governments built their fame at one time through exploitation, and just when you say the United States, people can no longer see the truth. It almost feels that you can't go on fighting for freedom and liberty of our own people, but why do they have to be so hard fought? We have had orators, documents, you name it, that have declared in principle of how to respect, promote truth and the general welfare. In this time in our country's history our government continues to infringe on these rights as gleefully and stubbornly as they want. Our leader waxes on so elegant that the United States is bringing freedom and democracy around the world though we have shown nothing but exploitation greed deceit and the world. No wonder then that so many people in the world exclaim, Oh God!! Home - Past Issues - eCards - Classifieds - Blog Spot - Free Subscription - About Us