An account of what it was really like from someone who was there!
There is no way to describe the energy, the camaraderie, and the unity for the over 2 million people who were in DC on September 12th, 2009. I have a sister who has lived in DC for over 25 years. She attended our current President’s inauguration, and she said this was the largest gathering of people on the mall that she has ever seen.
I am no stranger to large, love-fest crowds. I was on the mall in DC July 4th, 1985, when the Beach Boys played to a crowd of 750,000. I was at Woodstock in 1969, with over 400,000 people. Neither of these events can hold a candle to the memories I will forever have of the March on Washington, 2009.
The march down Pennsylvania Ave was to have started at 11:30 AM; however, almost 2 hours before that start time, the police said to start the march “NOW”, as the number of people gathered at the venue used for the starting point had already ‘maxed out’, including all the surrounding areas. The sound system was not adequate enough to get the word out to everyone, but that was not an issue in this crowd. We were 2 million people, but in reality we were one, in mind, and spirit. We were standing in the middle of the crowd, and as the people began to move in front of us, we like everyone else, followed suit and thus the march began.
The feeling of peace, among the roar of the crowd, was exhilarating. Being united with people from all over this country with like values and love of Country was a life changing experience.
I met people from all over this country, Alaska, Hawaii, New York, and Arkansas: A Chinese couple from California that heard about the March, hopped a plane and came, A couple that drove their camper from the State of Washington and were very excited as the camp ground was filled with people from all over who came for the March.
Over 400 busses descended on DC from all over this country, each filled with patriotic Americans.
As we marched and yelled, “USA, USA”, and sang “God Bless America”, we were all united.
Unlike the “Save our planet, Green People”, that were at the Woodstock, or the Inauguration, there was no trash littering any area after we left. The people that attended the March care about this country and how it is taken care of.
Unlike the Beach Boys concert or the Inauguration, the police were not needed to control the people attending. No arrests were made during the March on DC.
The crowd surrounded the capital and filled the Mall. But it wasn’t just a crowd - it was individuals, polite, caring, considerate, sharing and hugging, where in any other situation they would be considered strangers. There were no strangers here.
We had an appointment at Congressman Boyd’s office. Boyd was not in town - I guess after a month of vacation and town halls, and being in Washington for a week, he needed to get out of Washington - on our dime of course. But we met with a nice young man in his office who was very polite; however, he didn’t take notes, even though he had a piece of paper and pen in his hand. Poor fellow, he didn’t know when or why the EPA was started, nor that they had not fulfilled their mission after all these years and tax dollars. He didn’t know what the trade bought on the Energy, Cap and Trade bill. He informed us that Boyd wouldn’t vote for the health care bill as it written; however, we all know that keeps being revised. He could not give a definite on what type of bill Boyd would vote for I handed him the letters folks had written from Jackson County.
I could not get an appointment with Nelson. But letters were dropped off at his office.
The President and Vice President were also out of town. I think they all knew we were coming!
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