The jury is still out. In other news, this past Saturday, I covered a large demonstration/march from the base of the Lincoln Memorial to the Pentagon. The march was organized by a national group called the A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism). They have a broad mission statement, as evidenced by their name, but I learned from speaking with the organizers that they believe they can achieve greater success by appealing to many different groups. Their approach appeared to work on Saturday, when over 10,000 people are estimated to have marched against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, among other causes. I've never covered any sort of protest before, and I figured my time in DC would not be complete without at least one large-scale demonstration. I met with the organizers a few times before Saturday to try and get a sense of just what goes into planning and carrying out an event of this scale. I will say, I was really impressed with how everything turned out. People came from all over the country to march, and it was refreshing to me to be surrounded by so much energy. Washington is full of a different type of advocacy: just about everything here is political, and social change is enacted in offices and behind podiums and bodyguards. Maybe I just haven't been here long enough; I am still kind of a visitor in this city. I just get the sense that people here are generally more conservative when it comes to activism. But I could be totally off. Anyway, so I covered my first protest, and it was exciting. I don't think there was that much mainstream media coverage of the event, but being on the ground and among the protesters, I was struck by their passion. Even in the midst of a new administration that has billed itself as the "Change we need," people are still willing to stand up and make themselves heard.
*check back soon for a link to a full-scale multimedia Thang I plan on putting together.
