Sharing this narrative from Eaton: Today I attended the Black Lives Matter demonstration at The Summit on Highway 280. I was at a friends house doing some painting, and he told me it was announced on a local television station that the demonstration had been postponed, so the organizers could get a permit. A few minutes later he came and told me that there was some uncertainty about the cancellation, but also that he had seen on television an army of state troopers parked on an overpass nearby, and paddy wagon buses parked at the ready. At 2:00 I changed out of my work clothes and headed down Pump House Road. On the way changed to a local radio station to see if there was any information. I heard a single sentence fragment announcement just after I had changed to AM 960 WERC, Angie Norvell, the regular top of the hour voice one would expect said, Todays demonstration cancelled.... Thats it... Thats all she said. Is that weird? In case you dont know for sure, yes, it is. The misinformation had come from a man who turned out to be in Arizona. But some of the media just ran with it, wrong as it was. I drove to The Collonade and parked. I walked from there under the freeway exit, under Highway 280, and climbed up under it and walked over the bridge and up the hill to The Summit, where the demonstration was held. Its a pretty long walk. My legs were tired when I got there, and I needed to pee, but I made it over two hours somehow. Diane handed me a sign reading, THIS STOPS TODAY. Though this sounded like wishful thinking I accepted the sign. At one point a man who had been speaking to the crowd came around and told us a couple of guys were going to block a lane on 280 and get arrested, and they did block the lane, not sure about arrests. Another speaker called for Chief Roper to come down and speak to his citizenry. He didnt. But overall the cops were very cool about it, because the city cant afford to be blabbety-blab about civil rights and then arrest demonstrators. Its time for us to exploit this fact. When the group went across the highway to the Chevron I decided to head back to the truck, and Kily, who had parked where I did walked with me, but just before we left an older black officer walked by and tanked us. He sounded genuine. All in all and very good demonstration, and a great spot for it. Thanks to everyone who participated. Ill be posting more about it as I find stories and photos. Local news-caster Mike Royer said on the Channel 13 report that the police were there to make sure the protest stayed peaceful. WE made sure it was peaceful, so they didnt have to. Its not a violent movement.
Posted on: Sat, 20 Dec 2014 18:53:40 +0000
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