Who can resist a demonstration in downtown D.C. on a beautiful fall day? The short answer is almost every Washingtonian, except for an assortment of reporters and gawkers — and me. I am a sucker for demonstrations. They bring out the most interesting and odd sorts. So it was with high spirits and great expectations that I took myself down to Freedom Plaza Thursday at noon for the Occupy D.C. rally. Modeled after similar protests that began in Wall Street last month, the D.C. protest attracted hundreds of people who came to “occupy” the plaza across from the Wilson Building.
The protest signs said all and nothing. Among the array were: “Stop the Machine,” and “Subsidize Local Farmers,” and “Jobs — Health — Housing — Education!”
What, no Justice?
My favorite? “Stop Cheating Movie Go-ers!” Kyle Mitchell, who made the sign, handed out fliers that protested, among other things, “Lack of respect” for moviegoers. I would add soggy, high-priced popcorn.
Trying to seek some focus, I checked out a banner held between two tall gentlemen. It inveighed against the “WAR MACHINE.” Problem was the “A” in WAR was in the shape of a blue Star of David, an unmistakable reference to Israel. Just then Steven Silverberg, a D.C. civil rights lawyer, approached.
“I find that very offensive and anti-Semitic,” he said. “It hurts me. You are dividing some of your best allies.”
Michael Lappan, a Trenton, N.J., man who held one side of the banner — his father held the other — shrugged and begged to differ. “Our point is that the Israel lobby is the most influential in the country, and it’s involved in getting us into wars. We aren’t anti-Jewish; we’re anti-Israel.”
Silverberg shook his head and stalked off.
I predict this “occupation” will fizzle in the nation’s capital for three reasons:
It has no center, no focus, no heart.
Second, most participants are professional protesters rather than local folk. The Rev. Bruce Wright, who was sitting at the information desk, came up from Tampa, Fla. “I’ve been here many times,” he told me. “Anti-war rallies, the World Bank protests in 2000. We’re not just protesting this time. We’re occupying.”
Until he heads home in a few days.
Coleen Rowley had joined a caravan of protesters who had driven in from Minnesota. She had set up a tent on a strip of grass. At 12:25, Park Police Officer C.S. Coughlin told her to take it down. She wanted to debate. “When I come back in an hour,” he said, “if it’s not down I’ll take it.”
An hour later it was gone. So much for camping.
But this movement is doomed for sure if it adopts the mean-spirited, hateful message that came from rapper Ron Williams, who took the stage and told the crowd: “America loves to kill,” and “America eats oil and excretes fascism,” and “Shame, shame, shame.”
Thing is, Americans actually love their country. No shame in that. This occupation came off as destructive rather than hopeful — at times foul.
It almost ruined a sunny, autumn day.
Harry Jaffe’s column appears on Tuesday and Friday. He can be contacted at [email protected].
