There was a whole lotta hoopla over Rick Perry's Fringe Christian prayer meeting, but it should be known that there were protests against it. The Austin March & Rally was themed "Rick Perry: Bad for Texas, Worse for our nation" and was organized by the Travis Co. Dems. The inspiration behind this rally was mainly to start getting the word out about Perry, since it looks highly likely that he will enter the Presidential race soon. People marched and rallied under the beating sun of a day where the temperature got up to 104°F (40°C), and there were a few hundred people there.
I thought that all the speakers, who ranged from clergy to politician, were fantastic. I have long been an admirer of Reverend Jim Rigby, who is known for his activism for civil rights and social welfare. Don't be turned-off by the fact that he's clergy, he hits it out of the park (as usual). All the talks were short.
Also recorded Rep. Lloyd Doggett's talk, we really think a lot of Doggett, and are glad to be represented by him.
Another speaker (who I wished I'd recorded) was Rev. Eliza Galaher, an openly gay Unitarian Universalist minister of Wildflower Church. Her talk kicked ass too. Same for State Reps. Eliott Naishtat and Dawnna Dukes. It's events like this that we have to show the world that not everybody in Texas is a nutjob. There is sanity here, as there is in pockets everywhere.
A small selection of the signs, you will see a lot more in this TV coverage and on FB.
No Theocracy. And no TEAocracy either!!
Links:
Event
Facebook gallery
KXAN TV coverage
6 comments:
Typical - protests so rarely covered. There was sparse coverage of the many anti-war protests leading up to the preemptive strike in Iraq. Hell, the Tea Party gained strength because the media couldn't stop talking about them.
Did you catch the Bachman story in the New Yorker? Scary, scary shit. She almost makes Palin seem normal.
Great signs! Make your voices heard!
and something that flew under the radar..in houston they were giving away free school supplies and shots, etc. they had stuff for 40,000, and over 100,000 showed up...
Thanks for sharing these videos.
While I'm not a religious person, Jim Rigby's speech brought tears to my eyes. Why are there not more people out there like him? Why can't their voices be heard over the shouting and screeching of Palin, Perry, Bachmann, etc.?
I do not understand this great ball of human stupidity that is rolling downhill now, picking up more and more fools that just happen to be standing in the way. This ball will just crush us all, conservative and liberal alike.
Just linked to that Jim Rigby video on Facebook with a link to your blog. Hope that's ok.
re: Rigby - More of Jim Rigby can be found at The Rag Blog (and of course, google searching, as he has activism history), and I'd also like to recommend Davidson Loehr, a non-Christian Reverend. Yeah, as a non-religious non-believer, it takes a lot to impress me, and these guys do.
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