Mississippi madness
This shit is wild:
A third day of anti-abortion rallies and counter-demonstrations in Jackson on Monday saw nine arrests, tires slashed, a false report that a fetus had been found in a downtown bank and a lawsuit filed against the city.
Huh. A bank fetus? Thankfully pro-choice activists are out in force, despite alleged unfair treatment by police:
They linked arms to form a line in the grass and chanted "my body, my right."Several officers told abortion-rights activists their signs were not permitted and to put them away or they would be removed from the area.
"We have provided a peaceful presence at these events," said Michelle Colon, president of the Jackson-area National Organization for Women. "And we're really disheartened at how horribly we've been treated here (by police)."
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because I keep all my unused fetuses in the bank . . .
their are so many disheartening aspects of that story.
The fetus in the bank is genius. I wish I knew the number of the police there....I have some work to do.
Jessica writes:
They linked arms to form a line in the grass and chanted "my body, my right."
And I'm proud to say that my arms were linked right there, though we actually chanted a whole bunch of stuff. My favorite was "From Jack-son to D.C. / no fa-scist the-o-cra-cy!"
Today, the OSA idiots tore up a Qur'an and destroyed a rainbow flag--moving on from low-income women who need abortions to Muslims and gays. One wonders if Mexican immigrants are next, since they seem to be trying to cover all the bases.
So far, I've spent 20 hours this week at pro-choice events. A quick rundown:
Saturday: Attended a rally in Smith Park. As NOW president Kim Gandy was finishing up her keynote speech, the police ordered the park cleared due to a bomb scare. We spent several hours after that marching together in the 93-degree heat, chanting pro-choice slogans, and generally hanging out. It was great--much more fun than it sounds. The "bomb" turned out to be a parcel containing empty pill bottles.
That night, we all went to Hal & Mal's, a local bar, and had a great, great time.
Photos from the rally, mainly pre-bomb scare, can be found here. A rather "intense" photo of me, taken several moments after the bomb threat was announced, can be found here. (I usually look much happier than that, even when I'm nose to nose with the antis.)
Sunday: The OSA people attempted to disrupt morning church services at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Jackson (for hosting a NOW-related forum) and St. James' Episcopal Church (for having gay members). Five wingnuts were arrested.
Monday: Seven wingnuts were arrested for various offenses. I joined with a group of pro-choicers to counterprotest the OSA Capitol group. We chanted, we pumped our fists, we linked arms, we chanted and linked arms again and probably would have pumped our fists, too, if it wouldn't have dislocated the shoulders of the persons next to us, and so on and so forth. That night, I hung out with some other pro-choice activists at a local function and played poker for a couple of hours.
Tuesday: The OSA people destroyed a rainbow flag and shredded a Qur'an. They wanted to burn it, but didn't have the proper permit. Pro-choice activists went to low-income communities and distributed literature on birth control and other reproductive health options.
So far, no pro-choicers have been arrested while numerous anti-s have. The main focus of the anti-s, actually, now seems to be on bashing the police.
Some of you have asked what you can do to help. The Jackson Area NOW, for which I serve as public and community outreach chair, can always use donations at P.O. Box 3833, Jackson, MS, 39207. We will be working hard to fight the abortion ban when it resurfaces in 2007, among other things, so Reproductive Freedom Summer is only the beginning. Michelle Colon, who heads up this chapter, is intense, dedicated, and tireless. I absolutely love this young woman, and she has taught me enough about this stuff that she may make a respectable activist out of me yet.
Please let me know if you have any questions about all this, and I'll try to answer them. I have attended almost everything.
Cheers,
TH
To be fair, it appears that the Operation Rescue protestors were dealt with exactly the same way, and with apparently similar complaint.
Given only the information in that article, I'm not willing to condemn the police just yet.
I posted a lengthy message on this that's still in the moderation queue (probably because of the length nad number of links).
The OSA protesters were not dealt with in exactly the same way. They have been consistently allowed to wave their bloody fetus signs at our rallies, but the reverse has not been true. This is, I think, the basis of Michelle's complaint.
But I will say that, this issue aside, the police response has generally made me proud.
Cheers,
TH
Tom:
You have a single link that covers the differences you could share?