This is the true face of hatred and intolerance — Pics from Oct. 25 rally

[prolesunited]

I must admit that a was a little disappointed and upset to see all of the threads denouncing the protest in D.C. and maligning those who took part. All of us who participated were "not brainwashed dupes of the ANSWER cult." In fact, I thought we were part of the DU community and I'm sorry so many felt it was necessary to marginalize us as well. We took time off work, spent money, gave up a weekend, some traveled hours and hours by bus.

We get back and are "welcomed" by all of these posts attacking the activities in which we were involved. Talk about disheartening! We're here among you. Do you really think we don't know who ANSWER is? Although United for Peace and Justice were co-sponsors, I didn't see them mentioned much. Perhaps we were there based on an affiliation with them. Were there problems with some of the program topics? Sure. And were there some weirdoes there? Of course. I'm sorry so many of you felt that it totally negated the actions and beliefs of your fellow DUers and thousands of other protesters.

We stood up to be counted and instead were discounted in our own community.

So, I thought I would post some pictures of people who I encountered at the rally. For every one of them, there were thousands of us. Would it be better for us to stay home and next time and let this sort of hatred and intolerance to stand unchallenged? WE are not the enemy here.

This nice "Christian" group was standing on the corner opposite of the DU gathering point.









What do you think of THEIR message? Aren't you glad that this group of "fringe leftists" was there to shout them down?



This sign is hard to read but it says "Liquidate Palestine." No matter how you feel about the I/P issue, is that a solution that you want to go unchallenged?



Or, how about the Freeper greeting committee that was waiting for us on the hill when we rounded the corner. Funny, they called us commies, too! Or perhaps we're simply "Suburban Stalinists" as one sign pointed out.







Judging by the comments posted here, it certainly felt like the Freepers weren't the only ones lying in wait for us. Do you realize how that made us feel?

You can view larger, sharper photos by clicking on the slide show feature here:
http://homepage.mac.com/prolesunited/PhotoAlbum45.html