The Bad Side of the Crowds

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ewpic.jpgWell, I was supposed to be watching this from the standing ticketed section.

But instead, I’m watching from the safety of Jane’s house. Because it’s not safe everywhere on the mall.

Lisa hauled my sorry a$$ out of bed this morning at 5 AM to get down to the mall in good time. I headed for the section where people with our tickets were supposed to gather; I was just one block from the gates at 7 AM. For the first hour, people were giddy and friendly. By the second hour, people had become great friends.

But then things took a turn for the worst. It didn’t help that DC’s cops were pushing people aside to get their bikes (yes, bikes, with wall to wall people, preventing them from using them) through. It didn’t help that the cops seemed to have no idea where were supposed to go. It really didn’t help that they never appeared to open the gate–which was supposed to open at 8, or maybe 9.

And then people started to collapse. First an roughly eight year old boy. Then an older woman. Then another one. Each time, we’d yell for a doctor, try to open space, pass water to the people. The cops, still, didn’t help much. And then people tried to leave, creating giant waves of shoving people. Two kids followed their parents out, weeping. People couldn’t see the few wheel chairs in the crowd, which meant those family members near the wheel chairs were yelling, trying to protect their family members. 

I finally joined the crowds streaming out. We all streamed over one block, turned right, then reformed. And then it started again. 

Elsewhere on the mall, people were still jubilant. And safe. But there are pockets of weeping, dangerously disorganized crowds out there today.

  1. BoxTurtle says:

    Wise move. Likely, this is a final attempt by BushCo to take out a few last DFH bloggers.

    Boxturtle (Marcy would be on the top of my hate list if I was BushCo)

  5. SparklestheIguana says:

    And Metro closed down the Gallery Place metro stop after someone fell on the tracks and got hit by a train. I hope that person will be OK. These crowds do sound scary.

  7. SparklestheIguana says:

    And let’s say a prayer of thanks Blago didn’t show up. (He didn’t, right?) Because that would be such a Blago thing to do.

  8. solai says:

    There’s a report of a threat alert so I’d expect the police to be overwhelmed and heavy handed when dealing with the crowd.

    Here comes Cheney.

  12. bmaz says:

    For all who have migrated to this thread, that is cool. Just want to point out that i did an update to the last thread in honor of Marie Roget and included the video Si Si Puede. The video is perfect for today, you will love it. When you get a chance, check it out.

  22. bmaz says:

    So, I notice that both the announcer and DiFi refused to say Obama’s middle name “Hussein”. Pretty cheap ass stuff from small people eh?

  23. nonplussed says:

    Warren comes through with a crappy prayer, pionging on his exclusive idea of god and stating the obvious. Robinson’s unaired prayer was head and shoulders better. Compare & contrast:

    O God of our many understandings, we pray that you will…

    Bless us with tears – for a world in which over a billion people exist on less than a dollar a day, where young women from many lands are beaten and raped for wanting an education, and thousands die daily from malnutrition, malaria, and AIDS.

    Bless us with anger – at discrimination, at home and abroad, against refugees and immigrants, women, people of color, gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people.

    Bless us with discomfort – at the easy, simplistic “answers” we’ve preferred to hear from our politicians, instead of the truth, about ourselves and the world, which we need to face if we are going to rise to the challenges of the future.

    Bless us with patience – and the knowledge that none of what ails us will be “fixed” anytime soon, and the understanding that our new president is a human being, not a messiah.

    Bless us with humility – open to understanding that our own needs must always be balanced with those of the world.

    Bless us with freedom from mere tolerance – replacing it with a genuine respect and warm embrace of our differences, and an understanding that in our diversity, we are stronger.

    Bless us with compassion and generosity – remembering that every religion’s God judges us by the way we care for the most vulnerable in the human community, whether across town or across the world.

    And God, we give you thanks for your child Barack, as he assumes the office of President of the United States.

    Give him wisdom beyond his years, and inspire him with Lincoln’s reconciling leadership style, President Kennedy’s ability to enlist our best efforts, and Dr. King’s dream of a nation for ALL the people.

    Give him a quiet heart, for our Ship of State needs a steady, calm captain in these times.

    Give him stirring words, for we will need to be inspired and motivated to make the personal and common sacrifices necessary to facing the challenges ahead.

    Make him color-blind, reminding him of his own words that under his leadership, there will be neither red nor blue states, but the United States.

    Help him remember his own oppression as a minority, drawing on that experience of discrimination, that he might seek to change the lives of those who are still its victims.

    Give him the strength to find family time and privacy, and help him remember that even though he is president, a father only gets one shot at his daughters’ childhoods.

    And please, God, keep him safe. We know we ask too much of our presidents, and we’re asking FAR too much of this one. We know the risk he and his wife are taking for all of us, and we implore you, O good and great God, to keep him safe. Hold him in the palm of your hand – that he might do the work we have called him to do, that he might find joy in this impossible calling, and that in the end, he might lead us as a nation to a place of integrity, prosperity and peace.

    Amen

  26. ThingsComeUndone says:

    The Lord is God
    The Lord is One

    Not the Lord is Our God Rev Warren

    We have nothing in Common

  29. Quebecois says:

    I can’t believe an adult is about to take over. I was afraid Cheney might shoot someone in the face with his cane.

  31. ThingsComeUndone says:

    The Classic music is Great! Hope its on I tunes that and the u tube Marie Roget liked I got that bookmarked.

    • ThingsComeUndone says:

      Hmmm place the Charlie Brown Theme song on top of the Classic piece it might make a good mix?

  32. SparklestheIguana says:

    Man, those musicians have to be freezing. And, it’s hard to get your fingers to work at 15 degrees windchill…..

  33. SparklestheIguana says:

    I missed it, why is Cheney in a wheelchair? Crushed in the race with Nat’l Archives to get to the 14 million missing emails? Attacked by angry pheasants?

    • ThingsComeUndone says:

      Supposedly he hurt his back moving boxes? I think he was shredding WH documents to incriminating for anyone else to look at.

      • Minnesotachuck says:

        Word order. Should have been ” . . that I will faithfully execute the office of the President of the United States . . ” He forgot “faithfully”, then tried to insert it after “states”. It temporarily flummoxed Obama a bit.

      • Quebecois says:

        I believe Robert’s screwed it up, he said too many words, ponctuation matters, and then he forgot some words, Almost President Obama looked at him, nodded for him to calm down, and finally, Roberts came out with the right words.

        Bush and his hacks, heckuva job Roberts…

        • freepatriot says:

          ponctuation matters

          oh yeah

          ever seen how the 16th amendment was ratified ???

          spelling don’t count either

          one problem I always encounter on the innertubes is my desire to spellcheck the Constitution

          but I guess the spelling thing works for you, right …

        • Quebecois says:

          ever seen how the 16th amendment was ratified ???

          To tell you the truth, i’ve never read the 16th… Even less in it’s original form.

        • freepatriot says:

          I probably should explain

          if you examine the ratification process for the 16th amendment, you’ll find that no state actually ratified it

          38 states ratified v38 various versions of the amendment, and the SCOTUS said “close enough”

          so there are actually 39 different versions of the 16th amendment

  41. Quebecois says:

    Just saw a couple of shots of Chimpy, he looks like a guy who’s been on a coke binge since this last summer’s Olympic games.

  48. freepatriot says:

    ooops, 36 states, 37 versions

    cut me some slack, I wrote about it 15 years ago, and I been Irishing up the coffee this morning

    • Quebecois says:

      cut me some slack, I wrote about it 15 years ago, and I been Irishing up the coffee this morning

      Hey, my ponctuation was me being a francophone for 49 years.

  50. dosido says:

    Hello EW!!!

    Glad you are safe and warm. I was never a crowds person, no rock concerts, very boring. I learned years ago that the fire dept is more concerned with the physical safety of citizens than the police dept. It’s the difference between heading to the vice principal’s office vs the nurse’s room at school.

  52. jcrich53 says:

    Sorry to hear of you challenges. As a resident of DC living on Capitol Hill, somehow though this event beat them all in terms of crowds, I found the event to be compelling from the point of view of the joyousness of the crowds and the security personnel. I joined in the event, finding myself near the Air and Space Museum. The crowd was approaching “crush” level and a cry broke out from a mother who had lost her son. Someone yelled to the mother what her child’s name was. She replied and the crowd (1000s) started calling the child’s name. within moments, the child was found and he was passed overhead to the mother.

    Though I am not a fan of the local police (all 32 jurisdictions in DC that have some police authority), I will give them a pass today. This was their chance to really do their jobs and they did it pretty well.

    Now if we can only get them to stop with the damn sirens…

    See: Global Investment Watch

  53. iheartmencken says:

    While watching the Bush helicopter depart I heard from others who did not ever get in to their ticketed spot on the Capitol Grounds that the problem was with the security infrastructure.

    The generators failed which meant that the metal detectors were out. That the generators were able to be out of commission for two hours is a crying shame.