80,000 at Moral March on Raleigh!

[calimary]

43. MAN, that's for sure!

When I went to the Women's March in downtown L.A. last month, I found myself immersed in the crowd. But you definitely don't get a sense of just how big it is, if you're somewhere down IN it.

All I knew was what people were estimating, there. A few "there's gotta be 100-thousand here..." REALLY? Well, I figured that MIGHT be true, but who knew. As we inched along through the streets, at times so crowded it was hard to move, the sheer mass of people was really quite stunning. As we moved, we saw people lined up along the outside railings on several levels of parking structures, with their signs, many wearing pussy hats, and waving to us. We saw a few people up in the trees. We saw people on balconies in some of the tall buildings. We saw people sitting on top of sheltered bus bench stands, and parked trucks. We could only see the crowds immediately ahead of, or behind, us.

It was only later, at a local Democratic club meeting I attended, where Mayor Garcetti announced there were 750-THOUSAND people in attendance the previous Saturday! WTF?!?!?!??!?!?! Seven-Hundred-and-Fifty-THOUSAND people? Are you fucking KIDDING me???? Three-quarters of a MILLION people in the streets of downtown L.A. all that day? Seriously? More than half the room at that meeting raised their hands when someone asked - "who, here, went to the march last weekend?" That's where we learned that L.A.'s march was the biggest in the country, and also, The WORLD.

Yeah, I've been an activist for most of my adult life. But I have NEVER seen anything like this. Through the Vietnam War era, the Iraq War era, and everything in between. NEVER have I seen anything like this. I never even saw the opposition work it up like this, even on their best days. Except, maybe, once - now that I think of it. The weekend before the 2004 GOP CONvention in New York City, where there was such a massive turnout against the Iraq War that people were marching past the convention center all day long. Only covered by CSPAN. But it went on all day. People. Just coming and coming and coming. It never stopped - all day, those lines of people in the streets, who just kept on walking and holding up their signs and being peaceful. Sometimes it was a trickle, sometimes small groups, sometimes a large flow of people together. But it went on all day through that part of Manhattan. GREAT to see. NOBODY covered it, though. I guess the networks were too busy worshipping bush/cheney.