Just how many people attended Saturday's 9/12 tea-party protest? Estimates by conservatives range from the hundreds of thousands to the millions -- numbers they say indicate a growing anti-Obama grassroots movement. Unsurprisingly, liberal pundits are pushing back, saying protesters came out in the tens of thousands. So far, the debate is hinging on photos of the rally, which appear to show the National Mall packed from the Capitol to the Washington Monument, 16 blocks away. A National Park Service map pegged to the 2008 inauguration appears to show that the Mall holds about a million people. Bloggers have overlaid the map with photos from Saturday. Case closed, right? Not so, as there's an important detail both conservatives and liberals are ignoring.
What no one has noted is that two-thirds of the National Mall was
filled by an entirely separate event on Saturday that had nothing to do
with protesting the president. September 12 just happened to be the 24th-annual Black Family Reunion,
which ran from 7th Street all the way to the Washington Monument. I
spent several hours on the Mall on Saturday, and there's no question
that protesters numbered at least in the tens of thousands, but they
were isolated to only a fraction of the area they're credited with
having filled. The Black Family Reunion, a peaceful and friendly event
designed around "healing and uplifting black families," featured
mild-mannered African American families meandering through a series of
promotional tables and large white tents scattered across the Mall. One
crowd gathered across from the Washington Monument, not to protest
health-care reform but to enjoy a Christian-themed R&B concert,
where volunteers handed out free water bottles and bananas.
Not even the most biased observer could have mistaken these people for
anti-Obama protesters. So why did so many pundits conflate the cheery
Black Family Reunion with the angry tea-party protesters? The answer, I
think, is that they either weren't there or didn't bother to leave the
protest's zenith on the Capitol steps. It's an institutional hazard of
covering protests that reporters seek out the center of the action and
don't budge, giving them great anecdotes from individual attendees but
little sense of the event's overall scope. Similarly, it's easy for
bloggers to just read after-action reports or browse a few photos
before drawing conclusions. But these are both risky strategies for
covering big events, and it's easy to see why people are so confused
about Saturday's attendance figures.
Max, who are you? Never seen you post before. Sounds like you're trying to cook up some trouble.
Lots of black people are part of our tea-bagging group. They - like the rest of Right America - are offended at Obama's power grab. Don't think that black people are monolithic. Probably 10% of the people who were at Saturday's event were black -- just like their fraction of Americans overall. So, that's probably about 90,000 blacks on the Mall on Saturday.
If you think the percentage of blacks in the grassroots conservative movement is comparable to the percentage of blacks in America, then that's quite a fantasy world you live in.
LOLz!
"Probably 10% of the people who were at Saturday's event were black -- just like their fraction of Americans overall".
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA
Too Funny!
LOL! Riight!
Max -
I know you must get this a lot, but don't you have a high-school play to mastermind and a pretty widow teacher's heart to win?
(Good reporting btw. Sorry.)
Trevor,
My next post will be an appeal to Congress to save Latin.
Thanks for reading.
It is worth recalling a couple of things. One is that the FreedomWorks maestro of organization for this rally was Matt Kibbe late of RalphNader's dwindling coattails. So a greater than usual chaos level would be par for that course. Another is that the unavailability of the National Mall is the reason that Freedom Plaza was chosen as the gather-point. Please note that Pennsylvania Ave runs right through Freedom Plaza and that the permit to 'parade' (and therefore stop traffic on) Pennsylvania Ave specified an 11:30 beginning. Meaning that P-Ave was to be kept open through F-Plaza until then. Meaning that Kibbe had no idea how many people would jam into the plaza. In the event the Ave was completely clogged by 10:00 and so that's when the march began--no matter what the plans called for.
Another example of efficient management by the Right.
We were proud of our 9/12 TEA Party speakers from Mississippi - both black. Before serving your prejudices by mentally noting 'tokens,' please check their speeches online. You'll readily see they were selected to represent us based upon sincerity and coherence of message rather than color.
It's hard for black conservatives. They're dogged by some others of their race and shunned by lingering racism in the fringes of the movement. We appreciate those in our group standing strong in their beliefs and having the same political courage America's founders had.
Glad to know the other group was a picnic. Many TEA Partiers were around the reflecting pool and below 7th as they could not get onto the march route. The people they met were both gracious and fun!
We were proud of our 9/12 TEA Party speakers from Mississippi - both black. Before serving your prejudices by mentally noting 'tokens,' please check their speeches online. You'll readily see they were selected to represent us based upon sincerity and coherence of message rather than color.
It's hard for black conservatives. They're dogged by some others of their race and shunned by lingering racism in the fringes of the movement. We appreciate those in our group standing strong in their beliefs and having the same political courage America's founders had.
Glad to know the other group was a picnic. Many TEA Partiers were around the reflecting pool and below 7th as they could not get onto the march route. The people they met were both gracious and fun!
Thanks for some unreported upon information about the situation.
It does seem that there were overlapping rallies that day. And yet, you're the only one who mentioned them. It's obvious why those on the Right don't want their illusions destroyed; it's not so obvious why bloggers on the Left haven't mentioned this.
Thanks again.
politifact.com today wrote about a particular picture (perhaps the one you mention) and comes to the conclusion that it is from about a decade ago. So some conservative blogs have dropped it (though the estimate damage is done, as Limbaugh has already claimed 2 million--what a joke).
It's amazing that there's this much controversy over the crowd size. Go watch the timelapse video of the march; it stretched from the Freedom Plaza to the Capitol. This is about 60,000 square meters. You can watch videos to estimate the crowd density, but 1 person/square meter seems generous. By comparison, the area covered by a dense crowd during the speaking portion of the March on Washington was about twice as large and there were a quarter million people at that event. The pre-inauguration concert this year covered an even larger area (the whole reflecting pool + WWII memorial + Washington monument + several viewing screens on the mall) and was less than half a million. The inauguration covered an order of magnitude more area, had a much, much denser crowd, and was around 1.8M.
People seem to be very easily deceived by the perspective-flattening effects of a telephoto lens, also.
I don't understand why it was necessary to describe the Black Family Reunion as "mild-mannered."
Tom T., "mild-mannered" is fair in the context because it's juxtaposed against the emotionally hostile wingnut protestors. The point is that the Black Family Reunion wasn't protesting anything and were not holding a political event of any kind, and their attendees came with a completely different mood and temperament.
I attended the protest, and passed by the Black Family Picnic, which was off to a small section of the Park. I passed about 40 people emerging from a bus who seemed to be heading for the BF picnic, and that was when I was leaving the Mall...around 4. There is no way in the world that that event took up 2/3 of the mall, or the participants were mistaken for the protestors. The people I saw going to the BF picinic were dressed for a social event...we protestors were dressed to march a long distance, casually dressed, many carrying the Stars & Stripes, and placards. If a reporter confused the two groups, that would explain a lot about today's media. I was at Freedom Plaza, walked to the Capitol, walked around the pond and the crime scene tape and the high chain link fence in the are we were restricted from accessing. I continued to walk through the entire area, which was tightly packed with people who came there to express their frustration at being ignored by all the Politicians. My guess is that some of the politicians, those who like being in government, saw the masses of humanity, and if they are honest, will look at the arrogance and disrespect we have been shown, and maybe do the right thing. The fact that the President did an in- your -face, and left town to speak at a hand picked "support" group is more than telling, and since we aren't stupid, we know that we will have to make that trip again. Wake up Congress, Wake up Senators....your allegiance should be to the People, not a political party.
The fact that the President did an in- your -face, and left town to speak at a hand picked "support" group is more than telling
Fact challenged? The tickets to the event in Minnesota were first come, first served. And speaking to a joint session of Congress is an "in-your-face"?
Alrighty then.
CT Voter - what kind of kool-aid are you drinking. Obama's like a snake - always trying to get away from addressing conflict, running away when he's challenged, the worst kind of duck-and-cover, chickensh&t politician.
Thanks NoParty - that is similar to info provided this morning from a Florida contingent who actually shared treats with the picnic crowd. FL crew spent most of the day near the pool & reported this small group. I am sure media will keep us arguing about who stood where and how large their shoes were until the purpose and goals of the rally fade a bit.
To jgw, thus far the $2 million remark seems to have originated with Speaker Pelosi who announced it Wed. as 'their expectations.' I immediately packed more underwear as it was obvious I'd have trouble leaving the city on time if that many showed up. Perhaps her ploy to make whatever number appeared seem disappointing? While I'm not qualified to estimate, I find the time lapse photo 'looks' right according to cell phone reports called from one block to another. Another doctored photo was evidently circulated, which left accuses right of - or need I go on?
Eventually enough blogging will produce some content and meaning. For myself this event strengthened my resolve. We HAVE been (and continue to be) lied to - and not just by a young and uber-liberal President. Happily we believe a strategy to bring more 'transparency' and 'honesty' and 'civility' to government is developing. I invite those who currently snub their noses at the conservative movement and continue to call names to take a look. However, we don't pay our volunteers.
The "teabagging" crowd over-exaggerated on 9/12 by 930,000.
What a bunch of liars.
The fact is that 2 million would have been news with lots of pictures covering the crowds. Even 200,000 would have been news. 70,000 just isn't impressive enough on camera to make it news. Think what 200,000 looked like when Obama spoke in Berlin or 400,000 at Woodstock. We can all imagine those events and the size of the crowds because there were many, many pictures from all kinds of different angles.
I think that the media were being very respectful to the organizers and the people who showed up. They could have been pretty harsh about the "disappointing turnout".
Mike Burns
http://www.disorderlyreport.com/