Saturday, October 08, 2005
Columbus Day Parade in Denver
As promised, went to the Columbus Day Parade with Diomedes and his youngest daughter (more about her later). Craig Silverman was there too, co-host of KHOW drivetime talk show (630 am dial weekdays--3 to 7 PM) and fellow ex-DA. He was constantly talking into a little dictaphone cassette recorder. I'm worried about his memory. The parade was supposed to start at 10:00 AM but was delayed for about 45 minutes by this:
Faux dead Indians. Rather than get arrested for blocking the parade, after the police bull-horned a warning, Indian auxiliaries came out and carried the faux dead Indians off. Some red liquid was splashed and had to be washed off. We were told by the crowd shouting ad nauseam: "You can't wash away history." True, but not entirely useful.
20th and Blake, right across from Coors Field turned out to be the epicenter of the protest. To the left are about a third of the protestors. I'd estimate the crowd around us was nearly 300 strong. Didn't see too far down the line, but it was sparser there.
Not all the protest was about Indians and Columbus. Some protestors managed to find a way to include the current President. Not the clearest or cleverest protest sign ever concocted.
Although he said he would not be there, infamous faux scholar Ward Churchill is standing a head above the normal height of the crowd. In sunglasses. Not holding a sign.
I am old enough to have been witness to actual Vietnam protests out at Stanford in late 1971. Free the El Camino 600! They had the exact same chants back then, like the "Hey, hey, ho, ho" chant. But adding "Columbus Day has got to go" makes it a few syllables too long.
Faux Indian and Grand Marshall of the counter-protest Four Directions All Nations March, Ward Churchill.
Actually Glenn Morris seemed to be doing all the work not stopping the Columbus Day Parade. Maybe that's what he wanted to do--not stop the parade. Did a good job of that.
Below, with bandannas over the bottom of their face, are representative protestors.
Man, did they get obnoxious with top of their lungs chanting and beating on an empty 5 gallon wall "mud" bucket. "Celebrate pride, not genocide." Another protest semi-haiku. I think it was their anger and earnest shouting that scared D's little girl. She definitely didn't want to be there and Diomedes left early. Why the need to cover your face in the cowboy/robber style? I don't get that. Are they ashamed of what they're doing? Do they fear some sort of government reprisal? I just don't get it.
What Diomedes missed was this:
The parade itself. No flowery floats. No marching bands. No balloons. Just people walking with American or Italian flags. There were a few floats--a band playing (when it passed us) Moondance by Van Morrison. I didn't know he was Italian. Another float had Columbus, ah, herself. There was a float with a Sinatra-like karaoke guy. And lots and lots of cars and trucks. (Sorry about so few pictures of the actual parade but my camera apparently has very limited interior memory. I'll have a memory card in the future.)
All in all, it is a very little parade and would have all but disappeared, I believe, if the Indians hadn't started the protests and piqued some interest. But, using the occam soccer rule, if it scares little girls, it can't be good. And the protestors definitely scared one little girl. The Indians should take their defeat by superior forces hundreds of years ago like the stoic Nobel Savage of popular imagination and leave the Columbus Day Parade in Denver to the moribund end by apathy it was destined for.
Craig Silverman said that it was a good day for the First Amendment on both sides. I guess it was, but at large government expense. The police almost outnumbered the protestors. Here are just the reserves.
Faux dead Indians. Rather than get arrested for blocking the parade, after the police bull-horned a warning, Indian auxiliaries came out and carried the faux dead Indians off. Some red liquid was splashed and had to be washed off. We were told by the crowd shouting ad nauseam: "You can't wash away history." True, but not entirely useful.
20th and Blake, right across from Coors Field turned out to be the epicenter of the protest. To the left are about a third of the protestors. I'd estimate the crowd around us was nearly 300 strong. Didn't see too far down the line, but it was sparser there.
Not all the protest was about Indians and Columbus. Some protestors managed to find a way to include the current President. Not the clearest or cleverest protest sign ever concocted.
Although he said he would not be there, infamous faux scholar Ward Churchill is standing a head above the normal height of the crowd. In sunglasses. Not holding a sign.
I am old enough to have been witness to actual Vietnam protests out at Stanford in late 1971. Free the El Camino 600! They had the exact same chants back then, like the "Hey, hey, ho, ho" chant. But adding "Columbus Day has got to go" makes it a few syllables too long.
Faux Indian and Grand Marshall of the counter-protest Four Directions All Nations March, Ward Churchill.
Actually Glenn Morris seemed to be doing all the work not stopping the Columbus Day Parade. Maybe that's what he wanted to do--not stop the parade. Did a good job of that.
Below, with bandannas over the bottom of their face, are representative protestors.
Man, did they get obnoxious with top of their lungs chanting and beating on an empty 5 gallon wall "mud" bucket. "Celebrate pride, not genocide." Another protest semi-haiku. I think it was their anger and earnest shouting that scared D's little girl. She definitely didn't want to be there and Diomedes left early. Why the need to cover your face in the cowboy/robber style? I don't get that. Are they ashamed of what they're doing? Do they fear some sort of government reprisal? I just don't get it.
What Diomedes missed was this:
The parade itself. No flowery floats. No marching bands. No balloons. Just people walking with American or Italian flags. There were a few floats--a band playing (when it passed us) Moondance by Van Morrison. I didn't know he was Italian. Another float had Columbus, ah, herself. There was a float with a Sinatra-like karaoke guy. And lots and lots of cars and trucks. (Sorry about so few pictures of the actual parade but my camera apparently has very limited interior memory. I'll have a memory card in the future.)All in all, it is a very little parade and would have all but disappeared, I believe, if the Indians hadn't started the protests and piqued some interest. But, using the occam soccer rule, if it scares little girls, it can't be good. And the protestors definitely scared one little girl. The Indians should take their defeat by superior forces hundreds of years ago like the stoic Nobel Savage of popular imagination and leave the Columbus Day Parade in Denver to the moribund end by apathy it was destined for.
Craig Silverman said that it was a good day for the First Amendment on both sides. I guess it was, but at large government expense. The police almost outnumbered the protestors. Here are just the reserves.
# posted by Roger Fraley @ 12:18 PM 
