OBAMA 09

So first off I wanna mention the 2 buses that got stopped at the border. They were detained for 7 hrs. Yeah 7 hrs. Respect goes to Tyrone, Gavin
and everyone else on the other buses that had to endure that.
You might have seen it on the news. I was very fortunate to be on the only bus of the 3 that got through without incident.


We arrived in Washington maybe around 10am in an area along with maybe 100 other buses carrying people from everywhere you could think of. Shuttle buses
were there to take everyone into the downtown core. If you haven't been to Washington before, the government area is striking. I have been there
a few times but seeing it filled with that many people made me really feel the weight of the moment. America always had a great sense of theater.







We had to walk about a kilometer down blocked off streets to get to the field. Guards dressed in army fatigues were directing the traffic.
There was a great feeling in the air and people were at times cheering in the streets as we were walking. At times when we were on a hill we could
catch a small glimpse of the hundreds of people walking in front and behind us. On the street side people were selling obama merchandise everywhere and of every kind. I mean, Obama condoms I heard were being sold. Really?






We ended up near the Washington monument. We came to this point where there was a hill and as we got to the top and looked over, all you
could see was people everywhere and American flags. It was crazy.

There were so many people it was hard to get to the areas where you
could see the tv screens. People were climbing trees and sitting in branches that looked like they could break at any moment.

One guy got an idea and climbed the outdoor portapotties so he could see better. This idea snowballed and soon more people were doing the same thing
including me and my peoples.





This is me taking a picture of whats behind us. I'm on top of the porta bathrooms now. I couldn't turn around because below to my right are security guards yelling at us to get off.
Whenever I turned around they would try to catch my eye and start threatening me with jail so I had to just take a pic without actually
looking through the camera. There were about 30 of us spread out across 10 of these porta washrooms trying to see the screens.

People and the security guards behind us started shaking the things trying to make us fall off. The tension in the crowd started building because
apparently we were blocking others from seeing. The people on the other side were freaking out because if those porta potties fell they would've fallen on them.
Not to mention, the poor people who were inside them trying to take a piss.

I eventually had to get down because my porta washroom was being pushed from the other side and there was a security guard
that kept trying to grab my leg and pull me off. Eventually everyone did too except one guy who the police came and almost took out of the crowd.
Even the police though didn't seem up for it. The mood was too good.


On the ground We were very very far from where the stage was but I remember that when Bush and Cheney came out you could hear booing from all over the
city. I don't know how those 2 managed to stay on stage the whole time with so much hate and anger being hovered at them.

So in our area because of the whole portapottie incident people were pushing and yelling...a little irritated... all that stopped when Obama started to speak. I swear the whole 2.9 million people went silent. All you could hear was the occasional walkie talkie from a security guard or something.


I was wedged in between a father and his 2 kids and two taller guys who looked like they were in their late twenties. None of us knew each other
but we all smiled at one another because we felt the same pride being there. It was a moment I'll take with me for a long time.