[Mb-civic] Eloquence on the Mall - (Etan Thomas, AntiWar demonstration - Sat 9/24/05, DC)

[William Swiggard]

SPEECH ON THE MALL at the AntiWar demonstration, 9/24/05

ETAN THOMAS, WASHINGTON WIZARDS

I'd like to take some of these cats on a field trip. I want to get big yellow buses with no air
conditioner and no seatbelts and round up Bill O'Reilly, Pat Buchanan,
Trent Lott, Sean Hannity, Dick Cheney, Jeb Bush, Bush Jr. and Bush
Sr., John Ashcroft, Giuliani, Ed Gillespie, Katherine Harris, that
little bow-tied Tucker Carlson and any other right-wing conservative
Republicans I can think of, and take them all on a trip to the ‘hood.
Not to do no 30-minute documentary. I mean, I want to drop them off
and leave them there, let them become one with the other side of the
tracks, get them four mouths to feed and no welfare, have scare
tactics run through them like a laxative, criticizing them for needing
assistance.

I'd show them working families that make too much to receive welfare
but not enough to make ends meet. I'd employ them with jobs with
little security, let them know how it feels to be an employee at will,
able to be fired at the drop of a hat. I'd take away their
opportunities, then try their children as adults, sending their
13-year-old babies to life in prison. I'd sell them dreams of
hopelessness while spoon-feeding their young with a daily dose of
inferior education. I'd tell them no child shall be left behind, then
take more money out of their schools, tell them to show and prove
themselves on standardized exams testing their knowledge on things
that they haven't been taught, and then I'd call them inferior. . .

I'd grace them with the pain of being sick and unable to get medicine.
Give them health benefits that barely cover the common cold. John Q.
would become their reality as HMOs introduce them to the world of
inferior care, filling their lungs with inadequate air, penny pinching
at the expense of patients, doctors practicing medicine in an
intricate web of rationing and regulations. Patients wander the maze
of managed bureaucracy, costs rise and quality quickly deteriorates,
but they say that managed care is cheaper. They'll say that free
choice in medicine will defeat the overall productivity, and as
co-payments are steadily rising, I'll make their grandparents have to
choose between buying their medicine and paying their rent. . .

Then I'd introduce them to those sworn to protect and serve, creating
a curb in their trust in the law. I'd show them the nightsticks and
plungers, the pepper spray and stun guns, the mace and magnums that
they'd soon become acquainted with, the shakedowns and illegal search
and seizures, the planted evidence, being stopped for no reason.
Harassment ain't even the half of it. Forty-one shots to two raised
hands, cell phones and wallets that are confused with illegal
contrabands. I'd introduce them to pigs who love making their guns
click like wine glasses. Everlasting targets surrounded by bullets,
making them a walking bull's eye, a living pinata, held at the mercy
of police brutality, and then we'll see if they finally weren't aware
of the truth, if their eyes weren't finally open like a box of Pandora.

I'd show them how the other side of the tracks carries the weight of
the world on our shoulders and how society seems to be holding us down
with the force of a boulder. . . When your dreams have fallen on
barren ground, it becomes difficult to keep pushing yourself forward
like a train, administering pain like a doctor with a needle, their
sequels continue more lethal than injections. . .

Maybe this trip will make them see the error of their ways. Or maybe
next time, we'll just all get out and vote. And as far as their stay
in the White House, tell them that numbered are their days.

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