On the Scene: South Dakota Counter-Protests Westboro Hatemongers

It's a cold and gray November day in Sioux Falls, but dozens of real South Dakotans are on the scene to protest the handful of whackos from Fred Phelps's "church" who've come to tell us we're all going to hell because we're not as pious (or obnoxious) as they are. Thea Miller Ryan submits this photo via Twitpic from outside First Congregational Church in Sioux Falls:

photo credit: Thea Miller Ryan, Sioux Falls, Twitpic, 2010.11.21

Remember, kids: we only win with love. Keep showing the love. Someone bring those good people some hot chocolate... and hey, maybe even offer some to our guests from Kansas.

Update: @jenimc says donations at the "Love Is Bigger Than Hate" counterprotests will benefit the AIDS Walk.

Update 16:24 CST: While KSFY features the tiny handful of Phelps cultists, KDLT gets the focus right. Pay attention to the much larger local contingent of counter-protesters, like these Sioux Falls Lincoln students who showed up to reject the message of hate.


Lincoln High students @ Love is Bigger than Hate "Anti" protest from Jonathan Barnes on Vimeo.

I'd rather go to hell with kids like these than go to a heaven filled with Westboro Baptists.

"God Hates South Dakota"? Westboro Whackos Coming Sunday and Monday

Worse than wingnuts: A Facebook friend alerts me that the Westboro Baptist Church is coming to South Dakota Sunday and Monday scream and holler and make Christians look bad.

I'll direct you to their website, even though their URL demeans homosexuals and God, and even though their icon desecrates the American flag by flying it upside down. You can find there the following picketing schedule for these angry, deluded, inbred Christian fakers:

1. First Congregational Church, Sioux Falls, November 21, 2010, 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM. "WBC to picket this dog kennel where the big lies are taught." What, is First Congregational doing the blessing of the animals this weekend?
   
2. St. Joseph Cathedral, Sioux Falls, November 21, 2010, 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM.
   "WBC will faithfully remind their fellow man in Sioux Falls that priests rape children! Giving your children over to those pedophile rapists is equivilent—" wait. At the point where the Phelps family points at St. Joseph's and squeals "these rapists," that's slander, right? Bring your camcorders and your lawyers.
   
3. Calvary Cathedral, Sioux Falls, November 21, 2010, 11:30 AM - 12:00 PM... because Bishop Gene Robinson is the greatest threat to humanity in the world.
   
4. Washington High School, Sioux Falls, November 22, 2010, 7:40 AM - 8:10 AM. Great, even more congestion in the Warrior parking lot.
   
5. University of South Dakota, Vermillion, November 22, 2010, 9:30 AM - 10:00 AM. "These institutions of so-called higher learning are pathetic substitutes for reading the Bible and BELIEVING GOD!" Right—try substituting "Read Bible" and "Believe in God" for "Graduated summa cum laude, USD Law" or "MBA" on your next job application. Really.
   

I am at a loss as to recommend the proper response. An angrier atheist than I—or heck, even a good Christian disgusted with such grandstanders puffing themselves up with sensational hate—might get some friends together to organize counter-protests. But some people, like Fred Phelps, are so mentally unbalanced, so incapable of rational discourse, so dedicated to making themselves feel important by drawing attention to their madness through any means available, that it's not worth good people's time to give them any attention. I'm probably helping them "win" here by even mentioning their little protests.

I have an easy out: the Phelps shouters aren't coming to my school or my town. They aren't laying picket lines anywhere that I must cross. But parishioners at three Sioux Falls churches and students at Washington and USD will face a brief test of character Sunday and Monday. How will they respond to crude, aggressive insults offered in a spirit of sheer, selfish hatred? How will parents explain to their children the deception and malevolence that drives these "Christians"? And how will they stop the Westboro infection of hatred from spreading?

-----------------------
Update 2010.11.20 06:06 CST: Looks like the coming South Dakota appearances of the Phelps fakers may end up going about as well as this Thursday demonstration in front of a mosque in Dearborn, Kansas, where counter-protesters outnumbered Westboro "Baptists" about 10 to 1. Two Sioux Falls copunter-protests have popped up on my Facebook invite list:

1. Love Is Bigger Than Hate: Tove Bormes started this event. Attendees plan to bring signs and music to all three church events. Says Bormes, "[R]ather than addressing our protest at the idiots, address it to those watching, with positive messages about a) God's love, and/or (for you atheist and agnostic pals o' mine!) about your acceptance of ALL people." Thanks for including us secularists, Tove!) People who've clicked "Attending": 379.
   
2. Protesting the Anti-American Westboro Baptist Church: Fellow DSU denizen Scott Richardson has put up this event. They're bringing American flags. Four attendees so far.
   

Brownbaggers Protest for Health Reform Wed. at SHS Sioux Falls Office

My cousin Aaron celebrated some teabaggers standing outside Rep. Herseth Sandlin's Sioux Falls office shouting some silly slogans in the rain a couple weekends ago.

Teabaggers, meet Brownbaggers. I get word from organizer Michael Feikema that supporters of health insurnace reform will be holding a vigil outside SHS's office at 326 East 8th Street in Sioux Falls tomorrow (Wednesday) at noon. The action is part of a nationwide "Healthcare not Warfare" campaign, motivated in part by this thought from Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.:

A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death [MLK, 1967.04.04].

Where the teabaggers think expanding access to health care is the greatest threat to our liberty, the Brownbaggers see more cause for alarm in our fiscal focus on death and violence.

Yeah, but we all know economic and social justice are just code words for some awful anti-American plot, right?

Woster: Greenpeace's Moonlight Hike up Rushmore

Count on Kevin Woster to get the story: the Rapid City Journalist gets some good background on last week's Greenpeace Rushmore protest. Not that he had to work too hard: I suspect the Greenpeace folks are happy to tell their story. Among the salient details Woster provides in this morning's feature:

1. The protesters hiked in to the monument overnight, mostly by moonlight.
2. The hike took several hours, through thick pine and over boulders—no simple stroll up a trail.
   
3. Despite several days of serious scouting, the protesters faced one critical unknown: whether "the climbing anchors and related equipment in place on the monument would do the job." If the Greenpeacers had found insufficient anchors, they had no intention of installing their own or doing any other damage to the mountain. Their planning and climbing would have been for nought. (National Park Service staff, take note: look into removable climbing/maintenance equipment.)
4. Greenpeace called park officials just before the climbers popped over Abe's head to say, basically, "Peaceful protest! Don't shoot!"

Meanwhile, Greenpeace is enjoying the press, drawing attention to its opposition to President Obama's climate change legislation. Hmph: who says Obama supporters are all Kool-Aid drinking sheep? Mountain goats, maybe, but definitely not sheep.

Greenpeace at Mount Rushmore: Outrage? Patriotism? Bravery?

Congresswoman Stephanie Herseth-Sandlin dubs the Greenpeace protest at Mount Rushmore "outrageous."



Outrage? I'm having trouble getting there. Can we find grounds for outrage in any of the charges SHS levels at the protestors?

• posed a security risk? To whom? What person did they threaten? What security hazard did they create? The protesters may have revealed a lapse in security, but even so, there was no risk to any Mount Rushmore visitor. They didn't bring any hazardous materials into the visitor center. They didn't threaten to push anyone off a cliff. This was a stunningly peaceful protest, worlds removed from the 9/11 doomsday scenarios we've spent big bucks to gird Mount Rushmore against.
  
• harmed the "visitor experience"? Here I will grant that folks come to Mount Rushmore for relaxation, not ruckus. But was their experience ruined? Folks who got pictures and videos lucked into a little bit of news and history. They caught images that they could share with KELO and the papers. They have visual souvenirs that will make their home albums and YouTube videos stand out out from the millions of normal tourist snaps of the impressive monument. Years from now, Wednesday morning's tourists will still have vivid memories of their visit to South Dakota.
  
• wasted taxpayer dollars at the monument? I could be wrong, but didn't this stunt happen during normal work hours? Isn't this the sort of thing we pay rangers to handle?
  

A few weeks ago, I suggested that the Tea Party rucki scheduled for July 4th were ill-timed. For me, the Fourth of July is the best holiday of the year, a patriotic time when we can put aside our partisan differences and poolicy disagreements and celebrate our common heritage and freedom. If I can see the Fourth of July as a sacred time ("sacred" in the sense of civic religion), I can accept that others could view Mount Rushmore as a similarly sacred place, where we should agree to set aside our differences and celebrate our shared freedoms, achievements, and aspirations.

But if someone chooses to violate the sacred times or spaces of civic religion with political dissent, do they commit an outrage? I found the July 4 Tea Parties bothersome, but not outrageous. And there were a lot more Tea Partiers shouting about socialism than there were skinny hippies unfurling a banner challenging the President to be a true leader (that's an important part of the message that Dr. Newquist astutely observes).

I would suggest that if this year's Tea Parties—and the original—were patriotic, then so was Wednesday's Mount Rushmore protest. The Greenpeacers are every bit as committed to their principles as the fellas in Boston Harbor, willing to break the law to get their message across. In the case of the guy at the bottom of the banner, that patriotism meant being willing to let a 65-foot banner take him for a parachute ride on the side of a mountain... and hang on to complete the mission.

Is it a crime? Sure. But an outrage? The four big fellas on the mountain might have thought otherwise.

-------------------------------
p.s.: The Greenpeace activists do deserve credit for well-executed political theater. These weren't drunken anarchist goons out to smash windows. They were highly organized, well-trained climbers who took care not to do damage that could distract from their message.

[Update 07:40 CDT: Sibby says I lied and reminds me that the protesters "intentionally damaged part of the memorial's security system." My apologies, Sibby, for missing that line. But I'm not lying. Whatever the damage (smashed movement sensor? blacked-out lenses on cameras? snipped fences?), the protesters clearly took pains not to do damage to the memorial itself, the work of art that everyone sees.]

Symbolically, Mount Rushmore may have been the best place in the world to carry off this specific protest action. The activists ventured into the heart of the conservative West (I can't help thinking some of the Greenpeacers would rather have been back in the big city) to stand up for what here is a very unpopular position. They juxtaposed a gray image of President Obama next to the most famous stone representations of American Presidents, a setting that echoed exactly what their banner said: we memorialize Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln for brave leadership, not political craft.

To top it off, they achieved instant global attention, in a way no chanting in the streets of New York or Paris can. Not a bad day's work.

----------------------------
pp.s.: And don't forget the perspective from the last owners of Mount Rushmore: South Dakota Oglala Sioux Melvin Martin expresses "heartfelt admiration for this brave act."

----------------------------
Roster of those arrested and charged for the stunt:

• Noah Mace, 21, Chapel Hill, NC
• Mary Sweeters, 27, Chicago
• Basil Tsimoyianis, 22, Westport, CT
• Madeline Gardner, 27, Minneapolis
• Matthew Leonard, 30, San Francisco
• Brian Jenkins, 25, Helena, MT
• Simran McKenna, 25, San Francisco
• Jessica Miller, 31, Flushing, NY
• Cy Wagoner, 32, San Francisco
• Joseph Smyth, 27, Albuquerque, NM
• Hope Kaye, 23, San Francisco

And here they are in cuffs:



Among the comments: "Hang 'em high!" and "Go back to Russia!" Har har. But what bothers me most: "Shut up!" Not exactly appropriate comments in the Shrine to Democracy.

--------------------------
Update 2009.07.10 11:02 CDT: Meanwhile, debris leftover from the July 3 fireworks display is still harming the Mount Rushmore visitor experience and incurring "huge expense." Trash on the trails! Fire danger! Where's the outrage?!

Update 2009.07.11 07:10 CDT: See Matt Leonard, member of the Rushmore 12, discussing the protest (they hiked in through the woods!) and the climate change bill ("so watered down by industry interests that it’s really lost its basis in science") on Democracy Now!

Courage in the Streets of Tehran

Sometimes in the face of danger and violence, regular folks know immediately what they must do:

Supporters of Iranian presidential candidate Mir-Hossein Mousavi rush to the aid of another Mousavi supporter being beaten by Iranian government security agents. Tehran, Sunday, June 14, 2009.
Photo AP via Boston Globe's "The Big Picture"

A Mousavi supporter helps an injured riot policeman. Tehran, Saturday, June 13, 2009.
Photo AP via Boston Globe's "The Big Picture"

Check out the entire photo essay at Boston.com. Gritty, stirring journalism.

See also the Twitter-storm at #iranelection, where folks are heeding this call from Mr. Mousavi's own Twitter channel, mousavi1388: "We have no national press coverage in Iran, everyone should help spread Mousavi's message. One Person = One Broadcaster."

Tax Day Tea Party: Lovely Day in the Park with Unruh Hypocrites

Mr. Powers is kind enough to extend an invitation to all taxpayers to attend the Grand South Dakota Tax Day Tea Party, April 15, noon to 13:30, at Terrace Park in Sioux Falls. According to the event's Facebook page, cranky patriots will gather "To Protest Political Pork Barrel Spending and Government Waste. See an re-enactment of the Boston Tea Party - The spark that ignited the Revolutionary War."

Hmm... are we to derive some meaning from that last phrase?

No word yet on whether organizers have obtained an environmental permit for dumping tea into Covell Lake, but you'll want to bring your high boots for this amusing combination of goose poop and bull-puckey. Leading the rally (in feathered headdress and loincloth, I do so dearly hope) is Dr. Allen Unruh, whose wife Leslee made her living during the Bush Administration on millions of dollars of federal funding for abstinence education programs that don't work.

Obviously the Unruhs can speak with great personal authority on wasteful government spending. Forward the revolution!

Free Speech Follies: No 'Bama at the Pump, No Protests at DNC

Free speech forever! Here are some morning notes on the First Amendment:

Gas Pump Ad Company Nixes Obama Ads: Senator Barack Obama was working on some campaign ads to place on gas pump TVs. (People, you're filling your car with an explosive substance. Not the best time to be watching TV.) The ad would have mentioned Obama's plans for giving folks a $1,000 energy rebate funded by a tax on Big Oil's profits (just one of numerous planks in his energy policy, right alongside that common sense stuff about properly inflating your tires and tuning your engine—but oh, that's personal responsibility, and Republicans hate that).

But Gas Station TV, the Michigan company working to bring us video distraction at the pump, has nixed bringing Obama's message to their "captive audiences." "We avoid politics in general," said CEO David Leider. Especially when those politics tell voters that Obama will look for ways to lower gas consumption... which of course would mean less time motorists would spend in front of Gas Station TV's ad portals.

Not a violation of the First Amendment, but a good example of how corporations control the message whenever they can.

Protests Penned in at Denver Convention: A little closer to a weakening of the First Amendment is U.S. District judge Marcia Krieger's ruling that the U.S. Secret Service and City of Denver can restrict protestors to fenced-in areas during the Democratic National Convention. The judge admits the government is infringing on free speech rights, but alas, security comes first.

Oh well. We weren't sending any bloggers who might protest anything in Denver anyway.

Nix Free Speech by Nixing Camping: Denver is also making free speech more expensive by forbidding visitors from camping in city parks. Some youthful activists had hoped to bring 50,000 protestors to the city to make their voices heard during the convention. They had hoped they could set up camp in the parks. Now the city says if they want to come to Denver, they have to get a room... and given that the convention has had the city overbooked for months, that means the activists would have to spring for rooms in Boulder, Colorado Springs, or other long drives away. Sometimes the powers that be don't have to slap a gag on anyone; they just raise the price of free speech so that only folks who can afford the Hilton have the chance to speak.

Hog Farm Protesters Can Outlast Highway Patrol

Just a thought: with Governor Rounds sending over 40 Highway Patrol officers to Charles Mix County to annul Yankton Sioux Tribal authority, it occurs to me the hog farm opponents simply need to bide their time. Maintain your protest for 40 hours, and then the Highway Patrol will have to go home. With the Governor's budget cuts, the HP can't afford overtime, right?

Friends in Britton and up and down the Keystone route, remember that if the courts rule against us and TransCanada comes a-knocking this summer with its backhoes and pipes. Stage a 41-hour protest, and the governor's corporate enforcers/Highway Patrol will have to clock out.