Ailantha
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Another Protest

7/2/2016

0 Comments

 
    This past Wednesday I attended my first stand/sit-in (see post from 6/30/2016) to protest our country's epidemic of gun violence and to call for stricter gun laws. Yesterday I attended my second anti-gun violence demonstration, this time in Hilliard, a northwestern suburb of Columbus, along Cemetery Road, outside the office of Congressman Steve Stivers.
Picture
      This demonstration was organized, as was  Wednesday's,  by the Ohio Coalition Against Gun Violence and, once again, was held in conjunction with other protests held this week around the state.
Picture
     Our modus operandi was pretty much the same as it was on Wednesday, as it was, I assume, on all the other days and  in all the other places where the protests were held, that is, we stood along the sidewalk holding up signs signs for the people driving by to see, sometimes chanting, sometimes singing.
Picture
Picture
Picture
Picture
    Former Ohio Representative Mary Jo Kilroy was also there.
Picture
      One of the protesters suggested that some of us should be standing on the other side of the street for the benefit of the traffic going in both directions, a thought which had occurred to me, too.  So half a dozen of us crossed over and began protesting on that side of the street in front of a Nationwide Insurance franchise.
       But after a few minutes an annoyed-looking young guy in a dress shirt and tie  (and of a pro-gun persuasion) came out and told us to move away from his building as he didn't want his business associated with us.   Some moved a few yards down the street, some stood their ground as, after all, we were on public property,  but I crossed back over to the other side of the street.

    I know that sometimes implementing change requires some upheaval of the social order, but I wasn't yet ready to personally bring it on at that moment.
     Our protest was scheduled to run from 11:30 to 1 pm, and shortly before 1pm our organizer led us to the office of Steve Stivers for another 8-minute sit-in to draw attention to the fact that every eight hours an Ohioan is killed by gun violence.
        We stopped along the way for a photo op, 
and for a brief chat with a friendly police officer who just wanted to make sure us old folks weren't intending to mix it up in Mr. Stivers' office, which of course we weren't.
    I   n fact we were welcomed into Stivers' office by his very nice aide, whose name, I think, was Alan and who offered us bottles of water and let us sit or stand along the hall way while he listened to what we wanted to communicate to Congressman Stivers and the rest of Congress.
Picture
     About a dozen people spoke, some very eloquently, doctors, counselors, teachers, people who'd personally experienced the pain and grief of gun violence, or those who simply were able to give voice to the need for better gun laws.
     I was moved by their personal stories and well-expressed words and I wondered if Congressman Stivers's young aide was likewise moved,

Picture
...or if he was just following orders to humor us.
   
  In any case, I thought, we're doing what we can.
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888
    Picture
    "Tropical Depression" 
    by Patti Liszkay
    ​Buy it on Amazon:   
    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BTPN7NYY

    Archives

    June 2025
    May 2025
    April 2025
    March 2025
    February 2025
    January 2025
    December 2024
    November 2024
    October 2024
    September 2024
    August 2024
    July 2024
    June 2024
    May 2024
    April 2024
    March 2024
    February 2024
    January 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    June 2023
    May 2023
    April 2023
    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013

    RSS Feed

    I am a traveler just visiting this planet and reporting various and sundry observations,
    hopefully of interest to my fellow travelers.

    Categories

    All


























































































  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact