Students: "First amendment!"
Us: "Let's hear it for the first amendment!"
Everyone: "First amendment! Woo-hoo!"
Wow. Can you say, "teachable moment?!"
And if that moment wasn't enough, there was icing on the cake. After being "escorted" back out to the sidewalk by security, we did a short demonstration and march back to our cars. We all hugged and celebrated a successful morning of awareness-raising, and then dispersed. Three of us - two in Pink Police uniforms and one in an "ARREST BUSH" t-shirt, decided to have lunch at a nearby restaurant. We thought about changing into our "civilian" clothes, but decided that, no, it might be another chance for some awareness-raising. We ordered our food and sat down, and sure enough, people started asking, "What are you ladies in pink doing?" We explained what we were up to, and more importantly, why. Some said, "Oh," and left. Perhaps they weren't exactly "with us" - yet - but we planted a little seed of truth for them to consider. Others said things like, "I'm with you ladies," and spent quite a while with us. We told them about what we and our organizations do and gave them our emails, the toll-free number for the capitol operator, and links to websites like www.afterdowningstreet.org, www.codepinkalert.org, and www.dallaspeacecenter.org. We told them about our local peace and justice groups and how to get involved. They were thrilled to find, in the sea of conservatism that is North Texas, a group of similarly-aware people with whom they could ride the progressive current. I suspect we might see one or two of them again, soon.
It was the "roots" of grassroots activism: people talking to each other, one-on-one, face-to-face. We were so glad we hadn't missed the chance for one more great "teachable moment!"
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