Pomona isn't exactly known for its political activism, so when I see any sort of political activism of any sort that really draws any group of people together I get excited. On Saturday morning while riding my bike to Stater Bros. I stopped by the protest of prop 8 in downtown Pomona. Here is some footage, with a statement at the end.
From across the street along Garey. (Does anyone else agree that that massive parking lot at WaMu is a major waste of space?)
Crossing Garey on Second, protesters coming towards me. (please excuse the glare streaks from here on out. I don't have a real video camera)
Moving in the same direction of protesters Car/Bike's-Eye-View along Second st Antique Row. (note the police car keeping the peace, I actually caught one of them sleeping in his car with it on over by Sakura Ichi, must've been pretty boring for them. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me Mr. Officer. I don't want to get on his bad side and he clearly saw me.)
Protestors coming towards me at Second St. Antique Row, Cars are honking and people are on both sides of the street.
Wrapping the corner from Second to Third along Gibbs. The background is either crazy cloud cover or the Fires in Carbon Canyon. (this one's a little longer but the different chants are interesting, I'm glad they didn't rhyme 8 with 8)
Last Video, Corner of Garey and Third, being swarmed by protesters. After reviewing the video I spotted Bill Korthof the owner of Energy Efficiency Solar in Pomona(they install solar panel systems) He also owns the Regen Co-op houses in Pomona. If you don't know who he is, he's probably the most conservative looking one in this video.
Pomona looked different on this day. It was grand, and I wish there were more of this more often, about anything. The crowd wasn't that large, it was definitely minuscule only in comparison to the Anti-war protests just before the Iraq War in 2001/2 in Downtown LA, (I helped to film some of that for a documentary in China called "Run, China" with a real camera(please check it out, video is split in three parts)). The sound of the landscape was very different, the sounds of the environment seemed to have the most impact. If people were just marching, people would not be heard, it could be easier to ignore them if sounds were missing. In this moment people were in fact taking back Pomona. I'm almost certain that if this many people were out everyday violence and crime in Pomona would reduce. The presence of other people make people who are about to do no good more apprehensive. In this special case the presence of activists encourage others to be more active. I digress... Anyways, Pomona, Good job.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
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7 comments:
Yesterday I felt particularly proud to be a resident of Pomona. I agree with Andrew -- it was very cool to see people coming together and giving a damn. I wasn't here for the anti-war protest, so I am unable to compare yesterday's turnout to that earlier event. That said, I disagree that the turnout was minuscule -- my best-guess is that there were about 250 protesters at this one location (keeping in mind, of course, that there were other protests throughout the IE, CA, and the nation). Big thumbs-up to Pomona.
am enjoying living in this city day by day, love the social fabric. BTW AK u should run for office (city council)got my vote already.
(texxeen)
city council. haha maybe but probably after graduate school. and when I become more familiar with the city. I'm very intrigued by Pomona's social fabric as well. I've lived in a lot of cities in So Cal and Pomona is by far the most interesting.
Great work it is nice to see the people of Pomona take back the streets and show our goverment we don`t agree with there B.S. sure brings back good time back in the 60`s here.Reminds me of the time I got kicked out of the council meeting one time well thats another story for anothe time but good work Anduhrew
Wow, this is fantastic! I had no idea Pomona could be such a happening, liberal place. I'm proud of Pomona and I truly feel like I missed out. If only I'd have known we had a No-on-Prop-8 protest local, I would have donned my own banner...
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