Good Morning!
(Let's skip the "long time no post" and get straight to the good stuff)
This morning, the westboro baptist church (aka, the crazy, call-themselves-christian-but-filled-with-hate, family of haters with signs) picketed Garfield High School. My high school. This was one of the last stops on their tour of picketing Seattle...lots of jewish organizations, two churches, and the SPU graduation were also on their agenda.
So from 7:10 to 7:40, they stood on the corner of 23rd and Jefferson on the other side of the street from the school, fenced in by police barricades, with their signs, yelling and chanting. There were maybe six of them.
On the other side of 23rd, the sidewalk was filled with students and community members wearing purple and holding signs. We were at least a few hundred strong.
At 7:35, all of the current garfield students had to go to class, and those of us who remained (community members and alumni) held the line for the last few minutes, and sang "na na na na, hey hey, goodbye" at the phelpses when they left.
All in all, a great way to spend a morning! It was peaceful and we felt mostly like we were in solidarity with each other, rather than having to defend against them. They were pretty pitiful.
This morning, the westboro baptist church (aka, the crazy, call-themselves-christian-but-filled-with-hate, family of haters with signs) picketed Garfield High School. My high school. This was one of the last stops on their tour of picketing Seattle...lots of jewish organizations, two churches, and the SPU graduation were also on their agenda.
So from 7:10 to 7:40, they stood on the corner of 23rd and Jefferson on the other side of the street from the school, fenced in by police barricades, with their signs, yelling and chanting. There were maybe six of them.
On the other side of 23rd, the sidewalk was filled with students and community members wearing purple and holding signs. We were at least a few hundred strong.
At 7:35, all of the current garfield students had to go to class, and those of us who remained (community members and alumni) held the line for the last few minutes, and sang "na na na na, hey hey, goodbye" at the phelpses when they left.
All in all, a great way to spend a morning! It was peaceful and we felt mostly like we were in solidarity with each other, rather than having to defend against them. They were pretty pitiful.