The Protest: Seen, If Not Heard

By CBSNews.com's Jarrett Murphy

The lack of a P.A. — a consequence of the city not granting a permit for an official rally on the Great Lawn — did not seem to faze many of the marchers who, having trudged up and down the West Side during the earlier official march, then trickled into Manhattan's big backyard.

Many had said all day that what they were chanting, and what their signs and pamphlets said, was almost beside the point.

The important thing was to be there.

"It's just to raise awareness and making it clear to the world that there's a huge population that doesn't support the current state of things," said Michelle Gross, a recent college graduate from New Brunswick, N.J., as she waited in Union Square for the march to kick off Sunday morning.

Tom Flynn, train operator from the Bronx, felt the march "may energize people to vote, No. 1."

"And if you get a large enough turnout it's going to show people are sick of Bush," Flynn said.

One reason Gary Okihiro, a professor of ethnic studies at Columbia University, marched is "there's that kind of anger against government policies that we have no input into."

"But there's also a message that the rest of the nation and the world, because people are watching around the world," he said.

For Okihiro, that message is that not all Americans support what he described as the Bush administration's war on people of color, which consists of military force abroad and policies curtailing immigrant rights and civil liberties at home.

The were other messages carries by the throngs that filled the side streets on the lower West Side and merged with the main column of marchers heading up 7th Avenue. Mike Trainor of New Jersey was one of a few dozen protesters serving as "pallbearers" for mock coffins of U.S. war dead.

"I feel that we haven't seen much from the Bush administration about the deaths in Iraq," he said. "It's been kept under the rug. I think this really puts it into perspective."

"I'm here in the memory of my two brothers who are dead in a military cemetery," the actor F. Murray Abraham, speaking at a pre-march march rally organized by Not in My Name said. "Too many times in history people have waited too long to resist."

Sarah Keller, also a recent college grad from New Jersey, was "just personally protesting everything that Bush stands for," from women's rights to gay rights to Iraq and health care. Ardeshir Ommani of Westchester asked people to forget about President Bush or John Kerry and "support the resistance" in Iraq.

But for others, the specific policy questions themselves were secondary. So was the question of whether an anti-Bush protest on the eve of the Republican convention was likely to change any minds.

"This is really about showing up and being present and saying the we're not happy," said Matt Griffin of New York City. As for the impact, "that's sort of out of our control."

"Just being part of the movement," was what Rebecca Calmmissa of Westchester County was doing.

Under a brutal sun, the march inched up 7th Avenue, then hung right on 34th Street and down Broadway. When the crowd hit Union Square Park and organizers asked people to disperse, many marchers sought refuge in the shade of the park's trees.

There, Jesse Jackson — a veteran of countless marches — held an impromptu press conference. Asked what his message to Republicans was, Jackson said: "We should all stand for one big-tent America."

Other marchers were at a loss when asked what they would say to the GOP delegates gathering elsewhere on Manhattan island.

Peter Nicholson, who had come with his 67-year-old mother from Charlotte, N.C. the night before and was flying back home Sunday evening, said he tries to change Republican minds by talking about tax policies and the expansion of government under Mr. Bush. But to be honest, he says, "I don't talk to them much anymore."

Vladmir Kerlegrand said of his message to the GOP, "You probably couldn't write it down."

There were several theories in the crowd to explain why almost half of their fellow countrymen and women love the man the marchers loath, Mr. Bush.

Many marchers blamed the media for failing to frame the issue correctly. Gross suspects that many Bush supporters "are really complacent and are benefiting from the current system."

"Why should they change it?," she asked.

"George Bush panders to the white working class," Okihiro said. "He's a good ol' boy and as a good old boy he's a nice guy and his policies must be beneficial to the nice guys of America."

For all the ire directed at Mr. Bush, there was a range of feelings about Kerry. Many marchers wore Kerry buttons and extolled the policy differences between their man and the president. Others were unsatisfied by Kerry's position on the war.

"I don't know if we can bring the troops home and salvage it that way," Tony Aiello, who served with the Army in the first Gulf War, said. "I really don't know how John Kerry's going to handle that."

"I wish (Kerry) were stronger" on the war, said Gordon Pearlman of Portland, Ore., "but it's a lesser-of-two-evils election."
By Jarrett Murphy