In a democracy, part of one's civic duty is to give the government a good kick in the pants when needed. With President Bush pursuing a growing and continued occupation of Iraq that serves only to fuel terrorism, and with Congress not yet doing what it takes to stop him, now seemed like a good time to help make the will of the people clear. That's why I got on a bus to the United for Peace and Justice march on Washington. It was about 15 degrees Fahrenheit and windy in Boston when we gathered at Boston Common. Already I was glad I'd persuaded my wife to keep our three young children home while I represented us. Since the buses hadn't arrived yet, I told the other early arrivers about the shelter of the garage entrance where we could watch for the bus arrival without people getting frostbite. These were dedicated people. Sleeping on a bus is not easy, but everyone was in good spirits in the morning. As we got out at the Greenbelt metro station, I met a family with three generations demonstrating, the youngest being 13. The station was already packed even though the rally was three hours away. I managed to find a fast-moving line and had my metro ticket in twenty minutes. People were friendly and excited with the anticipation of making a difference. I ran into Caroline and Jessica, two of the Bostonians from Boston Common the night before. The three of us went to the Washington Mall early to scope things out. Already by 9:30 many had gathered with their signs for the 11:00 rally. We took a look around until the museums opened at 10, then visited the Air and Space museum. I got my sign and drew my family on it in stick figure, so they could participate symbolically.

Crowds started to really pour in a little after 11. There were people from all generations. Some were religious, some anti-religious. There were communists, socialists, veterans and currently-serving military people. Many signs urged impeachment.



Since I was with Caroline, I was allowed into an enclosed area with the speakers and their contingents. I heard John Conyers giving an interview in which he emphasized that Congress is given the purse strings of war specifically to keep presidents like GW Bush in check. I agree. I got his autograph. Sean Penn, Susan Sarandon, Tim Robbins, Jesse Jackson and other celebrities were milling about.



When the speakers finished, I handed my camera to one of the professional photographers on the raised stage to get a crowd photo. He got one shot off and then my battery died. I had hoped to get something that showed the magnitude of the crowd, but that turned out to be impossible.



The march began with a long period of standing. Getting 100,000 (my estimate) people into a line takes time. I started out near the Chinese-dragon-style backbone that read, "IMPEACH INDICT IMPRISON." This message to Congress about getting a backbone was carried all the way around the capitol building. I saw several signs with "Mmm" and a picture of a peach.



I spent most of the march singing along with some musical Philadelphians, one of whom carried a mini banjo. As I stood next to a strong-voiced black woman with dreadlocks, I was reminded of the movie Forrest Gump that features the awkward main character appearing in various historical scenes where he doesn't belong. I was still wearing my business-casual clothes and wool coat from the previous day, and felt like I was Forrest Gump. We passed a group of counter-demonstrators (estimates vary between 7 and 40) where the most prominent was someone with a gas mask and a sign that said "Hippies Smell." We chanted "Support the troops! Bring them home!" as we passed. I found the entire experience exhilarating and would do it again.



The organizers estimated 500,000 at the event, which I guess might be counting everyone who made concrete plans to travel there. CNN reported tens of thousands, a number I guess comes from a reporter looking around and saying, "I see tens of thousands." With the flat terrain and all the signs blocking view, any estimate based on what you personally see at one time will be low. The police declined to estimate, presumably because of how politicized such numbers are. For my estimate, I looked on the gmap-pedometer web site to find that the Washington Mall between 4th and 7th is about 200x400 meters. At about 12:20 Caroline and I had walked from near 7th all the way to 4th through the crowd. The crowd was sparse near 7th and thick near 4th, probably two people per square meter. If I mentally push that crowd back until everybody has a comfortable 1 square meter space, I see them almost filling the rectangle. I then mentally take the crowd that was on the other side of 4th, fill in the rest of the 200x400 rectangle to make 80,000 people in 80,000 square meters, and have roughly 20,000 people left over. Obviously this method is imprecise, but I'm confident enough to say that any estimate below 80,000 is too low, and any estimate above 200,000 is too high.