As opposed to yesterday, which was a much calmer atmosphere, today had some heated confrontations in the streets of Cleveland.
I was, not unfortunately but, unfortunately attending a pro-life luncheon at which Gov. Rick Perry spoke at and I was not able to be in the streets for much of what I was viewing through Twitter and Snapchat.
The first major event I read/saw was the "Wall Off Trump" Movement, which was reportedly funded with $15,000 via a campaign on Indiegogo. The protesters formed a human wall with banners reading, "Wall Off Trump", among others. My fellow classmate Carlos Cruz captured some amazing clips of the protest on his Twitter account, @vivacarlitos_ so check his Twitter feed for in-depth coverage of that event.
After leaving the luncheon, driving back to the flats to transcribe a couple interviews, and finally walking back into the city I was able to catch the tail end of the protest where two flags were burned in the middle of the street at the intersection of East 4th Street and Prospect Avenue.
As I approached the intersection a march of protesters representing the REVCOM, also known as the Revolutionary Communist Party, were walking directly towards me, blocking off the entire street. After shuffling my way through the massive crowd, I immediately saw a block of police blocking off all corners of the street where the flags had been burned.
To get to the 'crime' scene it required me talking to two different police officers to have to cut through an alley to connect over to East 4th Street from the other side. The scene of the flag burning looked back to normal, aside from the police tape, although you could tell that the police had a sense of urgency and tension in their movements.
As I went to walk to Public Square, I walked past an encounter between an anti-military activist and a very pro-military supporter; words were exchanged, but things did not get too heated. When I finally made it to Public Square, I almost immediately regretted it as I instantly heard, over the mega-phone, what I can only imagine were members of the Westboro Baptist Church as their language was unbearably hateful and inciteful.
It truly was an eye-opening experience, as you hear about all of this hate and racism in this country but to hear it being so casually preached made me sick to my stomach - it genuinely made me miss my experience Monday with the Nuns on the Bus and their positivity.
I genuinely hope that this hate and division are not the future of our country but with a presidential candidate that lives off of those choke holds, I guess you really do have to hold hope with some hesitance.
Below are some of the videos from today's events that I was able to capture, aside from these videos I also have been covering the convention from a religious perspective following PBS' Religion and Ethics Newsweekly so if you would like to see my coverage on that my Twitter address is @ChenkusNews.
References
Sexton, John. (2016) Protesters attempt to 'wall off Trump' at convention. Hot Air. Retrieved from http://hotair.com/archives/2016/07/20/protesters-attempt-to-wall-off-trump-at-convention/.
Good work Alec, but I hope you didn't place yourself in danger to get these videos. I know what you mean about the Westboro folks. I was at a Gay Pride Parade in Cleveland once where they were doing that with a megaphone. It's very upsetting.
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