This diary entry is from my 65 year old mother-in-law who tried to get to the One Nation March today. I hope any organizers who read this find out what happened. What a screw up.
Disappointed in Massachusetts
I am a 65 year old woman from Massachusetts who has never attended a political rally. The state of our national debate ( tea party rallies, Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin, etc.) has left me frustrated and disillusioned about the future of our country. It was with these feelings that I became involved with the One Nation Together rally to be held in DC on October 2, 2010. It became very important to me to be counted in the "hundred of thousands" of people who were to attend. It was important to show the rest of the country that there was solidarity amongst liberal/progressives.
In Massachusetts the SEIU sponsored busses to bring "thousands" of Massachusetts citizens to the rally. We paid in advance $34 dollars for the tickets. We were told to meet at designated locations by 10:00 PM on Friday October 1 where we would board buses to D.C. My excitement grew as I waited with about 40 other committed liberals. There were three small vans of people who had already travelled a few hours from northern Vermont. This group included children ranging in ages from about 5-12. There were students from Williams College who had driven about an hour. It was a diverse group with age ranges from about 5 to 70, different nationalities/color/ etc. We all commented how just this group was so much more diverse than the Tea Party gatherings.
We waited, and waited, and waited until about 11:00 we were informed that there was no bus coming. We were further told that there were other "ralliers" stranded in Boston and other towns. The number mentioned in Boston was about 1000 but I have no evidence to confirm that number.
As of 11:22 today, I have not been able to get any information of what happened. If this movement is to be successful I hope it gets more organized.