Today I met a couple of hundred friends at the Statehouse grounds in Columbus, yelling "Kill the Bill" and "This is what democracy looks like". I'm going to throw a bunch of photos at you all so you can get a feeling for the event.
There were some excellent signs, which are always the high point of a demonstration for me. We will start with the classic "Union yes!"-
In retrospect, the thing that struck me was how very polite the attendees were today. They stayed off the grass, signed in when asked and one lady even told me she felt bad that she hadn't researched union songs for the event. Leave it to educators to make a learning experience out of being unfairly attacked by the Legislature. After 20 plus years of attending demonstrations and protests, this one worries me. They're planning to hold another hearing on Ohio SB 5 on Tuesday. I really hope that it's loud, rowdy and confrontational.
PS- The Columbus Dispatch reported today that there are rumors that Republican Senators on the committee that's holding hearings on SB5 may be swapped out. It appears that they may be worried that some of their members are wavering- thanks to an aggressive local lobbying campaign. Maybe, just maybe...