I don't know about you but in this house, today, everyone seems emotionally spent. I left the computer for a little bit, and a thought crossed my mind "will Westboro Baptist Church picket these funerals?"
So I came back to the computer and looked:
Less than 48 hours after the Connecticut school shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT, which took place on Dec. 14, the Westboro Baptist Church is already making plans to picket. The Westboro Baptist Church is known for picketing and protesting at funerals across the country.
-- examiner.com
Shirley Phelps-Roper
Westboro will picket Sandy Hook Elementary School to sing praise to God for the glory of his work in executing his judgment.
(tweet at about 11am EST)
even encouraging others in CT to put up signs
MargiePhelps
Get a sign"God H8s Fag Marriage" & put it up in CT. #WarnNeighbor #YourDuty MT @DAVIDMDRAIMAN: @mopdog666 @margiejphelps NEED PROPER SOURCE.
If you go through their tweets and others in the WBC you'll find that they distrubingly sound much like
Mike Huckabee and
Bryan Fischer.
One begins to wonder if they will be there in spirit with the WBC.
This is a powder keg ready to explode. There will be police officers charged with keeping order who walked inside that school and saw the carnage, who knew those families, those children.
There will be friends and families, nerves raw, grief hot, knowing that certain presents under the Christmas tree will never be opened.
And there are the rest of us who are processing this, who look at our kids, grandkids, nieces, nephews, neighborhood kids, and those of our friends -- these were children, those emotions are different, more raw, deeper . . . I've heard police often say that a crime scene featuring a murdered child never leaves them.
Before reading that they would be there, I had made a decision that if I found out they were going to be there, I would one of those lining the streets so that the vile Westboro Baptist Church has no place to stand and picket. With cane and folding chair if I have to. Newtown, CT is only 3 hours away.
I know I conceived New England Kossacks as only a social group, but I hope that some of you will join me on the line too, along with any kossack.
If it is all I can do to help someone with their grief, then it is what I will do.
As soon as I know WBC planned day I will post it.
Please join me.
2:56 PM PT: Thank you to zeke7237 for letting me know in the comments that opposition is already organizing. There is a facebook page to join
I have joined and I hope you will too.
3:19 PM PT: Can someone on the Nutmeg Kossack group republish this please. Thank you.
3:45 PM PT:
Former Westboro Baptist Church picketer on Connecticut killings
Lauren Drain writes…
“In light of today’s terrible tragedy here in CT, and upon hearing the news that WBC intends to picket such a devastation, I felt it was an appropriate time to answer a question many have asked me in hopes that I might help block the spread of their heinous message via media. The question I’ve been asked is how are people supposed to respond to the terrorizing the WBC does when people are struggling to mourn the loss of their innocent loved ones? Please see the attached video…”
From https://www.facebook.com/...
And that's all we want to do; give the families and friends, room and space to grieve. Silently provide space between the Newtown community and the WBC
When Laren Drain left the WBC she moved to CT.
Sun Dec 16, 2012 at 12:04 AM PT: Just to make this clear, my intention, and I think the intention of the group organizing is to create a buffer between the mourners and the WBC so that violence doesn't have a chance to ensue.
The facebook page has already called for non-violent peaceful responses.
My thought was to do what was done when the WBC picketed Elizabeth Edward's funeral - have people lined up on both sides of the street, standing silently shoulder to shoulder so that there isn't any room near the funeral for the WBC people to stand.
Yes they can "set up" but hopefully the only room will be several blocks if not a mile or two from the funeral.
If they can't be seen or heard by the mourners, their mission is thwarted.
This is a non-violent action and answer to the WBC.