Ha ha ha. A thousand or more union members and their families—both Teamsters and UNITE HERE members—showed up to form a human wall between the funeral of Boston Marathon bombing victim Krystle Campbell and a threatened picket by Westboro Baptist Church. But "threatened" is a key word here, because apparently the Westboro Baptists looked at the situation and decided
maybe today was not their day, in person at least:
Brother Steve Sullivan from Teamsters Local 25 tells us there is no sign of the Westboro Baptists outside of St. Joseph's Church in Medford, where the funeral Mass is being held for the 29-year-old victim of the Boston Marathon bombing.
That hasn't stopped the hate group from claiming online to be there—and from posting taunts on Twitter.
"U c us in Boston?" the Westboro Baptist Church tweeted to the Boston Globe, the Boston police and Teamsters. "look around u."
Teamsters Local 25 replied on Twitter: "Show your face. We're here in the open."
There were never going to be enough Westboro Baptist bigots to match the show of strength and support from Boston-area unions and the broader community at this funeral. But having their brand of polluting hatred nowhere on display while a massive show of community materialized in its place is even better.