Event unites thousands of people in protest

EDWARD LIN/Daily Bruin Carlos Mena, a
first-year film & television student, protests George W. Bush’s
presidential inauguration.

By Kelly Rayburn and Scott B.
Wong
Daily Bruin Staff

She said she is scared, not only because her son sits on
California’s death row waiting to be executed, but because
George W. Bush is now President of the United States.

Mary Glasco, an African American member for the Campaign to End
the Death Penalty, told about 2,000 anti-Bush protesters downtown
Los Angeles on Saturday that her son, 26-year-old Derrick Robinson,
was wrongly convicted of murder.

“And now Mr. Bush is being put into office, a man
that’s executed more minorities than any other state,”
Glasco said in her speech. “Doesn’t that scare
you?”

When the murders were committed in 1994, witnesses testified
that Derrick was not present at the crime scene. But when the case
reopened in 1998, the same men who testified were in prison and
indicted Derrick for a lesser sentence, Glasco said.

Thousands turned out in Washington as well to protest
Bush’s inauguration, despite wet weather.

But as the 43rd president to take the oath of office, Bush said
his role was to bring people together.

“Sometimes our differences run so deep, it seems we share
a continent, but not a country,” Bush said in his speech.
“This is my solemn pledge: I will work to build a single
nation of justice and opportunity.”

Meanwhile, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles, spoke at
the downtown rally and criticized the new president for his harsh
policy on death row inmates.

“(Bush) said everybody that’s ever been executed in
Texas is guilty ““ that is such a backwards way of
thinking,” Waters said.

“I think that the “˜lock him up and throw the key
away’ mentality will be the order of the day,” Waters
said. “These are right-wing Republicans that never think
education, that never think prevention.”

But those protesting the death penalty weren’t the only
ones voicing anti-Bush sentiments in Pershing Square.

Democrats, Green Party members, socialists, anarchists, gays and
lesbians, Latinos, African Americans, Asians, Jews, the elderly and
children all united under a blanket of common disapproval of
Bush.

“A lot of people in the coalition who not that long ago
were on opposite sides are now united against Bush,” said
Brian Jones, a rally organizer.

After his speech, Jones introduced actor Ed Asner, who was the
event’s MC.

“Welcome citizens whose votes don’t count,”
Asner said

And while the theme in Washington Saturday may have been
bipartisanship, the tone in Los Angeles was clearly that of
resentment and retribution.

California State Senator Sheila Kuehl, D-Santa Monica, who
represents the district which includes UCLA, said she would not buy
into the bipartisan feeling Bush was trying to promote.

“Everyday Mr. Bush is in office we must do something to
undermine his operation,” Kuehl said. “We must refuse
to cooperate, refuse to legitimize.”

Kuehl, who is openly gay and an advocate for lesbian rights,
said it was problematic that Bush’s cabinet members were
incredibly anti-gay.

“(The Bush administration) wants us to go back into every
closet we ever came out of,” Kuehl said.

Bush takes office probably the most widely despised, ridiculed,
hated and frankly illegitimate president in American history, Jones
said.

“We’re gonna wipe that frat-boy smirk off his
face,” he continued.

Another speaker questioned one of her own party’s elected
officials.

Lila Garrett, president of Southern California America for
Democratic Action, warned Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., if she
votes to confirm John Ashcroft, Bush’s nomination for U.S.
Attorney General, she may find herself out of a job next term.

“Are you listening Dianne Feinstein? We are watching
you,” Garrett said. “Your next election depends on what
you do now.”

Others attempted to make light of Bush’s inauguration.

Ross Altman, folk singer and UCLA alumnus ’69, performed
his song about the Florida butterfly ballots.

“When you look to the right of your candidate’s
name, and the hole and the arrow ain’t lined up the same,
maybe you’re just a little bit off on your aim, punch it
twice it’s alright,” Altman sang.

Some held signs which read: “Will the Real President
Please Take Office,” “Hail to the Thief” and
“The Grinch that Stole the Election.”

While Asner cracked jokes to the crowd about Bush, he also
encouraged student involvement in politics and suggested they
“organize, organize, organize.”

“Organization takes effort; it takes energy; it takes some
broken heads–but man, it can work,” Asner said.

But some protesters said they felt rally organizers neglected
the student perspective. Among the many speakers at the rally, not
one was a student, said Bao Nguyen, advocacy chair of the Asian
Pacific Students Association at UC Irvine.

“Students are not apathetic; students conform to their
environment,” Nguyen said. “Nobody is teaching
them.”

Waters had some ideas to encourage student involvement and voter
participation.

“The first thing that we must do on every campus is have
voter registration all the time, not one week, not one
weekend,” Waters said.

“And I would like them to know who all their elected
officials are and for us to use that Internet now to access
(elected officials’) voting records,” she said.
“They have been hiding for many years, but now they
can’t hide anymore.”

After the series of speakers, the protesters marched to the
downtown federal building.

A flatbed truck, with five supreme court justices dressed as
clowns holding lady liberty back with chains, led the way.

The marchers carried huge banners reading, “Vote with a
Vengeance,” and “Illegitimate.”

While swarms of police officers rode bicycles ahead of and
marched along side protesters, there was little confrontation,
according to Lt. Daniel Mulrenin of the Los Angeles Police
Department.

One protester, however, said even if Al Gore had been elected,
he would still be marching.

“Elections under this system are a complete fraud ““
and not just this last one,” said Steve Guest, a member of
Los Angeles Workers United. “All of the candidates have been
bought and sold.”