The Biggest Rally in Alaska's History...
Alaskan Women Reject Palin, Alaska, September 2008
The Alaska Women Reject Palin rally was to be held outside
on the lawn in front of the Loussac Library in midtown Anchorage.
Home made signs were encouraged, and the idea was to make a statement
that Sarah Palin does not speak for all Alaska women, or men. I had
no idea what to expect.
The rally was organized by a small group of women, talking over coffee.
It made me wonder what other things have started with small groups
of women talking over coffee. It's probably an impressive list. These
women hatched the plan, printed up flyers, posted them around town,
and sent notices to local media outlets. One of those media outlets
was KBYR radio, home of Eddie Burke, a long-time uber-conservative
Anchorage talk show host. Turns out that Eddie Burke not only announced
the rally, but called the people who planned to attend the rally 'a
bunch of socialist baby-killing maggots,' and read the home phone
numbers of the organizers aloud over the air, urging listeners to
call and tell them what they thought. The women, of course, received
some nasty, harassing and threatening messages.
I felt a bit apprehensive. I'd been disappointed before by the turnout
at other rallies. Basically, in Anchorage, if you can get 25 people
to show
up at an event, it's a success. So, I thought to myself, if we can
actually get 100 people there that aren't sent by Eddie Burke, we'll
be doing good. A real statement will have been made. I confess, I
still had a mental image of 15 demonstrators surrounded by hundreds
of menacing 'socialist baby-killing maggot' haters
It's a good thing I wasn't tailgating when I saw the
crowd in front of the library or I would have ended up in somebody's
trunk. When I got there, about 20 minutes early, the line of sign
wavers stretched the full length of the library grounds, along the
edge of the road, 6 or 7 people deep! I could hardly find a place
to park. I nabbed one of the last spots in the library lot, and as
I got out of the car and started walking, people seemed to join in
from every direction, carrying signs.
Never, have I seen anything like it in my 17 and a half years living
in Anchorage. The organizers had someone walk the rally with a counter,
and they clicked off well over 1400 people (not including the 90 counter-demonstrators).
This was the biggest political rally ever, in the history of the state.
I was absolutely stunned. The second most amazing thing is how many
people honked and gave the thumbs up as they drove by. And even those
that didn't honk looked wide-eyed and awe-struck at the huge crowd
that was growing by the minute. This just doesn't happen here.
Then, the infamous Eddie Burke showed up. He tried to talk to the
media, and was instantly surrounded by a group of 20 people who started
shouting O-BA-MA so loud he couldn't be heard. Then passing cars started
honking in a rhythmic pattern of 3, like the Obama chant, while the
crowd cheered, hooted and waved their signs high.
So, if you've been doing the math Yes. The Alaska Women Reject Palin
rally was significantly bigger than Palin's rally that got all the
national media coverage! So take heart, sit back, and enjoy the photo
gallery. Feel free to spread the pictures around to anyone who needs
to know that Sarah Palin most definitely does not speak for all Alaskans.
The citizens of Alaska, who know her best, have things
to say.
Psssst...pass it on!
(thanks Geralyn!)
Karen S. Rubinson