Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Today revisit Dadc 1y.I1IN GAII *'olumnist All the sights were there. The monuments were just as big and clean as they appear in the picture postcards your relatives send you from their summer vacation. Yes, Washington. D.C.. is a city of buildings and buildings and bIildings. But it is not only a city of concrete and marble; it is more a city of people. Naturaily, the one person that ti people think of when they think of D.C. is the president. The president--that man up there at the Capitol who has the reigns for four years and maybe another four. But this is yet one man, however powerful. l).C. became another type of people-city" this last weekend. It became a city of people who had. trekked to the city to voice their opinions on that issue of issues: the war in Indochina. They came from as far away as Seattle ("We went to San Francisco last year.") and as close as downtown D. C. Being mostly of the youth subculture though, not a majority--they came by any method they could. They came for that forementioned purpose though many expressed themselves differently. Some were vocal. Other somber. Others in e4 tensely emotional. When most got to the city, they spent a few hours enjoying the often -mentioned sights. The Considei the source malt &kpxw to becalned ly, whe Washington Monument encircled by a number of American flags. The Jefferson Memorial with that solid statue of Jefferson looking past you out at the Potomac. The Federal Bureau of Investigation building ("is that a man with binoculars in the window?"). New York City has its taxi cab drivers. Washington has its bus drivers. No other form of tran sporlation exists for these men. They are the transportation. Let pedestrians and car drivers beware. The youths started arriving early Friday. Though most saw the sights, some went to the Capitol and watched the vets return their medals into a pile over the fence. The vets Imost were veterans from Vietnam but there were others from other wars) set a mood about the city. Their emotion-packed pleas to end the war stunned the city. Everybody was talking about them. After all, they had been there. 01 the groups that had arrived, some had camped out on the Mall fthe grounds which surround the Washington Monument). There was a group from Ohio with both the state and American flag raised over their campgrounds. Another group had raised the Viet Cong flag. There was an air of won derment. Everybody was waiting for something to happen. Some sat around talking, others threw frisbees and others smoked grass. re is C Around five, cops on horses and motrocycles went to the Washington Monument to lower Ihe flags. Now in comes the politics of confrohtation. The kids were just looking for a hassle. 'How come you ride that horse with a bit, Mr. Policeman?" "What happens to the horse when you tear gas somebody? )oesn't he get tear gassed too?" 'hree cops were lowering the flags now. "Yeah, take them down." ")on't ever put them back up." Most of the kids wandered the street Friday night. At night Washington literally becomes a "police state." There are cops on every block. Every block. But there are still ads on the radio asking for more cops to join' "the world's number one police force." The police force is about 65 per cent black and 35 per cent white. The black and white situation seems to be pretty relaxed, but one that is not a resident of the city can't get the real feeling. The celibrity situation in a city as filled with famous--or infamous -people as Washington would seem to be overwhelming with names like Nixon and Agnew and Muskie and Hoover (J. Edgar). Rut, no. "Martha Mitchell is the celebrity," a Georgetown student maid. "We don't know what to expect from her next." .John, Martha's husband and Attorney General, said Friday ANNIER-SfB.Bi *M S 1 LOWnS E amp E night that there may be violence during the upeoming marches and rallies. Some shops barricaded their windows. Saturday morning. Sunny. Police expect 100,000. Sponsors expect a quarter of a million. Hitchhikers were streaming in. Middle-aged couples, some with their children, had the operator wake them up so that they "could get to the rally early." Both small and large groups walked towards the Mall, where the march was to originate. The closer one got to the Mall the slower the pace was. The small groups became one large one. The old men carrying signs saying, "Veterans for Peace," lagged behind. One "Veteran for Peace" held a young boy by his hand, who carried a sign asking, "Me Next?" The grounds where the procession was to start was covered with discarded literature, ice cream cups and soft drink cups. Some did make an attempt to stop the littering but mostly to no avail. ''Ecology" was buried under the waste. Trash was scattered in the dust. The issue of the environment was temporarily-unfortunately forgotten. Different interest groups were divided off into areas to make the march flow a little smoother. Labor unions marched together. A New York Library Union marched with the Culinary Union. The AFL-CIO was well represented. Welfare rightists marched hand in hand. Mothers pushed babies, which wore "ree Angela" buttons and fathers carried sons on their shoulders. The pace was slow and oc casionally slogans were shouted. ''Give Peace A Chance," "We don't Want Nixon's War... People shared sandwiches and soft drinks with strangers. Mar shals kept most of the crowd off the sidewalks "they're for emergency use only"). Pennsylvania Avenue was .jammed with people. As the group moved toward the Capitol, a group of about seven anti-antiwar demonstrators held signs saying, "Welcome Hanoi's l!awks" and "Smile... Our Nat ion 's enemies Applaud You." A few marchers- talked with the The LEo. Rest. Studemi Mmmduy I This is a chance to visit Restaurant For A, minimui Includes choice cut sirloin ste items at salad bar) choice of Please Call fai 741 S.aa. lavid... counter-demonstrators but, in all probability, few ideologies were altered. The front of the line reached the Capitol at noon. The end of the line got there about 4:30. Causes-free Angela Davis, Impeach Nixon, Puerto Rico liberation, Greece liberation, Gay liberation, Women's liberation-abounded. Yippies let loose an occasional yell and others climbed the statue in front of the Capitol. The Viet Cong flag was firmly planted om top of the statue. But it was not the Yippies and their sort that were representative of the march; middle-class citizens, college students and veterans of different wars were. Some kids were hyped up on drugs. A few wanted to tear down the fence that separated the speakers from the crowd. But cooler heads prevailed. Gigantic speakers amplified the antiwar rhetoric that was mostly shouted from the speaker's podium. When something that the crowd considered dynamic came from one of the speakers, a large cheer rang out. The speakers represented many different concerns. At times, the antiwar movement turned to ivil rights and other causes. The radical chic mingled vith the Yippies. However, the Yippies tried hard not to mingle with the radical chic. Jerry Rubinism was evident by the war paint that some of the Yippies wore. However, all in all, the crowd was gentle and concerned. The speakers' rehtoric had been heard time and again. But still the war hadn't stopped. These people wanted to show they cared. An old man, graying at the temples carrying a sign saying 'My Son Was Killed In Vietnam What For. America?" paused and solemnly smiled at a middle aged woman who was draped in a ribbon saying, "Not Our Sons, Not Tlheir Sons." They passed each other. A burning draft card dropped between them. Is Head wrant dudug Special lit. Only I, Columbia's most exchisive rn price-Student SpecialI ak, salad (Frven choice of 15 3 potatoes, bread, an4 tea or - Reservations. 25125141