Suppose They Gave a Protest and Nobody Came
June 8, 2004
Today Brian, Jon, and I ventured into downtown Savannah to see if any of the anarchy and disruption we were supposed to expect came about.
All I can say is this: if you came to Savannah looking for a protest, you went away disappointed.
The “International Festival for Peace and Civil Liberties,” by all estimations, appeared to be a “Small Gathering of a Few Unorganized Groups Whilst Listening to a Jam Band.” I will certainly admit that we did not stay around long—just an hour or so. While there, we saw a few attempts to make a statement, but it was limited to a few signs, t-shirts, and a huge field of umbrellas written on in paint pen.
The Savannah Morning News article about the protest indicated that at one point, there were as many as fifty people in the park when the parade to the Ralph Mark Gilbert Civil Rights Museum began. That may have been so, but by the time we arrived around 2 p.m., the protesters had either gotten tired of sitting in the sun or hitched a ride down to Brunswick where all the action appears to be.
And somehow, I knew this would happen. There’s never been an instance—knock on wood—in which my expectations for the severity of a situation have been met. Every time a storm is in the Atlantic, every time some terrible wave of crime is supposed to come Savannah’s way, the danger always appears to be unbelievably overstated. Much in the same way General Sherman burned so much of the south but saved Savannah because of her beauty; the anti-globalization movement similarly bypassed Savannah in favor of lesser cities.
And with a side-trip to Pinkie Masters, our G8 protest experience ended. Disappointed with the lack of excitement but happy that our city was still intact, I’ve posted a gallery of pictures from our trip. If anything, they make it look more exciting.