No More Hurting People

Peace. Photo by Callen harty.

The image that haunts me most from the Boston Marathon bombing is not one of the carnage, although many of those pictures are deeply disturbing. It is instead one that was posted after we learned the identity of the eight year old boy, Martin Richard, who died in the bombing. It is a picture of Martin, proudly holding a sign that he apparently made himself. The sign says, “No More Hurting People. Peace.”

This is a message for all of us now–no more hurting people. Peace. Simple. Beautiful. Perfect.

No more hurting people. No more random shootings. No more bombs. No more drones. No more knives and brass knuckles. No more rocks and stones. No more arson. No more war.

No more hurting people. Peace.

No more Afghani women and children maimed or killed. No more Iraqis with lost limbs. No more prisoners of conscience beaten and tortured by their captors. No more torture. No more queer people murdered. No more minorities killed. No more domestic violence. No more rape. No more violence. Period.

No more hurting people. Peace.

No more orphans of war. No more wounded psyches. No more hunger or homelessness. No more physical, spiritual, or emotional violence. No more.

No more hurting people. Peace.

No more. We can take no more. In Martin’s death his words reach out to a larger world. In his innocence our own complicity of silence is exposed. In his martyrdom our shortcomings as human beings are laid bare. We must take this boy’s message and proclaim it to the world. We must live it. We must be it. We must start with our own souls, finding peace and sharing it with others. We must stop hurting each other and we must do it now.

No more hurting people. Peace.

On the 17th District

Amish buggy on a winding road in LaFayette County. Photo by Callen Harty.

Today Wisconsin Democratic Party chair Mike Tate released a statement claiming that due to a newly announced primary challenge of 17th District State Senator, Republican Dale Schultz, the Democrats would take the seat from the Republicans and regain control of the Wisconsin Senate. Notwithstanding the fact that the Republicans currently hold an 18-15 advantage in the Senate and gaining that one seat would still leave the Democrats with a 16-17 disadvantage, the district has been a solidly Republican district for many, many years. While it is always a possibility to steal a seat Tate’s statement comes across as little more than hyperbole to anyone who knows anything about the district. It is part of his job to be a cheerleader and put a positive Democratic spin on everything, but it often sounds like he’s stretching to make a pumpkin pie out of mud, maybe even with a little Wisconsin dairy-made whipped cream on top. His statement reads more like a ploy to scare Schultz into considering switching parties than anything else, and it doesn’t seem very likely that Schultz will do that.

The press release implies that conservative money will pour into the district to support Republican challenger Howard Marklein, currently an Assembly representative from the area, and it presumes the outside money will defeat Schultz in a primary and that the Democrats will then be free to crush Marklein in the general election. Here is part of what Tate has to say: “The good news is double for Democrats-not only will we be able to defeat Howard Marklein in a general Senate election, his Assembly seat in a Democratic-majority District now is ours for the taking as well.” This presumes that if the Koch Brothers and others pour money into a primary to defeat a Republican who doesn’t kowtow to their every whim that they will then leave their candidate out to dry without pouring more money into defeating whomever the Democratic candidate will be. Not very likely. If the Democrats can find a candidate who has a chance s/he will have to withstand a barrage of Club for Growth, Americans for Prosperity, and other smear ads.

For Tate to say that it’s a “Democratic-majority district” is ludicrous. While it’s true that the district went for Obama in both of the last elections and that both Congressional members are Democrats the State Senate and Assembly offices have historically been held by Republicans, and Presidential and Congressional races have wavered between Democrats and Republicans. The Assembly is a little more susceptible to an occasional Democratic win, but when the Democrats do gain a seat their terms tend to be shorter. In the 51st district Republican Joseph Tregoning served from 1967 until well into the 1980s. There was one Democrat, Joanne Duren, who managed to last ten years in the 50th.

The State Senate is another story entirely. In the 17th district the Senate has had one Democrat elected to office since 1854. One. Since 1854, not 1954. That was popular UW-Platteville professor Kathryn Morrison, who became the first woman ever elected to the Wisconsin Senate and who lasted one term of three years before a Republican took the seat back. The opponent she defeated was Gordon Roseleip, a man who embarrassed himself by failing a taste test when fighting to keep margarine illegal in Wisconsin and who wanted to build a new bridge between Iowa and Wisconsin in order to be able to transport troops more efficiently. He failed to show up to at least one debate with her and was generally seen as past his prime and out of touch, though a likeable fellow.

If the Tea Partiers manage to get their candidate to beat Schultz in the primary there is little reason to believe that Marklein would not go on to win the seat, leaving it not only in Republican hands, but more conservative Republican hands. As noted, the Koch Machine would likely continue to pour money into the district and as of now it might be difficult to name a Democratic candidate with the experience to put up a fight. All three Assembly representatives in the region are Republicans. Perhaps they could find a county sheriff or someone who is well-liked in one part of the region, ideally one with little history for the negative ads to use as fodder for attack.

The other thing that Tate’s missive misses is that the driftless area of the state is incredibly independent. They like people like Dale Schultz, who generally stand behind more conservative views but who will stand up to his own or other parties for what he believes is right. There is no guarantee that outside money can unseat him in the primary, particularly if the voters perceive it as outside money trying to influence their local choice of representation. You can bet if they stand behind him in an ugly primary that no Democrat will likely defeat him in the general election. The likelihood is that the best Tate can hope for is that Dale Schultz is reelected and that he becomes more independent. The reality is that while he stood up against the mining bill and Act 10 he has, according to his own press release today, “a 98.7% Republican voting record.” Does Tate really believe that a man who brags about that voting record is likely to caucus with the Democrats? Do they really want him? If Tate believes that, it may be time for the Democrats to find a new cheerleader grounded in just a tad more reality.

Choices

Self-portrait in Video and Infrared. Photo by Callen Harty.

Maybe I’m naïve, but I honestly believe that people are essentially good.

All of us have the capacity for good or evil actions, but I believe that at the core our essential beings are goodness. This does not mean that I believe there is no evil in the world–there is, and a lot of it–but I believe that evil actions are the result of choices that are in turn the result of a lifetime of combined experiences that form who we become. But those things didn’t form who we are–at our core–they formed who we became.

Once, when I was in my early twenties and had already been a pacifist for a decade, I had a dream in which I walked into a crowded room (the Student Center at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville), pulled out a pistol, and cold-bloodedly shot a man. That dream shook my moral foundation more than anything else in my life because it took the me I knew and turned that knowing on its head. It made me question my pacifism, my entire ethical construct, and it made me question whether I knew myself at all.

But it was also a gift because it made me understand that within me is the animal nature with which we are all born. It made me acknowledge that within my complex psyche I have the capacity for choosing hatred or love, death or life, and evil or good. It made me realize that I have no moral high ground as far as the capacity of my being. It would only be in the paths I choose that I could maintain any kind of morality. Of course, being human, I have sometimes chosen badly. Understanding my humanity, though, allows me both to forgive others and myself much easier. I can be kinder as the result of this knowledge. Morality is all about choices. I can choose to be compassionate, kind, understanding, and forgiving, or I can choose to be judgmental, mean, and relentlessly unforgiving.

This also helps me understand that those who make choices that I may believe are not good choices, that are in fact sometimes antithetical to everything in which I believe, are not necessarily evil people. Their choices may appear evil based on my moral standards, but I know the people behind those choices to be essentially good, which leads me to other conclusions. They are either making moral choices that they believe are right and their reasoning in arriving at their conclusions is different than mine, or they are like me when I make bad choices and they will one day hopefully understand those choices better. I believe in the power of redemption for all.

These thoughts come to me now because we are once again in a political season and each new political season seems to grow more and more polarizing. I have friends on the right claiming that all liberals are fools. I have friends on the left claiming that all conservatives are evil. Neither is true and neither leads to a better understanding of our differences. This kind of divisive language leads only to further entrenchment of polarizing views. The sad thing is the people using this kind of language are good people who truly believe they are right based on their set of morals. What they don’t understand is that those on the other side are also good people who truly believe they are right based on their values.

It is my contention that if I call someone with whom I disagree a fool they’ll be even a little less likely to agree with me the next time. If I want them to come to my point of view then dialogues, not diatribes, are much likelier to work. I’d rather sit and talk with someone and find out why they believe what they believe and try to get them to understand my point of view than to yell names back and forth across a fence. I’d rather tear down the fence and build something together where we can both stand protected from the elements of fear and hatred.

Again, I believe we are all essentially filled with goodness. We need to work toward finding our commonalities and our shared goodness if we expect to stand on any moral ground whatsoever. If we don’t, then that is a choice we make and hopefully there is understanding that all choices have consequences.

Why Marriage Equality is Important

Marriage Equality March, State Capitol, Madison, Wisconsin. On the day that the U. S. Supreme Court heard arguments on California’s Proposition 8. Photo by Callen Harty.

As the U. S. Supreme Court hears arguments on the constitutionality of California’s proposition 8, which overturned same-sex marriage in the state, the question arises, “Why is marriage equality important?”

Some would argue that it is not, that married couples of any sort should not be acccorded benefits that single people do not have, and I believe there is a point there. There are those, even in the queer community, who believe that LGBT activists should never have expended energy on the issue, that it is simply buying into a paternalistic world-view and that we should redefine commitment for ourselves. The argument is that marriage is an outdated institution anyway and that wanting it is simply bourgeois or even elitist. And maybe it is in some ways. The early architects of the marriage debate in the queer community were wealthy backers of organizations like the Human Rights Campaign Fund, and maybe most of us felt they defined what issues we needed to fight for without input from the rest of us. But marriage equality is importantly something that as a queer man I cannot have that others can have solely because of their sexual orientation or identity. To not have the opportunity for marriage, even if I don’t want it, makes me less of a citizen and human being. It is, at its most basic level, discriminatory.

Simply put, marriage equality is important because equality is important.

We are guaranteed equality by the Constitution of the United States. While we may believe that everyone is truly created equal nobody is foolish enough to believe that everyone is equal, even in 2013. Marriage equality is only one element of discrimination against queer folk, but it is just that–one element of discrimination. We also still need to end laws in dozens of states that allow institutional discrimination such as legally firing people because they are gay, allowing housing discrimination, and more. Further yet, as a nation we must end all discrimination, not just for the LGBT community, but also for the African-American community, immigrant community, Muslim community, and more. We are all supposed to be created equal. But anyone who is in a minority group in this country can tell you unequivocally that we are not all treated equally under the law. Marriage equality for queer people is simply one step in that long road to equality for all. Justice-seeking people are fighting for equality for all people on many fronts every day. We are all in this together and there are many battles to be fought simultaneously.

Marriage equality is also a fundamental right that is easier to fight because it is so blatantly obvious. It is much harder to prove that I was fired because I am gay. It is much harder to prove that I was pulled over on the highway because I am Latino. It is much harder to prove that I am getting paid less because I am a woman. It is much harder to prove that cops are more suspicious of me being out at night because I am black. Bigots can hide behind lies with these more subtle forms of discrimination. However, it is definitely not subtle to be told that I cannot marry because the object of my affection shares the same gender, and to have lawyers argue that the reason for it is that marriage has been the same for thousands of years when in fact anyone who can read can tell you that marriage has continuously evolved over the course of that time.

I will say it again. Marriage equality is important because equality is important.

And it is only one of many battles that we are fighting, and it is an important one.

As it stands if I were to become seriously ill tonight my family would have more rights than my partner, Brian, in determining my treatment. If I were to suddenly pass away without a will my possessions, including my share of our house, would belong to my family, not to him. There are countless lesbian and gay couples who do not have a thousand rights and more that straight married couples have, simply because we cannot legally marry. And this is in a society where more than 50% of marriages end in divorce. Brian and I have been together for almost 22 years and are as in love now as we were that many years ago. How dare anyone suggest that our love is not real or meaningful? How dare our country that pretends equality for all not allow us to proclaim our love in a public ceremony as so many of our friends have done? How dare our government stand by this bigotry when the 14th amendment provides us equal protection under the law?

Tell Mildred Loving that marriage was not an important civil right. Tell Sharon Kowalski that marriage is meaningless. Tell anyone whose loving partnership has suffered inequity at the hands of this society that marriage is not important. Marriage equality is important, because equality is important, because equal opportunity is imporant, because equal protection is important, and because love in all its forms defines us as human beings and denial of that love by the majority prevents me from the opportunity of full citizenship and participation in the society in which I was born. Without it my love will not be diminished, but equality will be.

Dark Secrets

Reflection. Photo by Callen Harty.

About eight months ago I set up a new Facebook page in response to the Penn State child abuse scandal. It was intended as a place to show support with the survivors there and survivors worldwide and as a clearinghouse for articles, information, and resources for survivors and allies. Since it was started more than 200 people have liked it and are following the page.

What I never expected to happen is that someone might find the page while searching for help and contact me to talk with them or help them through some kind of struggle. I’m not sure why it didn’t occur to me that it might because I have seen it before when I’ve opened up about my own experiences. In 2010 I wrote an autobiographical play about my own survival of my childhood sexual abuse. During the period when the play was in production I had numerous people write e-mails to me, both friends and strangers, and share their own horrible experiences. I did my best to comfort them and at the very least to listen, because so often those stories have never been told before and it is in the utterance and the sharing of stories that victims begin the path to survival. Once a story is told–and believed–a burden is lifted. While there may be many more burdens and many years of recovery none of it can start until the story is first shared and accepted.

About 24 hours ago I was contacted on the Solidarity with Child Abuse Victims/Survivors page with a brief, chilling e-mail that said simply, “I need. Help will you talk to me”. At first I wasn’t sure what to do. I clicked on the person’s name and went to her Facebook page. What I found were pictures of a good-looking young woman from a southern state, pictures of her with a nice-looking young man, and lots of pictures of inspirational quotes and a few testaments about Jesus. I had thoughts that it might be some kind of attempt to get me into a conversation to proselytize or perhaps a prank or something else and I wasn’t sure I could or should respond. But her words, a plaintive cry for help, kept calling to me, and I knew I could not ignore it.

Sometimes the pain and stories of others causes me more pain than anything I’ve experienced in my own life. I tend to take on others’ pain and can be easily triggered by hearing stories about others getting hurt. Still, I am naturally empathetic and can somehow take it on and move through it while unburdening others of the weight of their own pain. It’s a sometimes horrible gift. So I wrote back and made it clear first of all that I am not a therapist or expert in that way, that whatever expertise I may have comes from being a survivor myself, but I asked what she was looking for help with and suggested that I may be able to direct her to some more professional resources.

What I got back was horrific. In one short paragraph she told me that she felt trapped in a cult-like religious family, that her birth father and brother, who are thankfully in another state now, both raped her when she was younger. She’s nineteen now and new to the location where her family moved a year ago. And then she added that she had been raped just two days ago and her mother reacted by yelling at her and saying that it was her fault.

My heart ached for her. It would ache for her over any of the things she shared, let alone all of them together, and the fact that a mother would be the one to blame the victim left me angry for her. I sent the following e-mail back:

“First of all, as a nineteen year old you are a legal adult, so you do not have to stay in that situation. Do you have a boyfriend? Friends? A trusted relative? You need someone near you that you can trust and talk to so that you are not alone. Second, the police should be notified about the things that you have shared with me. If you didn’t report the rape from the other day I believe you should do so. I believe social services or the police should also be notified about the things that happened to you as a child. I would suggest finding a friend, minister, relative–someone you can trust–to share things with first, so that you have a support system already in place.
“Many of us have wanted to hurt ourselves, but I hope that you are only thinking about this and not taking any concrete actions. I lost a friend who hurt himself and I don’t ever want to see that happen to anyone else. Please find a counselor or crisis line you can call to talk you through those feelings.
“Please let me know if you find someone you can talk with and how things move along with this. You will be in my thoughts and I am sending positive energy your way. Take care.
“Peace.”

She wrote back to let me know that she had reported it but that her mother is mad at her and she is not sure how to get out of her situation, as she doesn’t really know anyone in the city where she resides. I looked up some resources in that city for her and sent them off in the hopes that she would call someone there who might be able to help her better than I could from hundreds and hundreds of miles away. She is following up with at least one of the numbers and I am hopeful that she is able to get out of the situation and get some therapy and additional help. I’ve asked her to keep me updated, but I don’t know if she will, so all I can do is put out positive energy and hope for the best. Tonight I am going to write her again, just to remind her that none of the things that happened are her fault and that she is a beautiful and valued person.

Part of why I am so haunted by this is the way it happened, that this young woman from a city several states removed, had nowhere to turn but a stranger on a web page, and she is not the only one. Every day there are countless rapes, assaults, incidents of child abuse and so, so many go unreported. So many of them cannot even trust trying to reach out to someone on a web page a thousand miles away. Children and women sleep in shamed silence with dark secrets that no one may ever know. Too often there is no support, or those closest shut out the victim instead of being there for them. Too often the system looks at what the victim was wearing or how they were behaving instead of condemning the perpetrator of a violent and horrible crime. Being a victim of a sex crime can leave a person more alone than almost anything else in the world.

I will go to sleep tonight wondering what is going to happen to this young woman. If I sleep I may dream that we live in a world where this would never happen in the first place, but in the morning I will know that it was only a dream and I will know that I must keep working to help create a world where that dream some day becomes a reality.

The Solidarity with Child Abuse Victims/Survivors page can be visited here: https://www.facebook.com/SolidarityWithChildAbuseVictimsSurvivors

Song of Protest

After being threatened with arrest for singing. Photographer unknown.

This week marks two years that I have been going to the Wisconsin Capitol to sing four verses of “We Shall Overcome” to protest the Walker administration and the takeover of our state by corporations. I try to make it every day, usually around 4:45 on weekdays, but it can vary depending on when I can leave work, and on the weekends it’s whenever I can get there. Sometimes I miss a day or two or even a week if I’m out of town, sick, called to meetings, or other unexpected things come up. But I try hard to make it every day.

Most days it’s a pretty lonely protest. The building is somewhat empty by almost 5:00, tourists have already moved on back to their hotels or cars, the rotunda echoes with every sound or voice. Oftentimes those who are there walk by or continue talking or taking photos and it is as if my voice isn’t being heard at all. I never know if it’s because they don’t like the message, they don’t know how to react, or if there is something else going on, but I just keep singing. Sometimes, like Thursday, a single person out of the crowd will applaud and raise a thumbs up. Occasionally everyone within earshot will stop and listen and applaud afterwards, as if they thought it was a scheduled concert or something.

There have been times when I’ve been joined by other protesters or total strangers, and these are often beautiful moments of sharing solidarity. There have been other times when I have been threatened by aggressive people who apparently don’t like my message, or the Capitol police, who almost a year and a half ago threatened to arrest me for singing without a permit. After that I showed up for several days in a row with tape over my mouth and signs about the threatened arrest and I would stand there flipping signs with the song lyrics on them. Many of the Solidarity Singers joined in during that time and sang the words while I showed the lyrics on poster board. That situation was resolved with a meeting between myself and the Capitol Police Chief (Charles Tubbs) and a representative from my Senator’s office (Mark Miller).

Sometimes I’m ready to stop and then something will happen to remind me why I am going. The Department of Administration will propose new rules limiting free speech in the Capitol or the Walker administration will propose a new law that is anethema to the people of Wisconsin. And so I keep going, hoping that my voice will remind legislators that we are watching them, that the fight continues even though the huge protests dwindled to a few diehards who sing every day at noon, myself, and those who still come daily or close to it with signs or voices.

I know that my letters to Scott Walker go unread, my chances to speak at hearings are limited under this administration because they either don’t schedule them or do so at inconvenient times and places, and I know that those who have temporary custody of the building do not want to hear my concerns. But I also know that all of them have heard my voice echoing through our seat of government. They have heard that call for justice and that declaration of eventual victory in the words of “We Shall Overcome”. And I know that those who have seats there that are on my side have also heard it and have said that it encourages them. So I will continue singing until that day that we do overcome.

The Luck of the Irish

Irish flag draped over the rail in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda. Photo by Callen Harty.

Apparently we Irishmen are either unwitting or unrepentant lawbreakers, but due to the luck of the Irish we get away with it with no consequences.

For the past two years the Solidarity Sing Along and other protesters of the Scott Walker regime in Wisconsin have been coming to the Capitol to exercise their rights of free speech, assembly, and petitioning their government. The Wisconsin Capitol rotunda has historically been the town square for the state, where citizens can come with signs and voices to speak out for or against legislation or on any topic of interest. But the Walker administration has apparently deemed the group lower level terrorists (as they always sing on the ground floor). They have issued hundreds of tickets and arrested dozens of citizens for standing up for their beliefs, clearly all in the interests of safety and guaranteeing everyone’s rights.

Most of the cases have been dismissed by the courts, but the powers that be continue to amend the administrative rules so that citations and arrests may continue. They have arrested people for holding signs, singing, and more. Which brings us back to the miscreant Irishmen.

On St. Patrick’s Day I attended the annual Irish flag ceremony at the State Capitol, an event I have been going to for several years and which as a proud man of Irish heritage I have always enjoyed. But this year I noticed several hooligans engaging in behavior which many of those in the Solidarity Sing Along have been cited for in the past year. The difference was that none of my Irish brethren were arrested, cited, or even questioned for the same behaviors that have landed others in handcuffs. Perhaps, I thought, the Capitol police chief is also Irish, but the name Erwin is typically either Scottish or German.

The shenanigans that unfolded on St. Patrick’s Day were truly disturbing to watch. I was aghast to see a young girl, five or six at most and apparently already a hardened criminal, carrying a helium balloon right in the middle of the rotunda, a place where helium balloons have been banned by administrative rule. I was shocked at the brazen way she marched in circles around the rotunda, right under the noses of the Capitol police, who seemed too shocked to do anything. I later noticed a member of the Shamrock Club walking around asking for donations (even though solicitation is also against the rules) while carrying two helium balloons–two!–and then I saw at least two other juvenile delinquents carrying more of these balloons. Somebody was smuggling them into the building and somehow none of them were arrested or even asked to remove the dangerous balloons.

A short time later I saw a man sitting on the steps up to the first floor, something that at least one of the protesters I know was told was not allowed and for which he was threatened with arrest. He was told it was dangerous to block those stairs. Yet this man sat there as if he owned those stairs. I presume none of the Capitol police noticed him or they would have called a paddy wagon.

Many of the Solidarity Singers have been accused of and cited for blocking access because they form a circle around the outer ring of the rotunda when they sing. They always move out of the way of others needing to get through and typically there are not enough of them that they are in the way in the first place. Yet, several hundred people on St. Patrick’s Day filled all of the available space leading into the center of the rotunda. I thought perhaps the Capitol police felt overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of Irish revelers and perhaps were waiting for backup from the Department of Natural Resources and the State Patrol before moving in with riot gear. But then I noticed that several of them were hanging out on the first floor just chatting with some of the criminals and I suddenly felt even luckier with my heritage. Clearly we were getting a pass and selective enforcement of the rules was to our benefit on our special day.

When the Forward Marching Band–another group formed out of the Walker protests that started two years ago–filed for a permit to perform in the Capitol rotunda they were warned about keeping the noise to a certain level. If they didn’t do so it was intimated that their percussion might face repurcussion. So when I saw that the Zor Shrine Pipe and Drum Corps was on the schedule for the flag ceremony I assumed they would be marching in and just showing off their instruments. Bagpipes really only have one volume, so clearly they wouldn’t be able to play. Then suddenly I heard a command, a drumbeat, and soon the entire building was reverberating with the sound of more than a dozen bagpipers and drummers making so much noise that I couldn’t hear the people around me anymore. I got my camera ready to shoot pictures of the noise police rushing in to tackle these old men making so much noise but again nothing happened. Not only were they not ticketed they mocked the rules by playing several tunes before turning around and haughtily marching out.

My heart was feeling badly for those in the Solidarity Sing Along. While they have been threatened, ticketed, harassed, had to take off work to go to court to fight their citations and more here was a whole building full of people getting away with the same crimes right in front of several law enforcement officers. I thought it couldn’t get worse. Until it did.

As a woman was beautifully singing the Irish national anthem several men and women on the second floor started to unfurl the Irish flag from the railing above everyone. I’ve lost count of how many of the Walker protesters have been cited for dangerously holding signs over that rail, and here was a giant flag being unfurled from a large piece of wood or piping right above the event’s dignitaries. Virtually all of those ticketed for large banners over the last year or so were told that signs and banners that large were incredibly dangerous, but here was a giant banner in the form of a flag dangling above the next floor down. Certainly, I thought, the police would come rushing in to tear it out of their hands as I’ve seen them do with old women in the last couple months. After all, the safety of the dignitaries was at stake.

But nothing happened. It was left to dangerously hang there, dangling over the heads of innocent citizens. I no longer felt safe in the building, so I decided to flee. The place was in chaos. There were still children running around with helium balloons, dozens upon dozens of people blocking access to and from the rotunda, and a giant flag that could fall and kill important people at any moment. I managed to make my way through the crowd and out into the safety of daylight, no thanks to the Capitol police whose job is to protect visitors to the Capitol, but who were clearly negligent in their duties on this day. All I can say is, thank God I’m Irish.