Saturday Protests Had Great Energy, but by the End, Lack of Leadership was Painfully Obvious
"Where are we going?"
We heard it over and over on Saturday as we marched along with the procession -- about 4 hours, and nearly 10 miles of walking. "Where are we going?" people kept asking each other. The answer turned out to be (with linked photos): Civic Center to Octavia and the Castro and then back up Market to Union Square, Chinatown, North Beach, along the Embarcadero to Market and then back to Civic Center. We'd estimate that there were a thousand people at one point; and by the end, as the most ardent protesters dragged their way to Civic Center, it was probably down to 100. We left the crowd at that point and went home; later, we were in the Castro, and spotted the protesters again in the middle of the street until around 10pm.
So who was steering the crowd? It varied. Like Canada geese, various folks wandered in and out of the lead, with a few superstars generally taking charge. We observed Shirtless Orange Flag Guy, and Determined Tank Top Dude, and HRC Flag Man and Captain Megaphone, and for a while a bunch of Socialists -- all more or less making it up as they went along; and in general, we'd say they did a pretty good job.
But then. There was that crazy march back to the Castro to sit in the intersection for hours. What was that about, and what should they have done instead? Answers after the jump.
It's that same issue we were talking about before: the dreaded Power Vacuum. People are desperate for action right now -- they really really really want to do something -- a ten mile hike is a good start, but it was clearly anti-climactic, and nobody was telling them what to do next. The official organizations had let us down yet again: they've been MIA since the election, and after their botched campaign nobody trusts them right now anyway. So, where are we going?
There we were, on the steps of City Hall, with the sun about to set; everyone was shouting "what do we want? Equality." And it was starting to seem a little ridiculous because at that point, we were just shouting at ourselves.
Eventually, a couple of leaders stepped up. There was a tall guy with a jacket around his waist (and later, a rainbow cape), and a guy with a megaphone, and someone from the Castro Patrol. They shouted questions to the crowd -- "where do you want to go" -- and the crowd murmured and pointed vaguely.
This would have been an excellent time for a strategy.
The cops were getting impatient and asked who was in charge. The people doing most of the shouting looked around and realized with some surprise that they were. The cops asked what their plans were; it was clearly time to make a decision. So they did: they decided to march down to the Castro, tie up an intersection, and shout "out of the bars and into the streets."
The Castro was not amused. At one point, we observed a representative from the neighborhood get on a megaphone and try to reason with them: "you have the understand the impact this has on your own community," but they didn't want to budge.
Again, this would have been an excellent time for a strategy; but instead, the protesters -- who by the time they reached the Castro numbered about 50 -- were basically just jerking off.
Here's what they should have done instead:
You've got 50 volunteers just sitting on the asphalt waiting for orders; and Walgreen's is right there on the corner, right? Send someone in to buy a bunch of pens, index cards, notepads, flashlights, and some of those cheap blinking raver knick-knacks -- spend about $100. You can afford it; there's 50 of you and none of you have kids.
Then have 40 people stand off to the side -- NOT IN THE INTERSECTION, DOUCHEBAGS -- with a big pretty sign that says "Join The Fight For Equality" or whatever. Have someone run up to their apartment and get some music to play. Those 40 people start writing instructions on the notecards for passers-by who want to get involved: write down instructions for visiting JoinTheImpact.com; participating in the sick-out on December 10; attending the town hall next week (Nov 20 at 6:30pm at the Veteran's War Memorial near City Hall); boycotting Cinemark theaters; and so on. There's 40 of you, so you can generate these instruction cards pretty fast.
Then take the other group of 10 people -- and make them the cutest ones, because people are in the Castro on Saturday night to look for cuties -- and send them into the bars and stores to hand out the instruction cards. Take the notepads, too; write at the top, "Get email updates" and have people write their names and email addresses so you can send them info later. Some of the bars are dark and loud, so bring a flashlight and write the instructions clearly enough that you can just point at them.
And voila. Now you've gotten your marching orders into the hands of an army of gays; and you've got a mailing list to spread marching orders in the future. Not a bad night's work.
You have to understand, this "out of the bars and into the streets" bullshit reflects very poorly on the movement. What exactly are people supposed to do in the streets, sit there and shriek at passers-by? Nobody came out of the bars to join you because you weren't giving them anything to do.
But everyone wants to help. Everyone feels strongly about this issue, even people in bars. They just need someone to tell them how they can make an impact ... someone to answer the question, "where are we going?"
SFist_Matt is the creator of Stop8.org, a post-Prop-8 news and events portal. He is desperately searching for the leader who will answer that question.