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A Novelist Among Marchers
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Posted by thenovelist Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments Chingpea and I drove down Oak Street in Bakersfield, California. I wore a white T-shirt, jeans, had just grabbed my straw cowboy hat, then headed toward Beach Park for the http://www.nlbelardes.com/b...>May 1st ‘Day of Action’ rally. We waited during a stoplight at California and Oak. I could see the road ahead curve over railyards. Just a few blocks further north lay a massive protest, possibly the largest in the history of Bakersfield. I was dropped off at an alley at 18th Street near Jake’s Tex Mex Grill. From there I walked past people heading off to lunch from the rally. I wondered if most of the people had left the park. What if the park was empty? I was supposed to give a poem. Would anybody be there to listen? I had just read on the local paper’s website to stay away from the Beach Park area, as roads had been blocked and there was a heavy dose of traffic congestion. Now why would the local paper try to divert traffic from the protest? A subtle message perhaps? I passed several roadblocks and police cruisers, saw past car lots and the Kern County Board of Trade. The park was filled with thousands. The majority of protesters filled the middle of the park along a lengthy strip of trees where picnic tables made for resting areas in the shade. Most of the people stood, many of whom were draped in flags, carried flags of many sizes, or signs. I wondered how much love and preparation must have gone into such sign-making. Some protesters crowded the front of a makeshift stage area while lines of people also hovered under shade trees along the Oak Street side of the park. More people gathered behind the stage, along a fence bordering a baseball field where grounds were perfectly raked, while others watched their kids play on toys in the sand-covered playground. (http://www.nlbelardes.com/b...>Read the full article and see photos)

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