It was a cold, dreary day, with temperatures hovering around a finger-numbing 37° Fahrenheit. Wracked with a terrible cold and more than a little feverish, I nonetheless dragged myself out of bed for twenty minutes to take photos of an event worthy of note. Vice President Dick Cheney was to speak at a fundraising breakfast at the Holiday Inn off NYS Thruway Exit 37. I was interested in the personal security implications of such a visit. What was the effect on the surrounding area? What prospects faced protesters gathered to voice opposition to Mr. Cheney? With what would drivers, simply trying to navigate the area, have to deal?
Coughing fairly regularly and sweating under my PhilElmore.com: Beware Angry Ninja baseball cap, I paused to snap a few shots of the helicopter circling overhead. I don’t know if it was a news helicopter or a security chopper of some kind, but I’d be inclined to think the latter. It seems doubtful to me that many aircraft would be allowed in the vicinity of the Vice President’s visit.
As I neared the area and tried to get some pictures from across the street, the police stationed there politely let me take my photo and then asked that I go back across the street. While near the Holiday Inn parking lot, though, I spotted a black Hummer H2 and, perhaps more significantly, a black Chevy Suburban parked nose-out. The Suburban had well-dressed men seated inside it. They watched me as I got near and were obviously Secret Service. I did not try to take their picture.
Even in the frigid weather, something of a carnival atmosphere reigned. Numerous protestors, corralled in one large knot across the street from the hotel, were milling about waving signs and chanting slogans. The slogans were led by one fellow with a bullhorn stationed by a large inflatable rat. The rat is something of a fixture at local anti-Republican demonstrations in the area.
This was a fairly low-key event, unlikely to get violent. One of the things every martialist must consider when attending political events is the possibility of terrorist action (which is more possible now than ever, if still unlikely). The other thing one must consider is the possibility of the outbreak of violence among protesters and police. Regardless of whether police action is justified or warranted, you don’t want to be anywhere nearby when police and protestors get physical.
Traffic was fairly snarled up through the area, rerouted around the hotel (to forestall an influx of spectators and prevent car-bombings, one would imagine). I deliberately drove straight towards the hotel to see what would happen. I had to turn my car around and take a side-street. The numerous police overseeing the event were polite but firm, relatively tolerant of my photography, and unyielding in their insistence that I abide by the boundaries they’d drawn. I competed for space with several reporters. The one from the Syracuse Post Standard had a really nice camera.
Front and center amidst the protestors was none other than Jon Alvarez, a local and very vocal Republican who’s made something of a name for himself as both a supporter of the Bush Administration and the man behind PABAAH (Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood). He’s done numerous interviews for local papers, appeared on national television representing PABAAH, and writes frequent letters to the editor of the Post Standard. Jon came to prominence as a thorn in the side of local radio talk-show host Jim Reith, whose statements in opposition to the Iraq war irked Jon some time ago.
I almost missed Jon amidst the crush of protestors – until I realized one of the signs was in support of Bush and Cheney. I looked up from the sign and realized it could only be Jon Alvarez standing proudly behind it.
“Jon, is that you?” I croaked, my awful cold evident in my voice.
He paused and then either recognized me from my website pictures or thanks to the logo on my hat. “Phil! It’s great to meet you, finally!” He shook my hand and introduced me to his friend. “Phil’s a good guy,” he told his comrade-in-counter-protest. “Don’t mess with this guy, though. He’s a martial artist.”
I chuckled at that. “I should have known I’d find you out here,” I said.
“How do you feel about the Second Amendment?” Jon’s friend asked me.
“I support it, of course,” I smiled.
“I told you he was a good guy,” Jon said. “Do you note the tone of hatred among these people?” He grinned, sweeping the crowd with one gloved hand. I watched as a few of the protestors nearby gave him a baleful eye and then turned their gazes toward me.
“I’m just taking pictures,” I said, noncommittal on potentially hostile ground. “It’s not political.” Most of the protestors seemed happy to have me snap their signs, though. None of them noticed or cared about the American Flag button on my black flight jacket.
I asked Jon if he’d had any trouble with the surrounding crowd, given his antipathy to their cause. He indicated it had not been a problem, though they had a tendency to interrupt and make noise when he gave interviews to the press. “Disrupting my right to free speech,” he concluded cheerfully.
Jon Alvarez (right) of “Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood.”
There are those who’ll tell you that the first tool of personal security is awareness, which is absolutely correct. Many will go on to conclude that the way to be safe in bars, in political demonstrations, and in dark alleyways is to avoid going into bars, getting involved in political demonstrations, and walking down dark alleyways. This, too, is true (and reflects simple common sense). If we never participate politically, however, what good is it to live in a free society? You cannot let fear or anxiety prevent you from making your voice heard.
Mr. Alvarez is a great example of someone who, because he voices an opinion not popular with the majority of the crowds against whom he counter-protests, might well be courting some level of physical danger. It would be very easy for an angry protestor to exchange heated words with Jon. While I doubt Jon would ever get physical with someone like that – he strikes me as someone who enjoys needling his political opponents too much to spoil the activity by losing his temper – someone could easily swing a fist at him. He does not, however, let this deter him and he shows no fear. He is, however, smart enough not to demonstrate alone. I have seen other pictures of Jon counter-protesting and he always seems to have someone on hand to watch his back.
I am not making a statement for or against Mr. Alvarez or the protestors among whom I walked this morning. Regardless of the political stands they are taking, these people are all doing something. They are making their voices heard. One might wonder just what such silly accoutrements as inflatable rats accomplish in the grand scheme of things. One might speculate that no one who can actually influence public policy is reached by a demonstration of this type (nor moved by the counter-demonstrators). All of the participants, myself included, violate a rule of personal security when they voluntarily engage in such behavior.
This last is, however, as it should be. Making your voice heard and participating in your governance is worth the risk. Whether you make your stand as patriot or muckraker, hippie or hardliner, you must stand for something.
Vice President Cheney will never read this and will never know who stood outside the Holiday Inn that drizzly, chilly day. Those who came out to “meet” him did not, however, do so because they thought they actually would.
They did it for themselves, as they should have done.