Laura Bush Is Greeted By Protestors
Mood:  party time!
Now Playing: STAND UP TO THE EVIL DOERS
Topic: Protest !
The following is a copy/paste from "The Hilltop" website by Zebra 3 Report

What started as a demonstration of 50 students standing around the flagpole in the bitter coldness of the fall ended with a protest lasting five hours and more than 200 hundred students demanding First Lady Laura Bush to leave the DC Howard University.

"How do you use our facilities and not invite us," asked April Jones, a senior communications major. "We are protesting that and the Bush Administration."

Hassan Minor, senior vice president of the university and the person responsible for the event, told the gathered group that one of the reasons why they were not included in the conference was spacing purposes.
Minor also said that the reasoning behind the closures and the rerouting of students was caused by the secret service's need to protect the First Lady.





Even with the arrival of Howard President H. Patrick Swygert, students still refused to leave. Swygert pleaded with the group to follow him to the flag pole, where security officials said students were allowed to protest. Swygert began walking into the midst of students, telling them to follow him.

At one point, Swygert stopped in front of a student and said follow me.

"These people who would put you in harm's are not looking out for your interests," Swygert said, clutching the student's arm.

The student, who wished to not be identified, stood firm and began to cry. "He doesn't know me," she said. "He doesn't know what I've been through or what my family has been through. He doesn't know why I have to stand here."

Standing on the front lines of the protest, Howard alum and graduate student Amanda Lewis said she was there because of her father who is in the military.


Swygert said that he is proud of the way the students exercised their first amendment rights.
"This is a teaching moment for all of us," he said. "I hope we come out of this a stronger University."

Hey just about any Joe Anybody can stand up and be counted and I admire this group of students who did just that!....and even Swygert deserves some credit. Hey! "NO POLICE VIOLENCE" either...WOW!!

GO TEAM - STOP THE NEOCONS!