A growing coalition of groups and individuals plans to protest President George W. Bush’s Fourth of July visit to Charlottesville on Friday. Participating organizations include RVA for Peace, the Augusta Center for Peace and Justice, CODE PINK Women for Peace both National and Charlottesville, AfterDowningStreet, Democrats.com, and Charlottesville MoveOn.org. Many other people expected to participate are not members of any of these groups.
The protest will take place at Route 20, outside and a ways removed from the grounds of Monticello.
To protest outside meet at 6 a.m. (or come as early as you can – we’ll be there for hours) on Friday at Quarry Park, the entrance to which is on the west side of Rt. 20 just north of Interstate 64. Please bring posters, signs, costumes, banners, props.
Here’s a map that includes Monticello, the visitors center, and Quarry Park:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/sites/afterdowningstreet.org/files/images/…
Here’s a new flyer:
http://afterdowningstreet.org/downloads/bushflyerjuly4new.pdf
Keep phoning Monticello! The Thomas Jefferson Foundation, a private nonprofit, owns and operates Monticello with a professed mission of preservation and education. Call Monticello right now and ask them to uninvite Bush: (434) 984-9822. Then let the Daily Progress newspaper in Charlottesville know that you’ve done that: enewstips@dailyprogress.com
The Unitary Executive is scheduled to disgrace the grounds of Thomas Jefferson’s house, Monticello, in Charlottesville, Va. During a July 4 naturalization ceremony, immigrants will swear to “support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic” at an event besmirched by the presence of the Constitution’s leading domestic enemy. Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence from King George faulted him for harassment by his troops, elevating the military above civilian power, denying people a fair trial by jury by transporting them overseas to be tried on false accusations, and other abuses that have been matched by our current King George. He has claimed the power to ignore laws, to rewrite laws, to adhere to secret laws, to discard habeas corpus, to spy without warrant, to detain without charge, to torture, to murder, and to lie the nation into wars of conquest. All citizens, old and new, have a duty to support and defend the Constitution, a document that requires the impeachment of a president as criminal and abusive as the current one.
Learn more about impeaching Bush: http://afterdowningstreet.org/bush
For information on the protest, including housing if coming from out of town, call 434-961-6278.