Welcome to Denver…

Welcoming Committee

I arrived in Denver on Saturday for the Democratic National Convention, which I will be covering this week for Pacifica Radio. I have to admit that the welcoming committee pictured above hardly reflects the diversity that I see on the floor today: more than half the delegates are women; one in every four is African American, 11 percent are Latino, four percent are Asian-American Pacific Islander; another four percent associate with a disability and six percent identify as LGBT. Oh, and the youngest delegate is 17, while the oldest is 90! Whew… As the week progresses, I’ll post more from the inside.

On Sunday, my Washington Editor Leigh Ann Caldwell and I decided to meet with our local affiliate, KGNU, and spend the rest of the day figuring out coverage and familiarizing ourselves with the city, particularly the protest zones. It turns out that the People’s Law Project, which has set up a 24-hour hotline should someone get arrested, was upstairs from the coffeeshop we were meeting in.

Leigh Ann Caldwell Interviews Hans Meyer

Leigh Ann and I spoke at length with Hans Meyer and Bryan Vicente about what they expected this week. As we took a walk through the city with Bryan, we realized that it’s likely police actually outnumber the protesters here, and it’s unlikely they will fill all their paddy wagons with the masses.

Denver Police Arrive to Civic Park

We did find a protest at Civic Park, organized by Recreate 68. The “action” I found most effective was a group of about 15 people with white masks and signs that featured the names of dead Iraqi civilians and US soldiers. They didn’t scream (in fact they didn’t way a word), and they didn’t hand out leaflets, yet their anti-war message was perfectly clear.

Alright it’s back to the convention for me – I see Jesse Jackson Jr. out there… Stay tuned!