Young delegates, supporters, and protesters headed to St. Paul for the Republican National Convention earlier this month. Though they spoke of different ideologies, but they all wanted their voices heard. Take a look at this video to see what they had to say.

 9/12/08

I’m now one week removed from my arrest in St. Paul, Minnesota at the Republican National Convention. Still, some questions linger unanswered in my head, some emotions remain raw in my mind, and for these reasons (and the fact the St. Paul Police Dept. still has my camera) I want to blog one more time about my arrest and the RNC protests.

The police failed. The protesters failed. The media failed. These three entities, the primary participants of last week’s protest events, failed to achieve the peace they desired. Protesters wanted a peaceful end to the war, police wanted a peaceful end to the protests, and the media (say what you will here) wanted to tell the story of how peace prevailed on the streets of St. Paul.

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The credentials around my neck said I should be watching John McCain accept his presidential nomination from the floor of the Xcel Energy Center, not from the curb of the Marion Street Bridge. But I sat there, staring at McCain’s head on some jumbotron plastered on a building half a mile down the St. Paul Skyline. McCain mouthed words I couldn’t hear, and unfortunately I was too distracted to care.

My hands were cuffed, my throat was dry, and my mind was wondering if I’d be sleeping in a St. Paul jail house or my Minneapolis hotel room. I thought back to how I ended up here…

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Sarah Palin accepted the Vice Presidential nomination last night, making her the first woman to appear on the GOP ticket. But on the day of her acceptance speech, not all women were proud. Code Pink, an anti war and women’s rights group, protested Palin’s nomination at the RNC entrance.

Meanwhile the convention center filled with women that hand painted “Power Palin” signs. During her speech, they jumped to laughter then cheers after Palin noted the only difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull was lipstick. And when Palin mentioned the war, it was only in reference to her son’s Iraq deployment next week. 

Hours before George W. Bush addressed the RNC at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minnesota I was at the state capital for the Ripple Effect concert. Substance, a non-profit organization, planned this free show featuring the likes of Michael Franti, Anti-Flag, dead prez—and a special guest (more on that later).

I grabbed my press pass and headed backstage just in time to see Fronti walk on stage. He opened his set by introducing Iraq Veterans Against the War and brought a group of members up with him.

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It’s September first and the commencement of the Republican National Convention. The sun beats down on the city of St. Paul.

I’m following a crowd of pedestrians around fences and blockades, directed by police officers and veered by closed roads. Some people are trying to find an entrance to the Xcel Energy Center while others are heading to Harriet Island for the “Take Back Labor Day Concert.”  

The officers and lieutenants are dressed in oversized catchers gear and armed with gasmasks and night sticks bigger than baseball bats.

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I’m in the airport waiting for my flight, Twin Cities bound.

Meanwhile, the people of New Orleans wait in highways, train stations, and bus depots destined for Dallas, Nashville, and Northern Mississippi.

“Get your butts out of New Orleans now.” I hear Mayor Ray Nagin say on the terminal TV tuned to CNN. “Anyone who decides to stay, I’ll say it like I said before Katrina: make sure you have an axe, because you will be carving your way, or busting you way out of your attic to get on your roof with the waters that you will be surrounded with in this event.”