Posted on 01/15/2004 1:22:34 PM PST by mhking
Hundreds of protesters greeted President Bush in Atlanta shortly before 4 p.m. as he placed a wreath on the grave of Martin Luther King Jr. on what would have been the slain civil rights leader's 75th birthday.
Buddhists chanting, students beating African drums and others shouting "Bush go home" burst past barriers but were driven back by police who, in an attempt to corral the protesters, parked four MARTA buses between the protesters and the grave site.
One protester held a sign that read "Bush - Zionist, puppet and liar."
Police had said they planned to keep the protestors 500 feet away from Kings crypt but the protesters, teeming just across Auburn Avenue, were much closer and could see the president as he placed the wreath.
A park ranger on the scene earlier warned protesters if they did not keep off Auburn Avenue the president would not come, but Bush appeared right on schedule, at about 3:50 p.m. Bush left the King Center at about 4:05.
Atlanta Police Sgt. Kevin Iosti said two people were arrested for stepping into Auburn Avenue and refusing to move.
Air Force One touched down at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. at 3:23 p.m.
The president visited King's grave while on a campaign trip to Atlanta.
"It's all politics," said barber Seaborn Johnson, as he sliced an apple waiting for customers in the Auburn Avenue Barber Shop. "It's an election year, isn't it? Hell, I would come there too if I was running for office. But the Bush family always opposed everything Dr. King did, so he's just applying for votes, that's all he's doing."
The president's visit, which will include a campaign fund-raiser this evening at the Georgia World Congress Center, has drawn criticism from King event organizers who say that it will disrupt tributes to the civil rights leader on what would have been his 75th birthday.
At an NAACP press conference this morning at the Atlanta chapter's headquarters, the group questioned the true motive for Bush's visit.
Bush contacted the King Center late last week to say he'd be in Atlanta today and wanted to pay his respects by placing a wreath at King's crypt.
"Did he come to raise funds for Republicans and stop by to lay a wreath as a secondary ploy or is he sincere about laying the wreath and the fund-raising secondary?" said Dr. R.L. White, president of the Atlanta chapter of the NAACP.
"With a spoken position against what Martin Luther King Jr. stood for, the Bush administration has stood against -- affirmative action [and refused] to meet with the national leadership of civil rights organizations, including the premier organization, the NAACP, which has been in existence since 1909."
A presidential visit requires tight security, which in this case threatened to force the cancellation of a long-planned tribute to King next door at historic Ebenezer Baptist Church.
Members of the MLK March Committee, who worked with King and planned today's tribute at the church, had complained that Bush might end up ruining the event. They said the daylong tribute with a focus on human rights was supposed to go from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m., but that Secret Service agents told them they'd have to empty the church early in the afternoon to allow a security sweep before Bush's 3:45 p.m. visit. But on Wednesday, a compromise was reached. The program can now take place while the president is at the King Center.
Efforts by Bush organizers to coordinate the president's visit so it won't disrupt local celebrations didn't seem to have soothed everybody's feelings.
"I think he takes us black people as a joke," said barber shop customer Willie Tom Franklin, 58. "I wouldn't say he shouldn't come, but he's a little late in coming to Auburn Avenue.
"It's a gesture of respect, him coming to King's grave, but it's not about helping us ... I think it's about feeding off the little people."
Ulysses Crawford, owner of Auburn Avenue Barber Shop, asked, "How long has Bush been in office, three years? And how often have you seen him here?"
Mary Langston, who said she has been homeless since her divorce few months ago, had more positive things to say.
"I'm just a homeless person, but I'm proud he's taking some of his busy time to honor Dr. King," Langston said.
Anthony Bozeman, a former fast food manager, said while at the barbershop that he supported the president's motives for visiting King's grave.
"I don't think it was strictly politics. I think it comes from his heart. Dr. King was a great man, and he showing respect for that," Bozeman said. He added that the invasion of Iraq was "a good job against a man who spent his life torturing and killing his own people."
Johnson, the barber, said the mood on Auburn shifted as the president's advance security team arrived.
"The police and Secret Service were in and out of places around here yesterday, looking around. You could spot the Secret Service, the walk different, they dress different, and they talk different. In fact, they didn't talk much."
There was little traffic, pedestrian or otherwise on Auburn Avenue around 10:30 a.m. Parking meters were covered with plastic and "no parking" signs were plentiful as the secret service cleared the corridor for the presidential motorcade.
The president is expected to arrive in Atlanta this afternoon about 3:20 and get to the King Center for the wreath laying at 3:45.
He is scheduled to speak at the Georgia World Congress Center to raise money for his campaign and leave Atlanta about 7:15.
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Mary Langston, who said she has been homeless since her divorce few months ago, had more positive things to say.
"I'm just a homeless person, but I'm proud he's taking some of his busy time to honor Dr. King," Langston said.
Anthony Bozeman, a former fast food manager, said while at the barbershop that he supported the president's motives for visiting King's grave.
"I don't think it was strictly politics. I think it comes from his heart. Dr. King was a great man, and he showing respect for that," Bozeman said. He added that the invasion of Iraq was "a good job against a man who spent his life torturing and killing his own people."
Now where did I hear something about having a dream that some day people would not be judged by the color of their skin?
I'm guessing it was more like a few dozen, having had personal experience with the way the press exaggerates the anti-Bush numbers.
MLK Jr. said it was the content of one's character that was important, not the color of one's skin.
With affirmative action, it's all ABOUT the color of one's skin.
I know that the public education level is somewhat lacking but if I remember correctly it was Ted Kennedy's brothers that had MLK bugged and followed by the FBI and Al Gore's daddy that voted against Civil Rights.
Don't these people have jobs? Oh yeah, Bush took them away, it's all his fault.
And what was it Dr. King said?
I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.
And he won't meet with the very organization who is avowed to get him out of office? Why, that would be pandering, right?
Another it's-true-because-I-said-it moment from the Democrats.
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