Posted on 01/16/2006 2:55:32 PM PST by deadhorse_tx
Crowds yelled 'shame! shame!' as two Air Force jets from nearby Randolph Air Force Base flew over San Antonio's Martin Luther King, Jr march today, marring a celebration which is generally one of the largest in the country.
Bickering between march organizers and leaders who claimed the presence of what they called 'fighter jets' at an event organized to honor the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize colored this year's event, with many saying they wanted the King Day celebrations to become a demonstration against the Bush Administration and the war in Iraq.
"The inclusion of a fighter jet is as ludicrous in the march as a pacifist being invited by the Army to sit before a tank at a military parade," said Tommy Calvert Jr, a member of one of several groups which wore black armbands to the march to demonstrate the presence of the aircraft.
The two planes which performed the noontime flyover, which has become a tradition at the San Antonio event, were T-1 Jayhawks, a trainer aircraft, not a 'fighter jet.' No fighter jets are based at Randolph. Ironically, the 99th Flying Training Squadron which fly the jets is the descendant of the 99th Pursuit Squadron, formed in 1942 as an all Black unit known as the Tuskegee Airmen.
Many in the crowd said they were offended by the use of the King Day event to push what they saw a political causes.
"Take it to the White House! Take it to Bush!" one woman yelled at the crowd chanting 'shame! shame!" "This is Martin Luther King's holiday. This is going to be a peaceful day! You get outta here!!"
Greg Jackson of the Millions More Movement, one of the groups opposed to the presence of the jets, said it was very appropriate to use the King Day event to protest the war in Iraq.
"It was a tough, agonizing decision for Dr. King to speak out against the Viet Nam War, and war in general, and he paid dearly for taking his stand," Jackson said, pointing out that his anti-war stance cost Dr. King key allies in the civil rights movement.
Protesters attempted to release two white doves to symbolize peace, but with scattered rain in the area, the doves declined to fly and had to be put back into their cages.
And Bush, of course, was to blame.
Clueless leftists.
What else is new?
George Bush's weather machine made it rain and thus prevented the doves from flying. It's true!
Kelly AFB (now gone), Brooks AFB, Lackland AFB, Randolph AFB, Medina AFB (now gone), Ft. Sam Houston...
I wonder how they would like it then?
This is going to be a peaceful day! You get outta here
San Antonio is a HUGE Air Force city...Randolph AFB, Brooks AFB, Lackland AFB, Kelly AFB plus Ft Sam Houston. These protestors need to STHU and be proud of our US military. They have to right to free speech but our military planes OWN the airspace!
AIM HIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!
And did they turn away?
Boo-Friggin-Hoo.
Jets overhead, it's the sound of Freedom!
I seem to remember that Dr King was a big supporter of Freedom.
TT
"...the doves declined to fly and had to be put back into their cages."
Which just goes to show that even birds dislike being used as leftist patsies.
The black pilots say we fly fighters to guarrantee your right to spout anti-military crap like that, we'd have done that for MLK too.
Let's cut Tommy some slack. It's gotta be very hard on Tommy knowing that he is able to practice his pacifism "only because rough men stand ready to do violence on his behalf".
The symbolism was lost on them, I'm sure.
I'm not knocking who and what MLK did and fought for, but a FEDERAL holiday honoring him should've never happened. There's enough MLK parkways across the country to suffice being honored.
Typical fair weather peaceniks.
Have you seen the plans for the MLK memorial on the mall?
Did these lefties forget that the U.S. Army freed the slaves, not MLK?
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