Texas A&M Students Form Human Wall To Block Westboro Baptist Church Protestors
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[img]http://i.imgur.com/XCqPF.jpg[/img]
[quote][b]Hundreds of Texas A&M students gathered this week to form a human wall around the funeral service of a soldier to protect his family from Westboro Baptist Church protesters, KBTX.com reports.
Texas A&M alum Lt. Col. Roy Tisdale was killed on June 28 during a training exercise at Fort Bragg, N.C. Tisdale was killed by another soldier who then fatally shot himself.[/b]
Tisdale had served in both Iraq and Afghanistan.
In the days after the soldier's death, word spread that Westboro Baptist Church members were planning to protest Tisdale's funeral.
Described as a "homophobic and anti-Semitic hate group" by the Anti-Defamation League, Westboro Baptist Church regularly stages protests around the country.
According to KBTX.com, the group, which is based in Kansas, frequently targets military funerals because of "a belief that God punishes soldiers because of America's tolerance of gays." [b]When Ryan Slezia, a former Texas A&M student, heard of the group's plans, he hatched a plot to foil their efforts.[/b]
[b]"In response to their signs of hate, we will wear maroon. In response to their mob anger, we will form a line, arm in arm. This is a silent vigil. A manifestation of our solidarity,"[/b] he wrote on Facebook, inviting others to join him in a peaceful protest.
On Thursday, as Tisdale's funeral was held at the Central Baptist Church in College Station, Tex., hundreds of students and alumni responded to Slezia's invation, linking arms to create a human barricade surrounding the church's entrance.
Most wore maroon -- A&M's school color. [b]One participant tweeted that over 650 people showed up, creating a formidable "maroon wall."[/b]
[b]“We are standing here quietly. We are here for the family,”[/b] Lilly McAlister, a Texas A&M student, told KBTX.com. [b]"We are positioned with our backs to them. Everyone has been told there's no chanting, no singing, there's no yelling anything back."[/b]
The hundreds gathered were prepared for a potentially aggressive confrontation, [b]but the protestors from Westboro Baptist Church never showed up.[/b] Tisdale's body was peacefully laid to rest after the funeral at the Aggie Field of Honor -- a cemetery for Texas A&M students and staff. [/quote]
[url]http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/06/texas-am-students_n_1653002.html#slide=1191005[/url]
More pictures in the link. That's pretty awesome. They didn't even have the balls to show up.
my homie goes to A&M, ROTC.
[B][I][U]i will stalk these pictures and see if i can find him[/U][/I][/B]
[quote]"In response to their signs of hate, we will wear maroon."[/quote]
I don't see the point in maroon specifically, they say it as if it has significance. Is it because it resembles blood?
When will they form a human nuke?
[QUOTE=Elecbullet;36656046]I don't see the point in maroon specifically, they say it as if it has significance. Is it because it resembles blood?[/QUOTE]
It's the color of A&M. Someone is not from Texas.
If you are from Texas, you must be from a town with not many American football fans.
It's hard not to notice the constant rivalry between A&M (Maroon) and the Longhorns (Orange).
It seems like whenever there's a large counter protest WBC never has the nerve to show up. The same thing happened in my town where somewhere around 700 people had showed up to counter protest. I always assumed that they had been stopped at the Canada-U.S. border since our Defence Minister had ordered not to let them through.
I'm from Michigan and I don't give a fuck about football but I still somehow know Texas A&M is maroon.
[QUOTE]"a belief that God punishes soldiers because of America's tolerance of gays."[/QUOTE]
Whatever god they worship has some seriously skewed priorities.
Nice "secede" shirt.
[QUOTE=New Cidem;36656063]It's the color of A&M. Someone is not from Texas.
If you are from Texas, you must be from a town with not many American football fans.
It's hard not to notice the constant rivalry between A&M (Maroon) and the Longhorns (Orange).[/QUOTE]
I am from Alabama. We have our own rivalry- Auburn Tigers versus Alabama Elephants. I think.
[QUOTE=Raidyr;36656305]Whatever god they worship has some seriously skewed priorities.[/QUOTE]
If God hated gays he wouldn't be making more of them.
[QUOTE=Elecbullet;36656322]I am from Alabama. We have our own rivalry- Auburn Tigers versus Alabama Elephants. I think.[/QUOTE]
Elephants? That's fucking cool. We have a cow.
[QUOTE=Raidyr;36656305]Whatever god they worship has some seriously skewed priorities.[/QUOTE]
Haven't we already established they don't really believe a word of what they're saying, and that it's actually a ploy to make money off lawsuits or something similarly ridiculous?
Which is even more utterly detestable, but anyways.
[QUOTE=Raidyr;36656305]Whatever god they worship has some seriously skewed priorities.[/QUOTE]
I never understood the Westboro viewpoint. It's as if they don't even recognize the fact that people died in wars before it was tolerated.
[QUOTE=Elecbullet;36656046]I don't see the point in maroon specifically, they say it as if it has significance. Is it because it resembles blood?[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=New Cidem;36656063]It's the color of A&M. Someone is not from Texas.
If you are from Texas, you must be from a town with not many American football fans.
It's hard not to notice the constant rivalry between A&M (Maroon) and the Longhorns (Orange).[/QUOTE]
Nevermind being from Texas. All you had to do was to read the article.
These guys are still trying?
[QUOTE=Keegs;36656224]I'm from Michigan and I don't give a fuck about football but I still somehow know Texas A&M is maroon.[/QUOTE]
I just assumed right out of the gate that maroon was their color.
[QUOTE=New Cidem;36656489]Elephants? That's fucking cool. We have a cow.[/QUOTE]
We have Leprechauns and Steel workers :v:
Ontopic you have fanatics protesting a miltary funeral in Texas of all places vs hundreds of young drunk Texans. Would be incredibly shocking if this demonstration ends peacefully, hopefully it doesn't.
[QUOTE=-nesto-;36656681]We have Leprechauns and Steel workers :v:
Ontopic you have fanatics protesting a miltary funeral in Texas of all places vs hundreds of young drunk Texans. Would be incredibly shocking if this demonstration ends peacefully, hopefully it doesn't.[/QUOTE]
Huskies (University of Washington) and Cougars (Washington State University) up here.
[quote]The hundreds gathered were prepared for a potentially aggressive confrontation, but the protestors from Westboro Baptist Church never showed up. Tisdale's body was peacefully laid to rest after the funeral at the Aggie Field of Honor -- a cemetery for Texas A&M students and staff.[/quote]
I wonder if they were scared off.
If you guys haven't already, I would strongly recommend you see "The Most Hated Family in America" and "America's Most Hated Family in Crisis", it gives you an insight into what they do, the shit they've been through and daily life of the WBC
It's pretty sad, these fuckers think they're completely right when they're not.
[QUOTE=-nesto-;36656681]We have Leprechauns and Steel workers :v:
Ontopic you have fanatics protesting a miltary funeral in Texas of all places vs hundreds of young drunk Texans. Would be incredibly shocking if this demonstration ends peacefully, hopefully it doesn't.[/QUOTE]
You make it sound like we're a bunch of savages. What makes you think they're drunk? The coolers? Yeah, those are definitely not for the 90*F-105*F weather we've been having.
[QUOTE=RichyZ;36656821]because every college going texan is drunk 24/7[/QUOTE]
yeah guys, it's Washington State University that gets drunk all the damn time, not the Texans.
geez
Wooo Gig-Em!
Good on them. Nice to see some people stand up against the WBC and their bullshit.
Way to fight fire with fire.
[QUOTE=Elecbullet;36656322]I am from Alabama. We have our own rivalry- Auburn Tigers versus Alabama Elephants. I think.[/QUOTE]
it gets very serious around the iron bowl, don't forget that.
initially scale down from 650 to see the minimum amount of people needed for them to not show up and then form an organization containing at least that many members to follow them everywhere.
i'd donate.
In my eyes the WBC is a hypocritical group, they're practicing a right that these soldiers fought and died to protect and they disrespecting them by showing up at their funerals and protesting because the country is tolerating groups they don't like/agree with. But unfortunately the Bill of Rights also protects Bigots like the WBC.
[QUOTE=OvB;36656799]What makes you think they're drunk?[/QUOTE]
Uhh college? If A&M is anything like IU or some of our other colleges here, then they drink 24/7
I live in College Station, wish I'd heard about this earlier would have attended.
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