🏈 TAMU maroon wall

[planomateo]

pretty cool :icon_salut:

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.

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."


When Ryan Slezia, a former Texas A&M student, heard of the group's plans, he hatched a plot to foil their efforts.


"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," 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. One participant tweeted that over 650 people showed up, creating a formidable "maroon wall."


“We are standing here quietly. We are here for the family,” Lilly McAlister, a Texas A&M student, told KBTX.com. "We are positioned with our backs to them. Everyone has been told there's no chanting, no singing, there's no yelling anything back."


The hundreds gathered were prepared for a potentially aggressive confrontation, but the protestors from Westboro Baptist Church never showed up.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/06/texas-am-students_n_1653002.html

 

[srollins]

I cannot express how I would (or think I would) feel if those cretins tried to hold a public protest if a family member of mine were being laid to rest. Kudos to the A&M folks for doing this to prevent them from making an already painful day even worse for the soldier's family and loved ones. Big time credit to them for doing this.

 

[TerryP]

I cannot express how I would (or think I would) feel if those cretins tried to hold a public protest if a family member of mine were being laid to rest. Kudos to the A&M folks for doing this to prevent them from making an already painful day even worse for the soldier's family and loved ones. Big time credit to them for doing this.

Even a friend rollins.

I'm telling ya, one of these days in one of those protests someone is going to lose their temperament and the headlines are going to read along the lines of a member of that church shot, beaten, or killed. And you know what, outside of a small minority, I doubt you'd find much of a public outcry. I'm sure we'd see media coverage making it into a larger news story than it deserves, but the consensus around this nation would likely be "deserved."

Even if the members of a jury were made up of members of the 5th circuit court of appeals I have my doubts the changes of a conviction would be high.