To: Inquirer.Letters@phillynews.com

Sent: January 15, 2001 5:56:14 AM GMT

Subject: Washington Protests
 

To the Editor:
 

On Sunday, January 14, the Inquirer devoted the three lead pages of its

Sunday Review section to a recap of last summer's violence-plagued

Philadelphia protest demonstrations as a preview of expected events at the

Bush Inaugural.
 

Readers were led to believe that organizers are planning to disrupt the

Inauguration with violent confrontations. In fact, quite the opposite is

true.
 

On Saturday, Jan. 20, thousands of average Americans from

all walks of life will be in Washington to peacefully

protest the swearing-in of an illegitimate President.
 

The lead event in this protest is Voter March (www.votermarch.org), an event

conceived and organized by concerned citizens of all ages and all

affiliations, united by their outrage over voting-rights violations in

Florida and connected solely through Internet websites and email.
 

Voter March is committed to peaceful, non-confrontational

protest of the Bush selection; it is purely a grassroots,

non-affiliated event that has gone from conception to

reality in just the past six weeks.
 

Thousands of motivated voters will convene at

Washington's Dupont Circle at 10 AM on

Inauguration Day to call for widespread reforms

to America's voting system so that, going forward, every

vote will count and every voice will be heard.
 

This is not the same as the Philadelphia GOP

demonstrations. It is not Seattle or the DC WTO

confrontations. It is a mass movement spurred

by the most heinous election outcome in memory.
 

Unfortunately, because of biased coverage like the

Inquirer's Sunday Review piece, many citizens who

might otherwise have joined this peaceful gathering

will be frightened away by the spectre of

violence that is allegedly in the offing.
 

That is not only shameful, it is flat-out wrong. The Inquirer

should apologize for its obvious one-side reporting and

set the record straight.
 

Inquirer readers should know that the people attending Voter March in

Washington, DC will not be wild-eyed radicals. They will be your neighbors.
 

Sincerely,
 

Bruce Bailey

Philadelphia Organizer

Inaugural Voter March

40 Basswood Court

Collegeville, PA

610-489-7888 (Home)

610-293-4823 (Work)