Perhaps the highlight of our experience at Camp Democracy was becoming involved with the Bush Chain Gang. I’ve done street theater before but never like this. Tom and I both dressed up in costume multiple times and did actions. I was Donald Rumsfeld the times I was in costume and Tom alternated between Cheney and Rumsfeld. We walked around the mall at various times and we did an action at the White House. We were like magnets – people flocked to us for photos.
Bill Moyer(not to be confused with Bill Moyers with an “s”), the creator of the Chain Gang, was there leading our actions. He is the person dressed as a cop in the photos below.
We took the chain gang to “Busboys and Poets” restaurant on Saturday. What a great activist restaurant. We were a hit!
While en route to the White House we were asked by a Park Police officer where we were headed. Being truthful, we told her. As anticipated we were greeted by the secret service who let us in to the “White House Viewing Area” after collecting identification. While there a couple who had just been married had their photo taken with us – the first ever wedding photo with the Bush Chain Gang.
After the White House action we took the Chain Gang out to dinner and then went bar hopping. What a hit the Chain Gang was in these establishments!
What I discovered is the barrier that is broken for diaolguing with this medium. People were much more interested in talking about Bush’s war crimes than if I just walked up to them and handed them literature.
Watch for the Bush Chain Gang hitting the streets in Salt Lake sometime this fall…….
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Deanna Dee-Dee Taylor 