University of Virginia Library

Entertainment

The crowd was addressed by
Reps. Bella Abzug, D—N.Y.;
Ronald Dellums, D—Calif.; and
Parren Mitchell, D—Md. They were
told to "take up where (Martin
Luther) King left off," by Dellums.
Mrs. Abzug told the demonstrators
to "keep doing it peacefully."

Entertainment provided during
the sit-in included a bearded youth
who disrobed before too many of
the police came. Once they were
there, he put his clothes back on.
Several medals were turned in,
including a Marine Corps Purple
Heart, along with draft cards. Songs
were sung, "The Star Spangled
Banner," "We Shall Overcome,"
"Amen," and "The Battle Hymn of
the Republic."

The only damage that I
witnessed was the crushing of the
roof of a Ford Galaxie 500. Other
than that, the entire demonstration
was peaceful. The arrests were
simple to carry out and there was
little resistance. The procedure
went like this; two policemen
would walk up to a demonstrator
and take him by the arms to the
foot of the steps, he or she was
then photographed, taken to the
waiting bus where they were frisked
and then put inside the buses to be
driven to jail. Many of the newsmen
took down names and phone
numbers to inform families and
friends of the busts. As the buses
were driven away, the
demonstrators called out to the
newsmen to stop writing and join
them.