The Wednesday attack on the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo, a satirical weekly newspaper, set off a torrent of email traffic supporting the freedom of the press. By 1pm, a vigil had been scheduled that night at the Newseum:
In light of the horrendous attack that killed 12 people in Paris today, let's get together to stand peacefully in support of Charlie Hebdo and for freedom of the press. Bring your pencils and pens. #jesuischarlie
It was a bitterly cold night here in DC and vigils are always held outside for some reason but sometimes you just gotta go. So I did.
On the way, I ran into another vigil near the Navy Memorial Metro stop. They said they were with the All Souls Church, a Unitarian community, but I wasn't really interested in a religious response to the violence so I moved on quickly.
I was early and initially only a few people including the lead organizers, mostly French, were there. They handed "JE SUIS CHARLIE" -- "I am Charlie" -- papers to people as we showed up. Among those filming were Newseum staff who said we were free to go into the museum for heat and bathrooms if we wanted to. I heard their atrium jumbotron said "JE SUIS CHARLIE" and I wanted to film it so I went through security. Pretty quickly, the rest of the folks started coming in too.
There, we warmed up and the organizers explained to the cameras why we were assembling -- to stand up for freedom of the press -- and that the Newseum -- which has the First Amendment emblazoned on its Pennsylvania Avenue side entrance -- was the ideal place to do it. They had no idea how many people were going to show up but it was easily several hundred folks which I thought was pretty impressive for an instant event on a very cold night.
We then went back outside. Once we had reassembled, the names of the terrorist victims were read. The crowd chanted "JE SUIS CHARLIE" in solidarity with each name.
People continued to mingle, arrive, and depart. I noticed Chistine Lagarde, the head of the International Monetary Fund, had come to support her countrymen and the cause as well.
I was relieved that I never heard the word "Muslim" during the event. The focus was on freedom of the press, not the repressive elements out there trying to suppress it.
I felt better having gone.
