It was a very copful weekend. In addition to riding in Critical Mass and getting a ticket for doing so on Friday night, I participated in the Radical Homosexual Agenda's Parade without a Permit on Saturday evening, and on Sunday, hung out with Eric's uncle, a retired Atlanta police officer.
The Parade without a Permit, organized by the Radical Homosexual Agenda, was possibly the most enjoyable and empowering march I have been on...well, maybe ever. Even thought the po-lice were on our tail for part of it (and then they mysteriously vanished!), people were exuberant about protecting their right to assemble. A lot of us had brought our bikes, since Critical Mass is among the special targets of the new parade permit law.
I talked over my Critical Mass ticket with Uncle Chuck, author of "Signal 63" Officer Needs Help!, a pretty interesting and fairly told police memoir. He's very honest about his past biases and violent incidents on the force. At first I was surprised, and then a little disappointed that he believed me that I was targeted and ticketed for no reason (and that there's a conspiracy among front lines cops not to show up for hearings prepared to fight the unfairly ticketed riders). If he could so easily believe me, then even cops will admit how bad things are.
Regardless, I had a great weekend. Hooray for that!