This weekend the “Bringing Children and Families Back Together” rally was held at the National Mall in Washington DC. Last week I asked Jennifer Kuhn, a men’s and fathers’ activist, to write me an eyewitness account of the rally. What she sent me is below.
Jen is critical of the rally–I’d also be happy to post eyewitness accounts from people who were at the rally and who viewed it more positively.
“Glenn,
“Dave and I and the boys went down to Washington DC yesterday. We talked with two people who were at the Congress last month, then sat down to watch the speakers. There were maybe 100-250 people there, it was hard to tell with all the tourists there. There were four information booths with 1-2 groups at each one, and a signup booth, as well as the central stage with the quilt displayed.
“The first person to speak made a very distinct separation between the rally and F4J. He said that the people who did that disruptive action yesterday had nothing to do with the rally. He then said that this rally had nothing to do with fathers’ rights. It was about noncustodial parents and their families. Everyone there applauded. I was so disgusted that after listening to one other speaker (the woman who made the quilt who also did not mention fathers) we left. The fact is that their dismissal of Jolly and Mike was uncalled for and separated the two occurrences which could have made more press for both with careful acknowledgement.
“To see the organizers of this rally divide and dismiss some very important contributors to this movement, and dismiss half the movement itself made me very angry. He could have said the movement was ‘not just about fathers rights’ which would include them and others, but he dismissed them altogether. The fact is the fathers’ movement is a very important part of the family law movement. The number of people who were at that rally as passersby that heard the statement were minimal, but the number of activists who did hear it will be many, many more, once the video is made available. What message are we sending to our fathers?
“There was a sign-up sheet where they sold a magazine to help fundraise, so we bought one. Inside were only two stories pertaining family law, both about CPS, and all the examples were married couples whose kids were unjustly taken. Not a single case of mothers taking kids from dads.
“I felt this was very misleading. The vast majority of cases of runaway family court have to do with dads being ripped out of their kids’ lives. This rally as a whole was misleading. To say that dads were not allowed a voice was wrong.
“On a better note, there was a large presence (about 1-2 dozen) of F4J USA fathers there, including Spiderman as well as Chris Titus in her Incredibles outfit. Unfortunately they did not have any information available to hand out, so I doubt most people got their side of the story.
“I was very disappointed. I felt I could not support something which so clearly stood apart from fathers rights. I am sure this was all done to gain wider appeal, but why are men always the ones to sacrifice for the greater good? Why do we always have to bash men or ignore men to sell an idea? Maybe I was just oversensitive; Dave [Jen's husband] felt the same way however, and he usually sees the big picture pretty well. He felt that they really divided us when he thought the goal was to bring us all together.”
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