Someone, Emelda I think, commented that she wasn't sure how many people would show up for this, considering it was the day after FFF and people might think they had "done their duty" for a while. As it was, we had a core group of 11 people (not the 150 from the day before, but still) with some people coming and going.

Protests against the Chicago Fur Mart are happening every Saturday from 2-4 during the winter. I have to say, this was a great start to it. I got off the el and met up with J on the escalator. He was a bit surprised to see that I had brought Ginny, but it wasn't that cold, it wasn't windy, and she really hates the wind more than anything. (By the way, um, apparently you're not allowed to bring cats on the el? Oh well. I have ways of sneaking her on...) Once we were above ground, I let her out of her carrier and she just sat on my shoulders as we navigated the streets of downtown Chicago (she had her leash on, obviously, as well).

We got to the location and soon other people started arriving. After a few minutes, we started holding up signs and doing our yelling. The attention-getter was Ginny; we were afraid of how she would react to the bullhorns so I at first stayed the farthest away from them, but she was fine. As it was, she walked out on her leash to greet the passersby and if we had the chance, we told them how dogs and cats were killed in China for the cheaper fur coats. I don't think a lot of people are aware of that fact; if they make the connection to animals at all, it's to wildlife. Most don't even know about fur farms. So when they find out that dogs and cats are also involved in this cruel trade, it tends to make it more real for them.

Soon after, we were joined by four middle school-aged boys, who decided to join our cause while their fathers shopped in the mall. I don't know if they were sincere at first or just wanted an excuse to not go shopping; by the end, however, they were passionate (they came back as we were packing up and talked to us). As I've said before, I believe that it's important to reach out to the youth of America because they're not already so set in their ways like many adults. This is just one example.

The crowd on the street had mixed reactions. One woman personally came up to me and thanked me for doing this. On the other hand, another woman yelled at me for "bringing my cat and torturing her with this" (for the record, at the time, Ginny was very calmly sitting on the sidewalk. Uh, yeah, she's very tortured). I tried telling her that Ginny was fine but she wouldn't listen, she just kept yelling at me. Of course, I later came back with a good response, she's in a much better condition than the cats on fur farms in China, but she had gone by then. I'll have to save it for next time (Ginny probably won't be coming out with me until February or so because it's getting a lot colder now).

We heard the usual responses like, "Get a job!" or "Get a life!" and we responded that our lives were dedicated to fighting for a cause we believed in. J also yells at people that he has a job and it doesn't involve exploiting animals. And of course we heard, "Nice leather shoes!" in which J always yells into the bullhorn, "Actually, they're not leather, they're synthetic. But that's a very good point, leather's just as cruel as fur. All of us here are vegans and don't wear any animal products. If you'd like to stay and have an intelligent conversation about it you can... or you can just walk away." They're usually halfway down the street by this time. Emelda also yells usually into a bullhorn, "Mine actually say vegan on the side if you want to look."

If you can't tell, we're quite fond of bullhorns.

The biggest accomplishment of the day, however, was when we got one of the women at the fur store to quit her job. She had been passing out fliers on the street corner, and she said that when she saw the true horrors of the fur industry, she quit her job. So that was great to hear. Some people really don't realize what goes on until they see it.

The police were out in full force. It was more than a little unnecessary, considering we were peaceful and the onlookers were peaceful. When we started, there weren't any police (as we didn't tell them like we had the day before). Then a few appeared. Then more. When we stopped to count, there were nine police officers for eleven protesters. And absolutely zero hostile encounters. Don't they have something better to do? I mean, I'm sure there are more exciting things going on in a city like Chicago...

As it neared four o'clock, J gave his wrap-up speech and we ended with a few chants. We packed up the signs and stood around talking for a while, and then started dispersing. Four of us were taking the same train (although they all went south and I went north), so I had people to talk to on the walk back. And they helped me sneak Ginny back onto the train.

I know that protests have impacts. But before, I'd only been involved in large scale demonstrations (such as the Fur Free Friday march). It's hard to know the direct impact from that. But with a much smaller group, you're much more approachable, news travels to everyone, and you learn the impact much quicker. I'm sure that FFF was a success, but I've been told directly that we had an impact on people this day.