You gotta love the Aggies of Texas A&M. Hearing that the vile Westboro Baptist (sic) Church (sic) was planning to protest a soldier’s funeral, Aggies swung into action. They formed a Maroon Wall around the Central Baptist Church, where the funeral was to be take place. The wall prevented the Westboro Baptist people from having their protest. The soldier was an Aggie.A fellow “Aggie”, Ryan Slezia, came up with a plan to create a human wall to block any protesters from getting near the funeral, and invited fellow Texas A&M students and alum to join. One participant tweeted that over 650 people showed up in maroon shirts to create a “maroon wall”. It appears that the Westboro protestors never showed up.
Here is how the organizers described their effort:
Slezia, a 2008 A&M grad, organized a large group of Aggies to build a human wall around Central Baptist Church:
It is proposed that we respond with true Aggie spirit.
In response to their yelling, we will be silent. Like silver taps, like Bonfire Memorial.
In response to their signs of hate, we will wear maroon.
In response to their mob anger, we will form a line, arm in arm.This is a silent vigil. A manifestation of our solidarity.
Some 650 Aggies formed a “Maroon Wall” around the church. Lt. Col Steven Ruth, a soldier who eulogized Tisdale at the funeral was impressed by the showing, the Bryan-College Station Eagle’s Monica Nagy reported.
Ruth said he appreciated the hundreds of Aggies who came and stood in the sweltering heat in honor of Tisdale,
The lieutenant colonel said he was surprised to see many line the streets Wednesday when Tisdale’s body was brought in from Austin. He said it prompted him to ask a woman on a sidewalk if she knew Tisdale.
“The woman said, ‘He is a son of Aggieland — there’s no strangers here on this road,’” he said.
And, the Aggies received the ultimate compliment possible in Texas higher education: The move even won praise from Longhorns.
Thanks @MadisonBenedict & other Aggies for blocking WBC w/ their #MaroonWall. Saw story on Buzzfeed & this Longhorn thinks yall are awesome!
See how the Aggies are protecting the church, by simply surrounding it with silent prayerful witness?
The larger point here is that our churches face graver existential threats than the pathetic Westboro Baptist Church. In the light of the HHS Mandate, who know what our government might do to our churches, schools, hospitals, radio stations, colleges and other institutions? August 1 is the date when the mandate is supposed to go into effect. August 1 is right around the corner.Let’s take a page from the Aggie playbook, and be prepared to protect our churches. In their honor, we could call it “Doing an Aggie Wall.”
