I promised you info about my recent anti war type activities, and probably the most interesting was the Code Pink rally. The way I see it, Code Pink is a good thing. They are a very visible group and I think the general public needs to be reminded occasionally that there is still a war going on in Iraq.
I saw an interview on NOW with a soldier who's arm was blown off (from the book Purple Hearts; Back from Iraq), so he wears a stainless steel prosthetic. He said people come up to him sometimes and ask how he lost his arm. When he tells them it happened in Iraq many people don't know it's still going on. "There's still a war in Iraq?"
That's why I think reminders are good.
There was a small, but enthusiastic group of us (a week ago Sunday) in the park. We were at a busy intersection between the zoo and downtown, and there was a Native American fair/festival at that intersection too so there was a lot of traffic. Most of the response was favorable. Lots of honking, waving, words of encouragement (way to go, hippies! ;-)), thumbs up. There were a few middle fingers up too, but not very many. Just a few. About half of us took a walk through the park. Just a short jaunt. Several people confronted us there. Either by making stupid comments (boo democracy! boo freedom!) or wanting to argue. I declined to debate.
As we approached our corner, a woman came up to me and told me that we shouldn't be causing trouble for the Indians and should take our protest elsewhere. She said it was disrespectful. I told her that was the usual protest/vigil space Code Pink uses and no disrespect was intended, but we weren't leaving yet. Plus we weren't causing trouble. We were just exercising our free speech muscles. She muttered some comment about how Sitting Bull's relatives wouldn't appreciate us. Frankly, I don't know what she meant by that, other than her implication that we'd draw an unwanted police presence. Okey-dokey.
Wellllll.....I did get an 84% on the ACLU's "is there an fbi file on you" quiz.
Anyway, all and all it was a rewarding experience.
I saw an interview on NOW with a soldier who's arm was blown off (from the book Purple Hearts; Back from Iraq), so he wears a stainless steel prosthetic. He said people come up to him sometimes and ask how he lost his arm. When he tells them it happened in Iraq many people don't know it's still going on. "There's still a war in Iraq?"
That's why I think reminders are good.
There was a small, but enthusiastic group of us (a week ago Sunday) in the park. We were at a busy intersection between the zoo and downtown, and there was a Native American fair/festival at that intersection too so there was a lot of traffic. Most of the response was favorable. Lots of honking, waving, words of encouragement (way to go, hippies! ;-)), thumbs up. There were a few middle fingers up too, but not very many. Just a few. About half of us took a walk through the park. Just a short jaunt. Several people confronted us there. Either by making stupid comments (boo democracy! boo freedom!) or wanting to argue. I declined to debate.
As we approached our corner, a woman came up to me and told me that we shouldn't be causing trouble for the Indians and should take our protest elsewhere. She said it was disrespectful. I told her that was the usual protest/vigil space Code Pink uses and no disrespect was intended, but we weren't leaving yet. Plus we weren't causing trouble. We were just exercising our free speech muscles. She muttered some comment about how Sitting Bull's relatives wouldn't appreciate us. Frankly, I don't know what she meant by that, other than her implication that we'd draw an unwanted police presence. Okey-dokey.
Wellllll.....I did get an 84% on the ACLU's "is there an fbi file on you" quiz.
Anyway, all and all it was a rewarding experience.
posted by Terry at 9:22 PM
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