Jackson Free Press

Join another vigil for peace and safety of the troops Sunday, March 23, at 7 p.m. in front of the Eastland Courthouse on West Capitol Street downtown. This column is dedicated to Todd Allen, who showed up one day to help distribute the Jackson Free Press because he believes in our mission. He is a peace-lover and an Army chaplain who is now en route to the Middle East. Godspeed.

During the first Gulf War, I covered the anti-war marches and vigils—No Blood for Oil—that filled Manhattan streets. As the war began, I grabbed a cab—ironically driven by a man named Saddam Hussein—and zipped to the U.N. to watch protesters, of all ages, races and backgrounds, call for peace. I followed the marchers up and down the avenues, taking some notes and feeling rather frozen in my helplessness to stop the killing of us or of them.

You may call me naïve, but I'm one of those people who believe that violence begets violence, that war wouldn't be necessary if we, as a society, didn't assume that war is even a possibility for settling disputes. But we haven't gotten that far, yet, in our evolution. I pray we, or our progeny, do some day. Talk about freedom.

I know many people who are depressed that their tax dollars, and friends and family members, are going to be spent on a near-unilateral attack on Iraq and the "elimination" of Saddam Hussein. They believe, as I do, that this will be another instance in which American hindsight is 20/20 and that history will frown on this arc in history.

But here we are. Like it or not, war is about to be fought in our name. Hawks are trying to squelch dissent, the most un-American thing they can do. I can't think of anything more ironic than being told by people ready to attack in the name of freedom that we don't have the freedom to disagree. It's bizarre; it's Orwellian; it's tragic.

I went to West Capitol Sunday night at 7 p.m., expecting to watch a ragtag group of 10 or 15 sign-toters protest the war. It was raining, it was Sunday, and who goes downtown Jackson on the weekend anyhow? (We do.)

I parked a couple blocks east of the James O. Eastland courthouse building—an apt place for any protest if you understand the nasty and racist history of that building's namesake. As I walked west, I could see a small sea of umbrellas, candle flames flickering among them. All around me were remnants of the St. Paddy's Day parade the day before, a decadent orgy of celebration and a greedy beadfest that I had marched in with my fellow Wannabes and Queens. Trash still littered the sidewalks; the judges' stand was still set up, a banner draped in front. Everything was eerily quiet.
As I approached the group, huddled under the damp American flag overhead, I started to hear strains of "We Shall Overcome." Glancing around, I could see that turnout for these protests is increasing; I counted at least 100 people looking grim and rather hopeless, showing up to express a voice that is rarely heard and, when it is, ridiculed like yesterday's French fries.

Most of the crowd was white and middle-age or older, but some diversity was evident: a few African-American families, Latinos, college students and small children. I saw only a few 20-somethings in the crowd. The group was representative of the people who still think the system can work for them. There are way too few of them, or us, who believe what we do every day matters, whether it's holding a candle, or finding a young person to mentor, or daring to speak out. Apathy and hopelessness are a vicious circle, which leads to disastrous consequences, as I fear that we're about to learn.

Of course, these are difficult, fear-filled times when it's easy to exploit our fears of terrorism, of the Islamic world, of each other, of crime, of "them." We're so terrified that it's easy to divide and conquer us. Think about it: If we're so busy fearing the other side of the track, or walking in the park, or going out to dinner downtown, we don't have much energy left to truly consider the implications of our country's policies around the world. We want God to bless us, damn it, and devil may care about the rest.

That wasn't the case Sunday. These were the faithful who turned out to mourn the passing of peace. "Let Ed King read the scriptures!" a member of the crowd yelled. An older white man walked to the front. "I am Ed King, a United Methodist minister retired; I'm also a semi-retired agitator," he said. Indeed, King did his part in the 1960s for black freedom. A Millsaps grad, he was a Tougaloo College chaplain who was on the front lines then in every way.

"Forty years ago, I stood in this very place and read from Psalms 56 at an event Medgar Evers arranged," he told the crowd, opening his Bible. "We'll get through this."

Then Presbyterian minister Rims Barber: "I'm not afraid of what man can do." Then JoG Prichard: "I am an Episcopalian … we asked every Christian to come today." Warren Yoder, an Open Door Mennonite: "We oppose the war." Steve Rozman, Tougaloo dean of social sciences and a Jew: "Is Israel more secure today than before Sharon decided to use power?" A Unitarian Universalist, then a Hispanic Catholic, and other people of faith kept stepping up and speaking out.
I believe, in my heart, that our strategy in Iraq is doomed to fail, just as we all now know our aggression did in Vietnam—but it would take many more years before many Americans would admit it. Many still won't.

And there are ways to fail even if we surgically "eliminate" Saddam quickly. Failure is killing innocent Iraqis. It's destroying our environment. It's building ill will throughout the rest of the world. It's alienating some of our most important allies. It's provoking terrorism. It's teaching impressionable children, of the U.S. and abroad, that starting an unprovoked war is groovy to do. It's the squelching of dissent and patriotism that doesn't look exactly like our own. It's considering war the first resort, not the last.

Bless the world.
The non-partisan coalition of Jackson peace protesters have named themselves the Central Mississippians for Peace. They plan to continue holding Sunday vigils at the same place at 7 p.m.

Previous Comments

ID

68351

Comment

oh, & al-Qaida links? http://www.msnbc.com/news/889223.asp?0cv=CB10 GERDIGO, Iraq, March 22 ó An apparent car bomb killed at least five people, including a Western journalist, on Saturday at a checkpoint near a camp of a militant group linked to al-Qaida.

Author

philip scarborough

Date

2003-03-22T21:11:38-06:00

ID

68352

Comment

I'm all for this war. all the pansy a** protesters who are screaming' about the plight of the Iraqi people .... this campaign is nothing but good for the Iraqi people! Sadam gets removed, sanctions get lifted... - Remember - Sadam was the one sitting on all the countries riches - NOT giving it to the people.... have we forget that? (not to mention the LACK of female rights in the middle east in general.) but you never hear the protesters protesting about that, wonder why? and the rebuilding of Iraq - good for our economy, - good for the Iraqis! win / win. France, Russia, & Germany? - only against the war because they have huge economic ties to Sadam and his regime! - yes? and of course - China (the biggest human right violator in the history of humanity) as well as North Korea & Iran - can get a good look at the newest of our laser guided toys - and think long and hard about it.... I think allot of people protest - just to protest. b**** for the sake of bitching. they should be glad they don't live in Iraq, China, or North Korea - where they'd be shot. there are times where you have to have a spine & just do what has to be done. ok, I'm going back to flipping between CNN, MSNBC & FOX! philip scarborough

Author

philip scarborough

Date

2003-03-22T21:14:14-06:00

ID

68353

Comment

Just a couple comments: It didn't get much media or political attention, but women's groups were protesting the treatment of women in the Middle East, especially in Afghanistan, long, long before September 11, including at street marches for women's rights. Second, with what's going on along Iraq's northern border--the complexity of the Kurds, the warring factions of Islam and now Turkey's possible desire to follow the U.S.' lead and unilaterally attack Iraq--it's probably a good idea to read up on that section of the country, which is quite unique from much of Iraq, from what I understand. To that end, I certainly wouldn't suggest watching MSNBC, CNN or FOX -- I haven't learned a useful thing from any of them yet in this conflict. ABC has been pretty decent and BBC has been pretty good as well, at least admitting that all of the networks, including itself and the aforementioned, airing the footage of Iraqi POWs this weekend was perhaps a violation of the Geneva Conventions, as well as the footage from Iraq of our poor soldiers (praying hard here). The other networks seem to be ignoring that seemingly glaring contradiction. Anyhow, I suspect many Americans (due to abysmal media coverage here) wrongly believe that all of Iraq is controlled by and loyal to Saddam Hussein, and once he's gone, peace and happiness and democracy will easily come to the Iraqi people. The fact is: It's a rat's nest over there that's going to be hard to control once his folks are out of power, and Northern Iraq is a good example. Here are some links regarding the Ansar group and the Kurd region that may be helpful as we all try to understand the complexity of all this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2149499.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/2877319.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/not_in_website/syndication/monitoring/media_reports/2588623.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/not_in_website/syndication/monitoring/media_reports/2597943.stm

Author

ladd

Date

2003-03-23T16:55:03-06:00

ID

68354

Comment

The bottom line is folks, that no matter what the reasons why we're changing the regime in Iraq... - the whole middle east is nothing but a un-educated barbarous cesspool of human rights violations, - especially regarding woman & children. Violence & ruthlessness of a level that makes the most violent (American) play station 2 game look like Frogger.... - the bigger the western presence in that region - THE BETTER. we're there for oil? - GREAT! - I'm sure we'll cut the Iraqis a much better deal than Sadam did, - yes? As I've said, there is nothing bad about this war for the Iraqis. Unless of course you don't stop your van when the Marine tells you to. Just ask your nearest Iraqi American. But, who are WE to take it upon ourselves of changing the regime you say?? How arrogant of us? ... Well, who are we to save the whales & the ozone, eh? Save the Whales & the Red Oaks, but not the Iraqis? ? p

Author

dang ol' philip

Date

2003-04-02T18:54:04-06:00

ID

68355

Comment

The bottom line is folks, that no matter what the reasons why we're changing the regime in Iraq... - the whole middle east is nothing but a un-educated barbarous cesspool of human rights violations, - especially regarding woman & children. Violence & ruthlessness of a level that makes the most violent (American) play station 2 game look like Frogger.... - the bigger the western presence in that region - THE BETTER. we're there for oil? - GREAT! - I'm sure we'll cut the Iraqis a much better deal than Sadam did, - yes? As I've said, there is nothing bad about this war for the Iraqis. Unless of course you don't stop your van when the Marine tells you to. Just ask your nearest Iraqi American. But, who are WE to take it upon ourselves of changing the regime you say?? How arrogant of us? ... Well, who are we to save the whales & the ozone, eh? Save the Whales & the Red Oaks, but not the Iraqis? ? p

Author

dang ol' philip

Date

2003-04-02T18:58:48-06:00