Traveling With Cindy
by Thomas Brinson
Facilitator of Long Island VFP, Chapter 138
Traveling with Cindy - Part One
July 13th:
For the past several days I have been most privileged to travel across the South with a number of other Veterans For Peace and supporters with Peace Mom Cindy Sheehan. We are part of her Journey For Humanity, culminating in New York City July 29th with a “Gathering of Hearts Fest” in Central Park. Since leaving Camp Casey on Tuesday, Cindy’s 50th Birthday, a small caravan of several vehicles has been visiting the reddest parts of the Southern Red States.
As part of the closing ceremonies that transferred ownership to LA talk-show host Bree Walker, Cindy Sheehan with Ann Wright on the stage addresses a group of her supporters at Camp Casey.
On Tuesday morning after a Press Conference, during which the flag from the Camp Casey field of crosses was retired, the Journey For Humanity marched through Crawford.
That afternoon the Journey For Humanity traveled to Houston, marching along Montrose Bridge. Approximately 200 supporters attended an evening rally at the Universalist Unitarian Church of Houston.
On Wednesday, the caravan traveled to New Orleans to visit the People’s Café and Common Ground Collective in the 9th Ward of New Orleans, still mostly devastated almost two years after Hurricane Katrina
The visit to New Orleans was capped by a visit to the Gazebo across from City Hall, where Cindy addressed dozens of homeless residents camping out in protest to Major Nagel’s decision not to reopen public housing.
On Thursday, the Journey For Humanity traveled through Mississippi’s ravished Gulf Coast into Alabama for a visit to Montgomery. A highlight occurred at a truck stop in rural Alabama, where a number of residents bought “Arrest Bush” and “Arrest Cheney First” T-shirts from Lori Arbeiter of The Critical Point, designer of the “We Will Not Be Silent” T-shirts, who is traveling as part of the caravan.
Another highlight was visiting the Civil Rights Memorial a few blocks from the first capitol of the Confederacy, designed by Maya Lin who also designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. At a rousing rally in Montgomery, Cindy stressed the need to impeach Bush and Cheney, reiterating her intention to oppose Nancy Pelosi in election 2008 if impeachment is not brought back on the table.
Today we traveled to Columbus, Georgia, where tomorrow, we will hold a rally at Fort Benning within which is the infamous School of the Americas.
Traveling with Cindy - Part Two
July 15, 2007
There were two incidents on our travels this past week that I was especially moved by. One was a exhilarating highpoint, and the other was a bummer of a lowpoint.
The lowpoint first:
After our rally in Montgomery, Alabama, we were feasted with a wonderful southern dinner at the home of Rhonda, one of Montgomery’s most progressive citizens. Several doors down from her home was a very large, crudely hand painted sign, which read, “Give War A Chance.” Will Covert and I decided to go down and speak with the neighbor after we spoke with Rhonda, who was also curious about his sign. A young Father with a chubby two-year old, big-eyed boy on his lap was mowing his lawn. He told us he was a true patriot and that he thought George Bush was a wimp, that if it were up to him he would level Iraq with nukes if necessary. Will asked him if he would want his son to go to Iraq. He replied that not only would he be proud for his boy to go to Iraq, but that he would celebrate when his daughter got “her first confirmed kill.” Whew !~!~! – it broke our hearts.
Now for the highpoint:
As briefly reported previously, we were traveling north from the Alabama Gulf Coast on I-65, when we made a pit-stop for fuel and lunch at a small truck stop. Believe me, we were in the way back woods of one of the reddest of Red States. I was wearing one of Lori Arbeiter’s “Arrest Cheney First” T-shirts. As I walked towards the convenience store, two good old boys, long in the tooth and pot-bellied like I am, were sitting in a booth at the window. They pointed towards me and guffawed. Since I grew up in Mississippi during the worst of the Civil Rights struggle, I got a wee bit paranoid and was concerned about how I would respond when they confronted me. Armored, adrenalin-pumped for action -- this after many years of spiritual practice seeking nonviolent values and ideals -- I entered the store. “Hey fella. C’mere,” one of them shouted at me. I was primed, ready to eat ‘gator. “I’ve got to get me onna dat dere T-shirts. Wher’d you git it?” I told him that the designer happened to be traveling with us. He grinned and profusely thanked me, a true southern gentleman. Lori was able to distribute about 10 of her “Arrest Bush” and “Arrest Cheney First” T-shirts to the good country people of the deep Southern Alabama.
We are also most gratified that Impeach Bush has joined Cindy’s Journey For Humanity effort. Please sign the petition so that when we are in Washington, DC we can deliver more than a million names calling for impeachment to John Conyers and Nancy Pelosi.
Traveling With Cindy – Part Three
It has been a most action-filled and exciting several days on the Journey For Humanity with Cindy. On Friday, we traveled from Montgomery to Columbus, Georgia, where we had planned a mid-morning Saturday rally at the gates of Fort Benning, home of the infamous School of the Americas. The local press in Columbus had several “Red-State” articles about Cindy, comparing her negatively to Jane Fonda, Father Roy Bourgeois, and Martin Luther King, who have also not been welcome in Columbus. We became especially security conscious. Early in the morning, Ken from Houston, who has been on several SOA November rallies, Carl from Camp Casey and myself reconned the area, devising a tight plan for how the rally would occur.
Funny thing about the plans of mice and men with their women – our recon was all for naught. Our caravan of six vehicles arrived on the scene ahead of schedule and was confronted by a small but raucous group of Pro-War & Bush counter protestors. The group included several Vietnam Veteran members of the Rolling Thunder motorcycle club in full leather regalia. There was also a large contingent of Columbus Police in several cars. We were told that the counter-protestors had a dutifully executed permit and could stay, but that since we did not have a permit, we had to leave. While we all stayed in our vehicles, Carl, our police liaison, worked out a tense negotiation with the police that permitted no more than 15 of us to stand in tall grass down a trash-strewn slope off to the side instead of on the freshly mowed median directly across from the entrance to Fort Benning where we had planned our rally.
Sooner than we had planned, we decided to leave Columbus. As we dispersed back to our vehicles, so did the counter protestors. As the several Rolling Thunder Vets passed by, I smiled at one and welcomed him home. One, a former master sergeant, asked me if I was a vet. I told him that I was, that 40 years ago I was escorting convoys throughout II Corps. He announced to his comrades, “Hey, this one’s okay. He’s one of us.” We all shook hands, and as they mounted their motorcycles and roared by, I saluted each one. The lesson for me is that individually we all seek and yearn for dignity and respect. Though we perhaps vehemently disagree, we can choose to reach deep and find common ground. With a police escort, we got on I-85 going north and within a couple of hours were in Atlanta.
Atlanta was as different from Columbus as bright day is from darkest night. We pulled in to a Co-housing Land Trust where we stayed for the night in a marvelously relaxed atmosphere, enjoying a hospitable evening of music, conversation and good cheer among peers who share our high values of peace with justice. Earlier in the evening we were resoundingly welcomed by a full house audience at the Five Points theatre, who were moved to many standing ovation cheers by Cindy’s rousing speech calling for impeachment and accountability.
Sunday morning, we were privileged to participate in the generic worship service of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Atlanta that consisted of dance, music, poetry and meditation. After the service we participated in one of Atlanta’s regular peace vigils.
With no small regrets we left Atlanta driving through a blinding thunderstorm to Charlotte, NC.