[Peace] Fwd: [SRRTAC-L:8419] Fwd: [SBSJ] Good news from Greensboro, NC! (fwd)

[Alfred Kagan]

Perhaps someone wants to write up what we did on July 4th?

>Delivered-To: akagan at alexia.lis.uiuc.edu
>Date: Tue, 16 Jul 2002 10:13:35 -0700 (PDT)
>From: Gerardo Colmenar <colmenar at library.ucsb.edu>
>To: SRRT Action Council <srrtac-l at ala.org>
>Subject: [SRRTAC-L:8419] Fwd: [SBSJ] Good news from Greensboro, NC! (fwd)
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>Perhaps an example of the type of activism that one must engage in this
>post-industrial, information society.
>
>gary
>
>
>>Subject: [SBSJ] Good news from Greensboro, NC!
>>Date: Thu, 11 Jul 2002 11:41:54 -0700
>>
>>Here's a great story! Reminds me of what happened at the Ann Arbor 4th
>>of
>>July parade too. The times they are achangin'.
>>
>>in peace & solidarity
>>Patricia
>>******************************************
>>LESSONS FROM JULY 4 IN GREENSBORO, N.C.
>>
>>
>>Students United for a Responsible Global Environment - www.unc.edu/surge
>>
>>
>>Lessons from The Fourth of July in Greensboro
>>
>>
>>by Ed Whitfield
>>
>>Greensboro, NC
>>
>>July 5, 2002
>>
>>
>
>Folks who believe the official line that the support for the current US
>policies in the war on terrorism and the new domestic measures at home is
>nearly unanimous need to know what happened in Greensboro, North Carolina
>on the 4th of July.
>
>The Greensboro Peace Coalition heeded a firm suggestion by one of its
>leading younger members that it should have an entry in the city's annual
>4th of July Parade. After some hesitation, we decided to register an entry
>and spread the word widely among our contacts that we were going to claim
>our piece of the public space and utilize that day of patriotism to spread
>our message of opposition to Bush's "war on terrorism".
>
>To coincide with our entry into the parade, we bought a half page ad in
>the local daily paper, the Greensboro News and Record and had them print
>the "Not In Our Name -- Statement of Consciousness" along with names of
>over 100 prominent national signers. We were never sure how many people
>would show up. Some of our members and supporters were afraid that the
>parade entry would be too agressive a tactic. They feared that in the
>light of the patriotic outburst since 911 an entry in the city's parade
>would be too much in the face of those who would be waving >the flag that
>day. Some of the same folks who have stood weekly on a >busy street corner
>in a vigil for peace every since October when the US started bombing
>Afghanistan, felt that the parade entry would be a bit too much. Some of
>them changed their minds and came to the parade anyway. The were all glad
>that they did because those negative fears turned out on this 4th of July
>in Greensboro North Carolina to be wrong.
>
>We had over 50 people -- black and white, young and old, professional and
>laboring and unemployed -- come to march with us behind a large banner
>that said "Greensboro Peace Coalition -- Not In Our Name". Along the route
>we passed out small flyers with the "Not In Our Name" pledge of resistance
>on one side and a statement from the Greensboro Peace Coalition on the
>other. The theme of the Parade was "American Heroes". Our delegation
>marched with posters of Mark Twain, Albert Einstein, Fredrick Douglas,
>Martin Luther King, and other great Americans who have stood for peace and
>against militarism and aggression.
>
>As we walked the mile and a half parade route, many of the people along
>the street began to applaud. There were a few hecklers, but only a few.
>There were far more smiles, peace signs and applause. Two city police on
>bicycles pulled into the parade to follow our group. We passed the
>reviewing stand where there was a live broadcast on the local radio. The
>announcer seemed a bit surprised as he announced "And here is ... the
>Greensboro Peace Coalition." We let out a cheer for ourselves that could
>be heard on the radio.
>
>After the parade, we set up a table among the groups who participated in
>the day long "Fun Fourth" activities. We were in between the table of a
>businessman running for US Senate, and a young man selling digital phone
>service for AT&T. Many people came by our table to pick up more literature
>and to talk. So many times that day we heard how glad people were to see
>someone with the courage to express concerns about the nation's direction.
>
>A real surprise came when officials from the event's organizing committee
>came to our table to give us the award for "Best Interpretation of Theme"
>in the Parade.
>
>After the day was over, I looked at the emails coming to the Greensboro
>Peace Coalition. Some of them were caustic and critical of us for having
>the nerve of going against "mainstream America". One said that what we
>were doing and saying was not "in vogue" and that this wasn't the 60's.
>Many others however expressed real joy that someone was standing up for
>what was right and asking how to get more involved.
>
>We are following up by getting people involved in our regular meeting and
>inviting them to other special events like the speaker from Colombia who
>will talk about the US military involvememt there at a covered dish dinner
>here in just over a week.
>
>There is a real lesson in this. If you scratch the surface of the poll
>numbers about Bush's and Ashcroft's overwhelming support, you get down to
>a lot of people with a lot of questions, a lot of concerns and a lot of
>fears. Some of them are afraid that they are alone in what they are
>thinking.
>
>What it takes to get them excited and to get them involved is for them to
>see someone standing up so that they will know that they are not alone. We
>should have been doing this in every city across the country that had a
>4th of July parade. If we had the foresight and the courage, we could have
>turned this day of flag waving into a day of introspection and dialogue
>and building this important movement against repression here at home and
>agression abroad.
>
>>=====
>>
>>Dennis Markatos
>>
>>2001 University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
>>
>>w(919)843-6548     h(919)967-3256
>>
>>SURGE webpage - www.surgenetwork.org
>>
>>CCEF - www.moneyinpolitics.org
>>
>>
>>Global Network Against Weapons & Nuclear Power in Space
>>
>>PO Box 90083
>>
>>Gainesville, FL. 32607
>>
>>(352) 337-9274
>>
>>http://www.space4peace.org
>>
>>globalnet at mindspring.com
>>
>>============================================
>>"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
>>safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
>>- Benjamin Franklin, Historical Review of Pennsylvania, 1759.
>>
>>"The people who say that they have not time to attend to politics are
>>simply saying that they are unfit to live in a free community. Their
>>place is under a despotism..."
>>--Theodore Roosevelt 1883
>>
>>"In the End, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the
>>silence of our friends."
>>- Martin Luther King Jr. (1929-1968)
>>
>>
>
>
>
>
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-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu