Shooting Peace Protestors

Michael Sedano

 If you depend on your local newspaper for news, you're likely not to know there's a Peace Movement happening in this country. Here are photos and a slide show of one manifestation of public discourse.

Across the country, people massed on Saturday, September 24 to say, Bring the troops home now! In Washington DC, 100,000 souls massed (200,000 according to march organizers), in LA 50,000 massed (15,000 according to police). San Diego, Seattle, San Francisco, maybe even your city, had demonstrations. Sadly, my local rag, The LA Times buried its story on page 15 (and requires registration if you'd like to read the coverage).

The NY Times noted,

Rallies held on Saturday in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle and other cities drew considerably smaller crowds, but unlike the more varied themes of recent protests against administration policies, antiwar sentiment on Saturday was consistent throughout. In Washington, it was evident from the start, as an organizer screamed over the microphone, "Let Bush and Cheney and the White House hear our message: Bring the troops home now."

 The Washington Post declared,

 Out there, in front of the Washington Monument, it was eerily reminiscent of another place and time, a time when the Old Guard was young and the Young Guard didn't yet exist, and people made a point of not putting their trust in anyone over a certain age.

A friend of mine exclaimed,

jeez, i must be living in a cocoon. didn't hear of it. haven't watched t.v. and i wonder if the l.a. times covered it.

I attended the LA march with a group of school teachers. We formed up behind the United Teachers Los Angeles banner. It was like old times seeing that disarmament icon Peace symbol. Just in front of the teachers, Latinos For Peace, sponsors of the 100,000 by 8/29/06 Campaign. Behind us Communists followed by Unionists followed by Veterans. And filling in the spaces, contingents of GDI who show up for events like these. The LA Times mentioned Mother Nature, but she didn’t have a good sign, so I didn’t shoot her. I hit the jackpot with the hula-hooping Scheherazade who kept her face hidden, the raging mimes, and people along the route.