DC March Produced Tangible Goals

First we thought the Metro sniper might keep people away from Washington. On Thursday, after news broke that suspects had been arrested, the Weather Service predicted torrential rains. Then came the tragic news on Friday that Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, one of the 19 brave senators who had voted his conscience and said no to President Bush’s war, was killed in a plane crash with his wife and daughter and five staffers. I thought many would be too grief-stricken to make the trip. But in the end an estimated 100,000 people poured onto the streets of Washington, and so did the sunlight.

And so did the press, finally. C-Span recorded the nearly four-hour pre-march rally in its entirety. The New York Times was there (although they underreported the numbers), CNN was there, and the news caption on the front page of Sunday’s Washington Post was “100,000 Rally, March Against War in Iraq.” The Post also reported what I couldn’t see as one body in the crowd: that every spot in the 1.7 miles of marching area was full. In other words, we had the White House completely surrounded.

Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, a D.C. organizer with the coalition Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER), said that the excellent turnout “absolutely shows that when George Bush says America speaks with one voice, and it’s his voice, he’s wrong.”

Busloads and carloads of people drove in from as far away as North Dakota, Indiana, South Carolina and Illinois. Others traveled in on the Metro, filling the streets near the Foggy Bottom and Smithsonian stops carrying signs and rain gear, just in case.

The pre-march rally began at 11am at Constitution Gardens beside the Vietnam War Memorial. If anything, the plurality of voices represented among the speakers -- veterans of three wars, Islamic leaders, ANSWER organizers, civil rights attorneys, activists working to end U.N. sanctions in Iraq, Susan Sarandon, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Ben Cohen, trade union leaders and dozens total -- made it clear that this peace movement is about building bridges across many ethnic and racial divides.

A central message was that this particular chapter of the peace movement may have many new members but it isn’t new -- it is, as Jesse Jackson said, yet another instance of Americans “gathering in the name of non-violent resistance and taking our place in the long chain of historic change and struggle.”

Jennifer Helee, a graduate student at MIT, and her mother Joanna Rueter, an interior designer from Brattleboro, Vermont, met up in Washington to march together because they didn’t feel their “elected officials -- at least the ones outside Vermont -- are representing” their views.

Ms. Reuter said, “I’ve done lots of reading and we’re not doing the world a good turn,” she said, referring to the prospect of an attack on Iraq. “And even apart from that,” Ms. Helee said, “I don’t think it’s going to be effective. Our real problem is terrorism. All we’re doing is making enemies.”

Countless speakers and marchers evoked the memory of Paul Wellstone. Jesse Jackson said, “His seat may be filled, his principles and commitment and integrity and passion and purpose will not be so easily filled. Let us dedicate ourselves to the cause of peace and justice Paul always fought for. We thank God for his memory, for his purpose, and for that which he left in us. Amen.”

When I arrived at the march at 10:30am I saw a bus of marchers from Minnesota and indeed many of the peace protestors had added photographs of the late senator to their signs. Others had signs devoted just to him: “In Memoriam, Paul Wellstone,” “I dedicate this Day to Paul Wellstone,” and “Don’t Let Wellstone Die in Vein.”