Peace rally confronts world issues
Campus Times
November 1, 2002
A peace rally on Oct. 23 in the Quad included a speech from senior
pastor Butch Henderson of the United Church of Christ in Claremont. He spoke
to a small crowd about social justice and war with Iraq. Among others speaking
at the rally were Majorie Musser Mikels, a candidate running for Congress
in the 26th District.
The peace rally held last week on the Quad addressed the variety of
issues that have arisen in recent weeks since the United States has been
contemplating war with Iraq.
Topics from Sept. 11 to the Vietnam War were discussed toward an audience
of about 40 La Verne community members who attended the event.
Speakers expressed their views on the pending war.
Among them was Cynthia Matthews, who hosted and organized the event.
She addressed some of the stereotypes that have become prevalent since last
September's terrorist attacks.
"Just because you have brown skin doesn't mean that you are the
one that flew that plane into the towers," she said.
Matthews challenged
supporters by posing the question of whether supporters would be willing
to go to the front lines to fight.
"They want young people who are sitting here (to fight the war),"
Matthews said.
As she spoke to the sparse audience, she expressed frustrations at the
difficulties of receiving support for peace events.
In planning this event, she said, many people encouraged her idea of
a rally.
She pointed out, however, that only a few showed up.
"Let somebody else deal with it. Let somebody else deal with the
peace issue," she said indicating how she felt others perceive such
events.
She said that if the United States does go to war, people will complain
that they have been uninformed, when, in fact, they were given the opportunity
to learn about the situation though events such as this rally.
Among the guest speakers was Marjorie Musser Mikels, who is a congressional
candidate for the 26th district.
In addressing the war, she stressed that the United States is the only
country that has used nuclear weapons in war.
She shared her opinion about the approach that the United States has
used to confront threats and war.
"The United States of America has been the biggest terrorist around
the world," Mikels said.
Rep. Louis Vandenberg (D-Riverside) also spoke at the rally. He said
that he is not a pacifist , and he admired ULV as a special community to
welcome speakers like him, and to host such an event.
Vandenberg's talk focused on religious tolerance.
"Religious extremists throughout the world seem to welcome Armageddon
a little too much," he said.
He also brought up the fact that the U.S. government has been talking
about Iraq for the last 10 years.
"This is a completely trumped up, false crisis, fake issue,"
he said. "This is a war that is not justified."
Another speaker, Green Party representative, Phil Courtney, described
his experiences in speaking out for what he believed. He said that in voicing
his views, he has been mocked, looked at as naive and jailed. Nonetheless,
he said that progress is being made in the world.
"All you have to do is open a history book," he said.
During the rally, the audience was invited to sing, "We shall not
be moved," with a slight change of lyrics including the phrase: "We're
not afraid of Ascroft."
Following the guest speakers, Matthews invited ULV faculty to speak.
Robert Neher, professor of biology shared his views.
"As far as I'm concerned, there is no place for war anytime,"
he said. He added that war is the most unsustainable thing, when a sustainable
future is what we should be looking toward.
Dan Merritt, professor of zoology, also shared a few words about what
it was like to live through some of the wars in the United States.
"It was awful," Merritt said. "It's all about relationships,
and you don't kill someone because they disagree with you."
He added that technology and the second hand reports from the media
have played a role. Students and other audience members were asked to sign
a banner to be taken to a rally in San Francisco.
