National Day of Action to End the War

So, yesterday was the "National Day of Action to End the War". MoveOn.org invited me to a peace vigil at the courthouse in my hometown of Milwaukee.

So I went, and I took two of my friends. We started to take turns reading off a timeline of the deaths of American soldiers in Iraq. We mentioned no names, just how many died and where they were from. After awhile, someone politely interrupted and mentioed that although this was a great way to honor the fallen, we were really just preaching to the choir. A small forum then broke out of ideas of what we should do to be more effective. We had hoped for press coverage, but, of course, local news is impotent on such matters. My friend, Chris, then suggested we take our vigil onto the street and block traffic as we continued to read off the timeline. The idea went over well and the crowd (of about fifty) moved to the sidewalk and a brave few of about fifteen (including myself) walked into the street.

We read our timeline and blocked traffic -- cars had to slow down and go around us. Nothing was endangered, and no one really got upset -- not even the inconvenienced drivers. As one of us read the last page of our timeline, a lone sheriff pulled up and insisted we get off the street. Considering this was a simple peace vigil, we all complied.

Soon after, we left. However, we left very satisfied. The vigil, which started as near-silent homage to the fallen, soon turned into an energetic, enthusiastic rally against this corrupt war in Iraq. And part of that is owed to my friend, Chris.

I took four pictures at the vigil...

This is a shot of some of those that chose to stay on the sidewalk.
This is a picture of the brave few that went into the street. My friend Chris is the second from the right. I, also, stood in the street.
The police arrive mere minutes before we finished.
The sheriff insisted we move back onto the sidewalk. Some did not move right away, but since it was a just a peace vigil, we complied with the police.
Although the vigil only lasted an hour, it was nice to take part in something like this. It is important to remember why we must demand an end to this War and why we must protest the Bush Administration.

-Mr. Joseph