To their shame our Congress has passed the 106 billion dollar war funding bill. The Senate voted 91 to 5 and the House voted 226 to 202 to fund further slaying of innocents. The Granny Peace Brigade is hitting the streets.
Friday, we were back on Military Island in front of the Times Square recruiting center with our signs and chants:
“HOW MUCH?”
“HOW MANY?”….
….and carrying signs with answers about the cost of war. With great sorrow we had to change a sign – the number of US troops killed. We know with dread that we will soon be changing the number of Iraqis killed. These numbers do not go down.
To start we lined up facing the people in beach chairs on Broadway, each of us holding a question or an answer. We took turns stepping forward in Q&A pairs while handing out flyers with more facts about the cost of war – a touch of reality amidst the eruption of hype that is Times Square.
After showing the questions we read names of the dead to our lounging audience. When we moved our line across the island to face traffic on 7th Avenue one cab driver after another thanked us – some passengers did too. The pace of pedestrians was dizzying throughout our little peace-ballet, but even so, many passers by gave heartfelt thanks and even the occasional hug.
With guidance from our choreographer we are working to have an effective demonstration in this difficult space.
That Armed Forces “Career” Center has got to go.
There were three new signs this week:
“WHAT CAN YOU DO?”
“CALL YOUR SENATOR OR REPRESENTATIVE”
“JOIN A PEACE GROUP”
Do you have a suggestion for a sign? Email us at grannypeace@gmail.com.
-Eva-Lee Baird & Phyllis Cunningham
for the Granny Peace Brigade
Photos: Eva-Lee Baird
Granny Peace Brigade 