At 10 a.m. Saturday, people were already filling the Blue Line Metro in Washington, D.C. The train was more full than normal for a cold Saturday morning, and the people themselves seemed somewhat different than the typical Saturday shoppers or travelers. Dressed warmly in layered clothing with hats, gloves and thick jackets, most of the people on the Metro carried variously sized cardboard signs reading “No Blood for Oil,” “What would MLK Do?” and “Bushit.”
While it was hot on the Metro, the temperature outside was a chilly 24 degrees that reached to the bone. Some skeptics claimed that no one would show up because of the freezing weather, but by the time the rally got under way, it was obvious that the thousands who had arrived — and the thousands more still arriving — were not going to be silenced simply because of some winter weather.
On Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday weekend, the organizers of the rally, International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), estimated that 500,000 people gathered in front of the Capitol to protest the encroaching war with Iraq, and with them were 10 University students from Students for Peace: Levi Strom, Alex Gonzalez, Melissa Jencks, Marya Lusky, Rachel Dean, Dylan McManus, Merri Bath, Phillipa Anderson, Nick Pandjiris and Nathaniel N-T.
Holding up a handmade banner proclaiming “University of Oregon Students for Peace,” the students were greeted with warmth and cheers by Easterners who cried, to the smiles of many in the group, “Hey! Welcome Orygun!”
The day was reminiscent of nearly 34 years ago, when hundreds of thousands gathered in that exact location to protest the Vietnam War. If the cold weather may have withheld some of the day’s exuberance, the sheer number of bodies authenticated and legitimized their cause.
Spirits were high even at the beginning of the event, when more than 20 speakers took to the podium to rally the masses below. Among the speakers was the Rev. Al Sharpton of the National Action Network, who said to the cheers of the crowd, “Mr. Bush held Dr. King’s picture in the White House last year, but he needs to have the words. If Dr. King was here today celebrating his birthday, he would be saying, ‘Give peace a chance.’” Other speakers included actress Jessica Lange; Rev. Jesse Jackson; former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark; Rep. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich.; and Vietnam veteran and “Born on the Fourth of July” author Ron Kovic.
By the time people began to arrive at the designated end of the march, the Navy Yard, many were still waiting to begin. Surprisingly, a small number of police lined the streets, and their only purpose seemed to be keeping demonstrators off the sidewalks. A number of people on stilts dressed as Uncle Sam picked their way through the crowd, and even a convincing George W. Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, complete with paper maché heads, greeted the crowd, calling, “Make way for the Bush administration!”
Although the march got under way a little after 1:30 p.m., the University students did not reach the Navy Yard (only a couple of miles away) until well after 5 p.m. Throngs of people were still behind them, and thousands remained in front of the Navy Yard dancing, chanting and beating drums. While the mood was uplifting through most of the march, many of the demonstrators showed signs of fatigue, and the cold was beginning to sink in toward the end of the day.
Speaking on the importance of being in D.C. for the rally, Anderson said, “I feel a sense of urgency at this time because of Bush’s policies and eagerness to invade Iraq. This is a message to him.”
And on a freezing day on the East Coast, thousands of miles away from home, the University students made their presence and views known, and joined the thousands of others who braved the cold for peace.