Freedom March on Brady Street

Milwaukee, in the summer, is a city of festivals. On any given weekend there are many festivals. Today we took the Freedom Marches, Summer 2010 to the Brady Street Festival. Usually security for the festival stops us, and while most try to ignore us and our message, a few are hostile. Today we were met by friendly crowds and no one tried to stop our march. If fact, a number from the crowd joined our march as we went up and down Brady Street.

Why we march, although our message to stop teaching war and funding war is one many do not want to hear, is a matter of conscience. Today I heard that two US soldiers were missing from a base in Afghanistan and that five others were killed in the war today. After nine years of war, this July will be the deadliest month of the war for US soldiers. This is not to even mention the thousands and thousands of Afghans that have been killed during the US occupation of the country, on both sides of the conflict, soldiers and civilians. The more Afghans we kill, especially civilians, the more Afghans turn against our presence and the more danger there is for all. This math of war is simple and I have heard it expressed by some Generals in the military, yet we continue ‘to kill or be killed’.

One of the regulars that March is a veteran from the war in Vietnam. It was only after fighting in Vietnam, being seriously injured and going back to fight some more that he came home to realize what a mistake the war was. Like many veterans he struggles against these present wars.

Why do we continue to march to break the silence? We just need to. A friend sent me a few short quotes today that might shed some light on this question. She said: “There is a Zen saying that the seeds do not see the flowers. That, I think, is true of much of the work we do for peace. Bishop Oscar Romero was right: ‘We cannot do everything, but we can choose the thing we can do, and we can do it very well.’”

We march to bury the greed that causes war, violence and injustice when there are friendly crowds at friendly festivals or crowds that ignore us or are hostile at a festival. Who knows what seeds we may be have planted today?

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