Peace and Justice Liturgy
at Irish Fest

Six of us dressed in black sat in the bleachers in the back of the Marcus Amphitheater as a massive crowd of thousands celebrated a peace and justice liturgy at Irish Fest this Sunday. We were dressed in black for the Freedom March of Breaking the Silence that we had planned for after the Liturgy when persons were leaving the liturgy. However, it turns out that black is the second favorite color of the Irish, after green.

The liturgy was simple and beautiful. We left the liturgy early so as to be ready for the crowds walking down the ramp of the Amphitheater. As the thousands started to exit the liturgy we unfolded two large signs. One read “Break The Silence” and the other read “No More War Spending.” We had some of our flyers ready to pass out saying that “We will March this summer at Public Events to bury the greed that breeds violence, war, oil spills and economic disasters.”

From past experiences at festivals we expected to be stopped right away by security and asked to leave, but we were not. After marching around in circles, the persons holding the signs just stopped and held the signs up while a couple of us passed out the flyers.

The people leaving the liturgy were surprisingly supportive and many of them came up to us to thank us for breaking the silence and speaking out by our actions. After a while I was called over by someone holding a banner and asked to speak to one of the security guards. I offered him a copy of our flyer and was willing to explain to him why we were there. He would have none of it and was not interested in the flyer or our purpose. In strong words he ordered us out immediately. Knowing that he could not arrest us without calling the police, I asked him to call the police on us. We had planned to leave when the police ordered us to do so. This security guard was angry and got on his walkie talkie. He was not calling the police, however, but other security guards. When they arrived they physically moved me away from the others. I could hear them saying on the walkie talkie that they had seized the leader and taken him to a particular gate. I did not resist but they felt the need to intimidate me by word and physically by twisting my arm as I was walking. As the crowd around us was staring at us I kept calling out for someone to call the police. My training in nonviolent resistance had prepared me for an order to cease or be arrested, but not for rogue security guards. When we made it to the gate a leader of security arrived. He said he would talk to me if I stepped through the turnstile out of the grounds. I knew he was tricking me but I left anyway since I had planned to leave.

Once out of the gate I called one of the other persons in the group and discovered he and another person were nearby. As they were coming over to join me a woman called me by name and asked if I remembered her. I did not recognize her at first, but when she said her name I immediately did. She was one of the teenage students in the alternative accredited high school we had established in the early 70s on the South side of Milwaukee. Now, forty years later, she is a teacher at the local technical college. An elderly man came up to me to ask me how I was doing. He had witnessed the security guards roughing me up and was concerned.

As I was talked with these two, my two friends joined me with the banners they were carrying. As they approached us so did the team of security guards. The claimed that their jurisdiction as lessees of the Summerfest grounds from the City of Milwaukee extended a few blocks from the festival grounds. They started to physically remove us to that point. As we were walking with them I tried to start a conversation with the leader of the security. He just kept on being intimidating and threatening. At one point he said he would have me arrested for assault if I bumped him again. I had not even touched him and realized I was dealing with some fairly power-hungry people.

After we got out of the range of their jurisdiction I asked my friends what had happened to them and the others. It seems everyone was divided and forced to leave. The others, however, were able to have their hands stamped so they could return to Irish Fest, despite the security guards saying that we were banned from the grounds.

I felt like writing to the leaders of Irish Fest, operators of the Summerfest grounds, the Mayor and city agencies to tell them of our treatment. But when I thought of how civil rights leaders have been treated by security and police, it really did not matter. We celebrated a beautify liturgy with thousands of others and left the event the way many Christians have left marches and celebrations, rejected and kicked out. What more can we ask for?

For pictures of our Freedom March at Irish Fest check this page. Our final Summer 2010 Freedom March is next Friday.

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