Friday the 13th
No actions today. Thankfully because of the date. We are in Georgia now, Columbus Georgia where Fort Benning is. Today is a chill day so we don't have to meet the press -- just make banners and such for tomorrow when we rally at the base. Many don't want us here I assume. When we entered the hotel two very young men in military uniforms were walking out of the hotel. Our policy is to not engage -- especially today!
We drive in a four to six-car caravan and today I was in the last car having a conversation with the driver about political assasinations (by the way the talks with these people are great!) when he started to pull into the left lane and almost hit the car that was in his blind spot and caused it to swerve and tumble twice across the freeway and into the ditch. If it were a second earlier it would have been hit by an oncoming car. We pulled over the caravan down the road, conversed, and decided to go to the next exit were we washed off the peace sign and the "criminals" print on the glass. The driver went back with someone else (not me) and met with 911. It turned out they were not in the official report because the cars didn't make contact so it was ruled a on-car accident. The passengers had bruises and contusions but no broken bones. It's a blessing that no one died but was scary. An alert?
Wednesday we drove to New Orleans. And by the way if you didn't figure it out, we're not walking much ecept for marches and rallys. I found out we were just driving from location to location just after we left Crawford for Houston when I asked, "so when are we walking?" There's not much time as it is.
We saw the Lower 9th Ward, all the destroyed houses, a little life. Common Ground is a relief organization run by hippie types located near the base of the levee that broke. They help the displaced people resist the government's interference into them moving back to their homes. They are playing a "waiting game" with them hoping they will sell their property. It's a huge land grab. Many of those home owners are homeless sleeping in the parks of New Orleans for if they don't guard their property they might lose it. National Guard military vehicles roam the streets "keeping the peace". Did you know that after the hurricane there was only two feet of water around the 9th Ward. So two days after the hurricane the poor home owners breathed a sigh of relief because they survived the storm. That is when the levees broke and in 5 minutes 12 feet of water gushed through the neighborhood. Two days after the storm! Something like 1,200 or 1,600 people died there! A barge is said to have busted the levee but people around there, based on witnesses hearing explosions, believe the levee was blown and the barge came busting through later. I tell ya', the more you see first hand what's going on, the more your anger is sustained and fortified.
Before Common Ground we went to a different aid place where they feed people and rebuild houses. Young hippies play a banjo and a flute-like thing on the ground and skinny old black dudes wander around the bare, dank building. White hippie kids and some black families inhabit the 9th ward. After Common Ground we went to some town square where a lot of homeless people of different races sit around. They must be home owners. Cindy did a talk and really gave them a whole lot of hope. I held the banner. Then at dusk we left for dinner at some guys house.
We drove about 20 minutes into this thick, thick brush on the outskirts of the city. Stick piles smoked in the ajacent yard. The bayou lie behing the rickety house were mosquitos breed and crockodiles lurk. Twas pretty cool but it got dark, we had a long, long day (I haven't had much time at all to write, much less get on the internet) and people were drinking and the place was just spooky. We left having to turn down the burgers the guy was going to make for us. I would have loved to have that kind of adventure but we were tired and in a wierd, foreign place and people had to find our way out of there. We went and found the hotel reserved for us, famished. New Orleans is a strange place, unless your a ghost.
The next day we got up and left by 9am, much better than the 6am leaving time the night before, and drove to ALABAMA! Montgomery -- that is. All the southern homes and the confederate flags and statues of confederate heroes -- smelled like slavery. We got out at the Capitol with the media awaiting and a couple war supporters. Cindy talked and then a white clad blonde haired young republican confronted him very angrily. Very very heated. He said he loved George Bush (seemingly only because it pissed us off) and that Cindy was just a tool of the Democratic party. Now she's planning on running against Nancy Pelosi as an independant. How is that? No sense dealing with those people. The confrontation got in the paper so now they don't want us to get angry. The press then interviewed a couple of our peeps. I was hoping they wouldn't talk to me for fear I'd say something stupid. Cindy's got a hard, hard job. Everywhere she goes people want to give her a piece of their mind and she has to talk. Not many days off for her. No shying from the spotlight. No million dollars either.
So we then marched across the street to the Civil Rights Museum. Very cool! Many landmarks in the Civil Rights struggle are in a small radius of the museum downtown. The circular fountain at the Capitol lawn used to have a slave trade ring located there. In the museum there's a wall with names scrolling down randomly and you can enter yours in to symbolize your standing for conscience. I got mine.
We drove down the road to a corner where people were rallying. There was about 15 and no counter protesters and some press. One of our people, a short Irish scruffy spark named Rick, did some poems about the powers that be. Very good. Then I put myself in there with my guitar and played "Fight the Powers That Be". I started with the second verse so it cut the song short -- not much response. Then, to my delight, Cindy signaled me to play one more so I went right into "I Don't Need No Democrat". The cameras pointed at me. It was a good intro to my capabilities. Next time I'll be more flamboyant. Tomorrow they want me to play a song at The School of Americas before they read names of some Iraqis who've died. I'm thinking I'll do "Key to the Universe" ("Oh how precious each and every little life, each and every little life is"). But I don't know if it'll be taken that I'm saying Iraqis are little lives. If you listen to the lyrics you'd see that is what I'm not saying.
Anyway, after the rally we went to a house nearby in the neighborhood with HUGE beautiful houses. They had dinner and drinks and supportive people waiting. I actually was sick of talking about the corrupted system then. I just wanted to drink and eat but all those people wanted to know what it was like. So you have to talk. I got dinner and sat out on the back porch facing a beautiful back yard. Cindy sat in a chair drinking beer as older well dressed rich white people sat intently sharing. I sat in a chair opposite Cindy. T'was wierd because they were soooo neat and white and Cindy and me and others are so regular if not scrubby hippie. But they listened to everything she said (at one point Cindy said, "You know what I think about..." to which the eldest woman said, passionately, "I'd love to know! I'm serious."). They were enthralled. By this point I was passed the star-struckness but I was really happy to be sitting around a table drinking and discussing things with her. Someone comes in and tells us a house two doors down has a banner out fron reading, "Give War a Chance". So after only two beers we hit the road for our sleeping place, leaving mucho drinks and dessert and lots of stirred up liberals in our wake.
We drove about an hour to a big home in the country supplied by this guy. The southern flowers smelled wonderful and the mosquitoes were down about 99% form New Orleans and Houston. I immediately got my guitar out and played some with the poet, Rick, who also played guitar. The old guys running this trip told us to keep it down. They wanted to go to sleep. I wanted to PLAY SOME DAMN GUITAR because I hadn't for a while and it was only 10 something and we didn't have to leave the next day until 10am. We eventually moved away from the house and played a bit. Those old guys are really stringent which is good because this is serious business. They keep us in line and on schedule. Still, I've gotta play a little guitar sometime to keep myself warmed up.
So tomorrow we go to The School of Americas on the Fort Benning military base which is where they train people to torture and topple populist Latin American democracies and such. How American!
Hope all is going well. I'm getting smarter every day. We an important duty to do. The planet and humanity are at stake. Do something yourself to help this broad, deep wave that is building across the nation and ultimately the world. These people must be stopped. It is completely immoral to hold on to any piece of Iraq or their resources especially considering the lies told to get us there. Impeachment is only the first step. But it is an important one and it is very, very possible. Bush/Cheney and crew are criminals and any more time they get leading the most powerful country in the world is time they will be using to institute and proliferate their very evil plan. Don't underestimate their wickedness and their persistence in this plan. Do something. Engage in conversation with family, friends, and co-workers. Write the papers. Wear a t-shirt. This girl, Laurie, makes t-shirts that say "Arrest Bush" or "Arrest Cheney First". These really go over well with the right-wingers. Seriously! Shé sells them on a donation basis. She just wants to cover the cost. I'll try to get her info out for y'all if you want one or you can e-mail me. bbrownatw35th@yahoo.com
Peace and fulfillment and love,
Dan
p.s. I will try to write as much as I can but we've got work to do too and I can't always get a computer and the internet.