On Thursday March 20th, members of various student organizations at Millersville University organized a walkout around 11 a.m. inviting students all over to come out and support any and all resistance to wars, present and future. The time and day of the week were chosen because wars go on regardless of college classes, tests, and assignments.
A small 'cemetery' was created with over 3900 Popsicle sticks with the names of the soldiers written on them.
Bob Lowing, a Lancaster man with Inter-Church Peace Witness discussed the war, and the lack of peace programs at college campuses in this country,
Saying, in this country the military is the only way for many, including people of color, that they can get a college education. Quoting local activist Conrad Moore "who do you have to kill to get a college education?"
USN veteran Ryan Berrick spoke about how American actions in the middle east are regarded by the people of the region, and to sum it up, they do not like what we're doing in Iraq, they don't see us as liberators, despite the message of the politicians and pundits.
A rally consisting of veterans and supports set up nearby to support the troops by setting up donation boxes to send goodies to the troops overseas.
Around 1 p.m. after taking a break from the rally, the police informed both rally organizers they needed to disperse because of an "unspecified threat" without argument or hassle, everyone dispersed peacefully within moments. Sadly, this precluded veterans from speaking at the rally.
Now for an anecdote:
A veteran, and possibly a couple others, pulled up all of the Popsicle sticks in the cemetery that the group spent several hours planting in the ground, not to mention several hours making in the nights beforehand. I understand the guy was really nice about it, "they're my friends" he said. I still find the act sad, they were a memorial to not just his friends, but our friends and relatives as well who have died in this war.
The argument they would be rained on, or stepped on, while certainly true neglects that cemeteries, and memorials get rained on and possibly vandalized themselves, if we were worried about that, we would have not set up our cemetery.
Photographs that the MSM will not, and do not, display were here. They are hard to write about, these are the horrors of war. The words of the aforementioned politicians and pundits cannot apologize or justify the horrors seen here, mangled bodies of U.S serviceman, and the people of Iraq who like Americans merely wish to live in peace.
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