HOME | DD
digitalgrace β Antoine Demetrius Smith
by-nc-nd
Published: 2007-10-28 16:50:10 +0000 UTC; Views: 1231; Favourites: 19; Downloads: 20
Redirect to original
Description
Although it was raining most of the day, the United for Peace and Justice Anti-war rally at Lake Eola in Orlando, Florida, had a really good turnout. There were many speakers at the event, maybe too many, but the testimony given by Iraqi war veteran Clifton Hicks made it all worth it, as his accounts of what happened during his deployment in Iraq moved many to tears.As the march started, the skies opened up and a deluge of rain came down. The marchers moved through the streets undeterred, and at about a mile into the march, came upon a small group of pro-war protesters that call themselves the Gathering of Eagles. These self proclaimed βreal Americansβ yelled hateful phrases and gave the old middle finger salute to everyone as they walked by. This conflict was pretty much over before it started, because the ratio of anti-war protesters to pro-war protesters was so great.
What: United for Peace and Justice Anti-war National Mobilization
When: October 27th 2007
Where: Orlando, Florida at Lake Eola [link]
Speakers Include:
Michael Albert - activist, author of "Remembering Tomorrow: From SDS to Life After Capitalism" & founder of Z-Magazine
Lucas Benitez - Coalition of Immokalee Workers
Debra Booth - AFL-CIO & Central Florida Labor Council
Congresswoman Corrine Brown
Scott Camil - Veteran for Peace
Michael Canney - Green Party of Florida, Co-Chair
Matt De Vlieger - SDS @ UCF (M.C. of the day)
Denise Diaz - Central Florida Jobs with Justice
Senator Mike Gravel - Anti-war Candidate for President '08
Clifton Hicks - Iraq veteran against the war (IVAW)
Jesse Kern - Veterans for Peace (Korean War Veteran)
Omar Masri - Speaker from UFPJ Steering Committee
Peg McIntire (97yo) - Grandparents for Peace, St. Augustine
David Rucker - Metropolitan Democratic Black Caucus & former President of the Orange County NAACP
Bruce Wright - St. Pete for Peace
Lydia Vickers - CodePink
Related content
Comments: 8
I fell for her, I really do. Losing your child is a terrible, terible thing. No one should have to experience it ever.
However this lady does worse to the memory of her son. Her son chose to be a Marine, chose to serve his country and chose to go to war. He chose this because he knew it to be the right thing to do. The person she should be angry with is not Bush, but rather the insurgents in Iraq who deliberately killed her son through cowardly acts of terrorism.
I persoanlly hope one day this lady comes to see how her actions have insulted her son's memory and repents.
π: 0 β©: 0
I'd go for a much closer shot here - I assume that leaflet is celebrating the life of her son; her expression and the leaflet tells a much stronger story than the sign.
π: 0 β©: 1
Perhaps, but she has a story and opinion she went to this event to share, and I don't want to take that away from her because of my opinion of what tells a better/stronger story... What I do hope is that people see his name and look him up. Then they will learn more of the story behind the faces: [link]
π: 0 β©: 0
hmm.... who is the worst of all? 
π: 0 β©: 2
oh... *dawning recognition* lol
π: 0 β©: 0
You may also want to imagine what it is like to lose your child... Compassion and understanding of the pain she is going through helps you understand why she carried that sign and what all this means to her
π: 0 β©: 0
This so reminds me of a dream I had. I met the president and I said some pretty choice things to him.
π: 0 β©: 1
I would love to be in that dream LOL
π: 0 β©: 0