EXPERIENCE EYES WIDE OPEN
Eyes Wide Open State Exhibit News
May 2008
| Photo: Noah Berger |
Dear Eyes Wide Open supporter,
EWO and Cost of War coordinators around the
country have been working
hard this spring, organizing events around the
4000th military death,
Tax Day and Memorial Day, in addition to their
usual schedule. And
with summer approaching we know that our
message about the human and
economic cost of war will reach hundreds and
hundreds of thousands of
people in our 47 locations.
Just last week we had a great EWO/CoW
coordinators conference call with
30 people including AFSC staff and volunteers
from all across the
country including Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho,
Hawaii, New Hampshire,
Pennsylvania, Illinois, Oregon, North
Carolina, Virginia, Ohio,
Georgia, California, New York, Oklahoma,
Alabama, Kansas, Rhode Island,
and Minnesota. Many others couldn't join
but stand with us as we work
to end this war. The energy and ideas
that the EWO/CoW coordinators
bring to the work help it succeed in each
particular location and
without a doubt make us more than the sum of
our parts.
Thanks so much for all your hard work and let
us know what we can do to
support you. I leave you with this
haunting image from the 4000th US
Military Death memorial in San Francisco.
Wage Peace,
Mary Zerkel
for the Eyes Wide Open/Cost of War team
Cost of War Goes to School
By Darlene Gramigna, Chicago Truth in Recruitment Program Director and Jill Doub, EWO/CoW Illinois Coordinator
Since
January 2008, the Cost of War exhibit has
traveled to several public
schools in the Chicago area. In both
elementary and high schools,
students learned about the exhibit through the
eyes of Marin Luther
King Jr's opposition the the war in Vietnam
and his view that money
should be spent feeding, housing and clothing
people instead. We ask
students to ponder the question "What would
Martin Luther King Jr. do
today?" through panel discussions, schoolwide
assemblies and classroom
presentations.
We have added a penny poll so
that
students can vote on how they would spend
their tax dollars in their
community. At some high schools we set up the
exhibit in the cafeteria
with AFSC staff and volunteers for a week. At
the end of the week we
posted the results of the poll. Students
invariably vote for money to
be spent on health, education, the environment
or housing rather than
the military. In addition, the
Defund/Refund petition has been popular
with high school students.
As we bring the message of the economic cost
of the war to schools
across Chicagoland, we don't forget to talk
about the human cost as
well. We have had a panel speak to
social studies classes on the Human
Cost of the war. The panel consisted of an
Iraq war vet, a mother of a
soldier currently serving in Iraq and a
psychologist who works closely
with Iraq vets. And whenever we
bring EWO to a high school we realize
how important it is to have young people
reflect upon the human cost.
Says one student in a Chicago suburb,
"It
hit me hard and made me realize how crazy war
really is. It's
seriously so pointless in my eyes, and I think
it's truly pathetic that
our world isn't mature enough to figure out a
different way of solving
things."
Debut Florida EWO Exhibit: initially met with difficulty and resistance, but eventually wins support of vets and families
By Vicki Impoco, EWO Florida Coordinator
On March 15, local peace activists hosted Florida's first EWO Florida exhibit in Satellite Beach, a very prowar and military community. Knowing the political climate here and the difficulties the National EWO exhibit experienced getting permits in Florida, I decided to rent a public facility as an individual.
Despite advertising the exhibit as a solemn memorial and not a protest, the Mayor and Satellite Beach City Council were inundated with inquiries and complaints that they would allow such an event on public property. Due to repeated attempts of intimidation by the council, it was necessary for me to consult with the ACLU throughout the planning process and eventually have an ACLU observer at the event.
| Florida volunteers |
We were hoping to avoid disruption of our event by counter-protesters, and we used great sensitivity with all aspects of planning. All families of the Brevard county fallen were contacted about the exhibit weeks ahead of time. Several attended and brought personal memorial items. One family who had requested their son's name be removed from the exhibit changed their minds. We replaced the "name removed" tag with a tag bearing his name. All the families were grateful.
Over 45 volunteers dressed in black supported the exhibit, maintaining a peaceful presence throughout the day. We decided that no speakers were necessary. The boots and Iraqi civilian shoes were our statement along with the reading of the names of the Florida fallen.
The exhibit was attended by many local veterans who I believe originally intended to protest. All were moved by the display and openly wept. One Vietnam Vet (a frequent counter-protester at our other vigils) came back in his honor guard uniform and presented me with a Vietnam Veterans pin.
There were many poignant moments, but two stand out in my mind and moved many of us to tears. The first moment was seeing 6 year-old William Deem finding his father's boots. The second was the arrival of Iraq Veteran SGT. Russ Makek (double amputee, burn and traumatic head injury), who struggled with his walker to find the boots of three comrades who were killed in an IED tank explosion. Russ has expressive aphasia and sobbed during the reading of the names. His father later thanked us, stating that the experience was a healing one for Russ.
We were successful in opening the eyes of members of our community (even those that support the war) to the human cost of this war.
Eyes Wide Open Expands to Indiana
By Erin Polley, EWO/COW
Program Associate and
EWO Indiana Coordinator
I started out meeting with Friends in Indianapolis through the North Meadow Circle of Friends Meeting. They had the experience of displaying the Eyes Wide Open exhibit in September of 2004 and were thrilled to bring the Indiana boots back to Indianapolis. We began reaching out to other Quaker meetings in the city and peace and justice organizations like the Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center.
In 2004, the national exhibit was on the Indianapolis Monument Circle with 1500 pairs of boots. For the few days that the exhibit was there, counter-protesters stood in partitioned off areas and protested our memorial. Myself and the other Indianapolis organizers were prepared for them to come again to our memorial, once again on the Monument Circle.
As we began advertising the exhibit, we started receiving a lot of support from the community. NUVO, the local free weekly paper ran a free ad for us for weeks leading up to the exhibit and did a story on us to generate interest for volunteers. Congressman Andre Carson came to speak at our press conference and so did several Iraq and Vietnam veterans.
For the two days we displayed the 136 Indiana boots on the Circle, we were overwhelmed by people saying thank you, solemn tears and support from the people of Indianapolis. We had no counter-protesters this time around and numerous people stopped and asked us to bring the exhibit to their small towns and communities throughout the state.
The experience of doing this exhibit was incredible for me personally. I met Quakers and activists from around the state that I am proud to know and collaborate with. This experience has left me honored to be a Hoosier and doing work in my homestate.