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| The numbers of people and their diversity were too overwhelming to categorize. Woods and I decided that we would look for Labor people and make that our focus and these were the first that we saw. This banner "An injury to one is an injury to all" states a Union premise that, if applied globally, could change the world. If you knew the people that make everything you eat, wear or use, would you accept their injury (by starvation wages, by dangerous working conditions, by workplace harrassment) because it enables you to buy their products cheap? One has to take the next step, which is that even though you can't possibly know all the working people in the world, you do share issues with them and should be mindful of that when eating, shopping, voting for political candidates, etc. Try to make life choices that don't injure anyone! |
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The first "sighting of the purple"-- The SEIU Local 250 purple shirt guided us to its wearer, Bay Area Kaiser healthcare worker Janey Grundy and her fellow Local 250 unionist, Yolanda. Both are on the SEIU Local 250 executive board and were here to demonstrate Labor's concern about a threatened war with Iraq. Though I felt a unity with everyone who made the effort to be in this march, I appreciated the "instant connection" that occurred when meeting other Local 250 members in this circumstance. The next Local 250 person that we saw was Paul Kumar, political director. When you see someone wearing purple and talking on a cell phone, it is a good bet that they are at least a staff member of Local 250, and Paul was exhibiting both of these signs. When pressed for a statement, he said that he was here because "this is the first time in this century that we have a chance to act to stop the carnage before it begins."
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| Some marchers carried signs of grim warning, while others used humor to illuminate the phallacy of current U.S. defense strategies. |
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The police presence was present but not really ominous until one got to the Civic Center, where a line-up of sheriff's dept. buses waited for possible miscreants. Here at this intersection, mounted police barred the way. Though I've seen the film Dr. Zhivago and know that the cossacks are capable of running down the peasants as they demonstrate, I also know horses and know they'd rather not. |
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Here's an instance of "deja vu all over again": Craig and Angie Usher (pictured here with their kid) were recent Sac State graduates in 1990, pioneering some unique personal and political strategies in demonstrations against the Gulf War under George Bush I. Here they are again, encountered among thousands in S.F. during this march against Bush II's impending War Against an Oil-Bearing Country. In the ensuing conversation about "then" and "now", Craig remarked on how the group of people who had become politically active in 1990 had gone on to do interesting and socially conscious things--He is now a teacher/currently stay-at-home Dad, and Angie is a social worker. Both had earlier been members of the Peace Corps. |