| Send to Printer | << Back to Article |
| Local |
|
Baltimoreans to flock to anti-war rally
)
(Kristine Buls/Baltimore Examiner)
Peace activists from Women in Black, Baltimore stand at the corner of Pratt and Light streets on Friday hoping to encourage support for Saturday’s peace rally in Washington. Longtime Baltimore activist Max Obuszewski said today’s anti-war rally in Washington is drawing many people who have never been to a protest or peace march. Thousands from the Baltimore area are headed to the capital today for an 11 a.m. demonstration and 1 p.m. walk, expected to be one of the largest protests against the four-year-old Iraq war. About 250 people are meeting at the Friends School on North Charles Street at 9:30 a.m. and riding en masse to the National Mall. “We’ve sold out six buses so far,” said Obuszewski, an American Friends Service Committee volunteer and head of Baltimore’s Pledge of Resistance. “I had a mother call and buy five tickets for her children. I had two grandparents call and buy tickets for their children and grandchildren.” United for Peace and Justice, the main organizer, listed speakers including Bob Watada, father of Lt. Ehren Watada, the first officer to refuse deployment to Iraq, and actor-activists Danny Glover and Susan Sarandon. United Church of Christ in Columbia, Grandmothers for Peace in Howard County, The University of Maryland at Baltimore County and Anne Arundel Peace Action are three of many local groups and schools organizing transportation. “I’m sure a couple hundred people just from Howard County are going,” said Virginia Himmelheber of Howard County Coalition for Peace and Justice. Jody Hopkins, a Baltimore architecture consultant, uses crutches to walk and is driving down so he can bring his motorized scooter and participate. He’s traveling with Greg Seitz, of Cockeysville, who is blind and works for the federal government in Baltimore. “He was concerned about his safety,” Hopkins said, “however, he felt like he needed to go. ... We’ll be kind of pathetic together — the two handicapped guys — but we’ll be all right.” “The reason I’m going is I got tired of sitting around listening to the news, getting upset and not doing anything about it,” Seitz said. “I have never been comfortable in big, noisy crowds, and maybe I’m just one person standing up and maybe no one will pay attention to it, but at least I can try to make a difference.” |
