The below commentary, by John Bostrom, was shared with me by fellow NYC Kucitizen and NYC Chapter Dept of Peace board member, Ellen Jaedicke. I'm proud to share it with you all.
As you know, after we talked Sunday I drove down to DC to join in Monday's nonviolent civil resistance. The first thing I did Monday [9/26/05] morning was go to Staples and print up 400 of the double-sided fliers you gave me (King had a dream - now there is a plan) on white card stock. Cost $50 but it was worth it. I stashed about 100 of the fliers in my car at the Metro parking lot and took the rest down to the Ellipse. Just in time to meet the group marching down from the church. I figured this would be enough for every person being arrested. The last I had heard, they were projecting about 200 to 250 arrestees.
I got to the Ellipse just in time to meet the group marching down 16th from the church. For a while I was so excited to meet this incredible group, which includes several personal heros and friends of mine, that I forgot all about the fliers. I said hello to Gordon Clark, whose article in Common Dreams moved me to join the action (my first arrest in 20 years), the inspiring Prof. Cornell West, Rev. Sekou, and Rev. Simon Harak, who came to Staten Island for one of Peace Action's forums at Wagner College. We split into two groups from the Ellipse, half going down Constitution to 16th, the other to 17th, and marched up to Pennsylvania Avenue, which was barricaded to traffic. I went down 17th, and halfway to Pennsylvania Avenue I remembered the leaflets and started handing them out to those who were going to be arrested, telling them that it was in the Senate now. I'd say about half of them already knew about the Department of Peace. Most of them didn't know it had got to the Senate and were very happy to hear that. I think I passed some out to people who weren't going to be arrested too. A lot of people were asking me for them.
Then we got to Lafayette Park, where there were it looked like a thousand people already waiting for us. We had a brief meeting and prayers by the clergy, and I hooked up with Simon again. Simon said I could stick close to him and be a part of the Clergy & Laity Concerned "affinity group." We went with Cindy Sheehan up to the gate (a huge jam of media), were turned away, and then went back to the sidewalk. Then we started kneeling down and sitting down, and the officials made the media a non-arrestees move back across the road behind the barricades, and while they read us the three official warnings, we sang a lot of songs. I was sitting next to Simon, about one person away from Cindy Sheehan. It took a while for the arrests to start, and there was a lot of singing. I wanted to pass Cindy a leaflet, but there was a lot of singing and everything, and then for a while she was having a deep quiet conversation with another woman. Then finally she started laughing, and I took that opportunity to pass her one of the fliers. She took it right away and kept it. I couldn't tell it she'd seen it before. She used it as a fan, it was pretty hot then at 1pm, until they came to arrest her. After they carried Cindy away, people got up and walked around, and I passed out the rest of the leaflets to the people who'd marched down 16th Street. Again, really great response. This time more people seemed to know that it was in the Senate. When I was sure everyone had a leaflet, I sat back down and waited to be arrested myself.
I am really glad I did this. Of all the people that could know about the Department of Peace, these are the ones who are the most committed and can do the most good. I was with a terrific group of guys on a Metro bus until 2:00 AM when they finally took is into the station. Then it took about another hour before we got out, and there were supporters waiting for us even then outside the station. The whole time we were in really high spirits, singing and joking and sharing stories and discussing the issues, and I made a lot of friends. All the arrestees are going to stay in touch.
I am so glad I hooked up with you and the Dept of Peace. I don't think I would have been ready to do this without your example of positive action coming from a deeply non-violent place. Given all the dualistic oppositonal thinking and violence in our culture, it's not surprising that even postive non-violent action can be thought of as "resistance." But that misses the deeper reality, the core postiveness of nonviolent action. Miriam saved Moses to preserve his life. That was the primary reality and motivation, not "resisting the Pharoah." Likewise, the primary reality and motivation of what we did Monday was to speak out for a peacful world. That positive, non-violent agenda was evident all throughout the action, and it shouldn't be confused with any merely reactive "resistance." It's no coincidence that so many among the arrestees enthusiastically support the Dept of Peace.
