NAPN - April 1st march in Atlanta

SOUTHERN REGIONAL MARCH

for PEACE IN IRAQ and JUSTICE AT HOME

Atlanta, Georgia April 1^st, 2006

By Tom Moss

Pictures by Tom Moss and Brian Cutler

Our day started before 5AM when 18 North Alabama Peace Network (NAPN) stalwarts gathered for coffee and doughnuts. We got on the road only a few minutes late, and got to Birmingham in good time to board the Peace Bus.

    The bus made a stop in Anniston to fill up the remaining seats, and a quick breakfast stop in Douglasville. Here I had a remarkable experience when the waiter at a restaurant, seeing me in a slow line waiting for a cup of coffee, walked up with a large cup of coffee in hand. His name is John. "Just take it, man!" he said. "I really like your shirt. I've had four family members killed in Iraq".

    The bus pulled in at the King Center parking lot, and we met up with 6 others who had carpooled directly to Atlanta. Everyone got out their signs. Several of us put together the APJC "Alabama says NO to the Iraq War" banner that Linda brought. Brian had made a bamboo frame, and it worked well -- long upright poles brought the banner up well above the crowd. And, once we walked over to the street where the march was forming up, there turned out to be quite a crowd.

    About 4000 people marched 2 miles to Piedmont Park. In addition to the sea of activists we saw a variety of large puppets, including the Halliburton puppet that Anna Sue brought. Two people were dressed as Dick Cheney as a puppeteer, pulling the strings on George Bush, who played with a globe and drank out of an oil can. Several teams of Radical Cheerleaders were leapfrogging through the march. They would do their cheers on the sidewalk, then run several blocks down the street and do another one.

    Many of the residents in the neighborhoods we walked through were very supportive, and a number of cars going by honked and flashed a peace sign.

    When we reached Piedmont Park, everyone settled down on a large grassy slope and listened to the speakers. Code Pink had a display set up with fabric tiles that each marked one death in Iraq, including civiian and military deaths. We staked out the Alabama banner. The weather was good, though the sun was hot, and people were clustered in the shade under the few trees. People quickly ran out of water, but the march organizers had water bottles available.

     For me, the highlight was Dr. Joseph Lowry, civil rights pioneer. His speech was a fiery call to action to work on domestic problems and stop feeding the war machine.

     By and by, we had to load the bus to return to Birmingham. The community on the bus was a fantastic experience. One of the best things about traveling on the bus was the opportunity to talk at length with activists from other areas, and there were many interesting conversations.

    The NAPN group disembarked in Birmingham, and our 3 vehicles had an "interesting" tour through parts of the city looking for a particular restaurant, until a kind couple led us to the correct street. We had a leisurely dinner, enjoying each others' company, then drove back to Huntsville, arriving just after midnight.

    Kudos to the organizers of the Atlanta march! The event was very well run, and there were many volunteers that made it all happen smoothly. Thanks and congratulations also are due to Diane McNaron, who organized the Peace Bus.