Part I. More than 500 people create a human peace sign on the beach in Santa Monica
errorMore than 500 people stood together on the beach at Santa Monica on this chilly, foggy Saturday afternoon to make human peace symbol. They were there calling for peace, healing and nonviolence, both for individuals and worldwide.
Amidst the peace sign stood Santa Monica mayor Michael Feinstein, city council member Kevin McKeown, and 9 year-old Ember Knight from Topanga, along with her mother Sage.
Ember was part of the day's program, which was organized by the Agape International Spiritual Center in Culver City. She took to the sandy stage early in the afternoon with the children's choir. Their first song was Louis Armstrong's classic "What a Wonderful World," currently being censored by some U.S. radio stations.
Ember later said that she feels sad for victims of both September 11 and of the subsequent bombings in Afghanistan. She thinks that the bombings are not the right answer. "It isn't a solution. It's getting back at each other, but it isn't a solution. I feel like there's a much better way to do things."
Children's choir director Elle Perrault knew about the controversy over "What a Wonderful World" when she selected it. She chose it because the words expressed her feelings. "Even though there is death and destruction, the trees are still green," she said. "There is still life beyond that pain."
Part of what Perrault sees in this "wonderful world" is the way it is growing closer together. For that reason, she says, the United States cannot afford to bomb other countries. "What we don't realize is that we're dropping the bombs on our own selves."
When Jenny Mack, a fifth grade teacher from Venice, answered her cell phone at a little after 2 p.m., she explained to her caller why she couldn't get away just then. "I'm in the middle of a human peace sign!"
Over on the next leg of the peace sign another woman was on her cell phone, waving her free arm overhead and craning her neck to find a friend somewhere else in the sign. "There you are!" she eventually shouted into the phone, and waved more vigorously.
Djay Donavon came to the human peace sign with a friend. Several of her friends have been involved with the peace movement for a while, but she went to her first anti-war demonstration on Monday. Donavon says she thinks the country should be pulling together, but not in the negative way that it is right now. She doesn't expect to come to many more public peace events, but she has a clear opinion of the current war: "It's bullshit."
This human peace sign was the the brainchild of Marsha Straubing, Director of the Agape Center’s Peace Ministry. Planning for this event to promote peace and healing was already underway when the September 11 tragedy occurred. In the wake of that day's events and the bombings of Afghanistan by the U.S. and Great Britain, the human peace symbol took on greater significance. Straubing experienced even more support for the event in the community than before.
Straubing, holding her nine month old grandchild on her hip, said that for her, the purposes of the human peace sign did not change after September 11. "This is an opportunity for me, and I hope for other people as well, to become a better person in my day-to-day life."
The pieces of the sign waited in their peaceful ranks for half an hour or so, singing "Give Peace a Chance," "You Are My Sunshine" and "Om Shanti Om" as they waited for a helicopter and photographer to pass over. From time to time a cry would go up from the crowd when the whirling of propellers sounded overhead, although they could not be seen through the fog. Children played in the sand, and one middle aged woman in a Green Party T-shirt entertained the throng by twirling a baton with professional precision. In the end, the fog was too heavy for the helicopter, which turned back without taking any pictures.
It was not so heavy that it damped spirits, however. As the peace symbol broke up and people made their way from the beach, a proposal went out over the PA system to hold the human peace symbol again next week, and every week thereafter.
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As the human peace sign broke up, a group of about 25 people joined a nearby anti-war vigil organized by the Los Angeles Catholic Worker. As she stood facing Ocean Park Blvd., her back to the beach, Elizabeth Griswold held a sign reading "Stop the War in Afghanistan." The word Afghanistan was on a newer piece of cardboard, affixed to the front of the sign. Griswold explained that it had been placed over "Iraq," which it turn covered "Central America." Manuel Hernandez, standing beside her, said that it was unfortunate that it wasn't likely to be the last one added.
Griswold believes that the events of September 11 should be investigated as a crime against humanity, with the guilty parties being brought before an international tribunal. She wishes that the recent tragedy could be a turning point instead of a war, where America would start to review its foreign policies in Palestine, Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and make major changes.
Hernandez believes that most Americans want peace. The problem is that many people think bombings will bring peace. "We want peace. We're going to throw bombs. That's a contradiction," said Hernandez. People should learn from history, he says, that war never creates peace.
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Tomorrow: Part II. Anti-War March & Rally at Venice Beach