| November 5, 2007: This website is an archive of the former website, traprockpeace.org, which was created 10 years ago by Charles Jenks. It became one of the most populace sites in the US, and an important resource on the antiwar movement, student activism, 'depleted' uranium and other topics. Jenks authored virtually all of its web pages and multimedia content (photographs, audio, video, and pdf files. As the author and registered owner of that site, his purpose here is to preserve an important slice of the history of the grassroots peace movement in the US over the past decade. He is maintaining this historical archive as a service to the greater peace movement, and to the many friends of Traprock Peace Center. Blogs have been consolidated and the calendar has been archived for security reasons; all other links remain the same, and virtually all blog content remains intact. THIS SITE NO LONGER REFLECTS THE CURRENT AND ONGOING WORK OF TRAPROCK PEACE CENTER, which has reorganized its board and moved to Greenfield, Mass. To contact Traprock Peace Center, call 413-773-7427 or visit its site. Charles Jenks is posting new material to PeaceJournal.org, a multimedia blog and resource center.
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Jazz Funeral for Democracy website
VVAW,
VFP, Represented in "Jazz
Funeral For Democracy"
"Jazz Funeral For Democracy, A Wake For Peace"
Latest Action in a Strong Louisiana Anti-War Effort
by Ward Reilly January 22, 2005
With a bit of good luck from a beautiful Louisiana winter day of 65 degrees,
the anti-war effort of south Louisiana shined brightly on counter-inauguration
day in New Orleans, Louisiana, January 20th, 2005.
1500+ proud anti-war activists, from as far away as Washington State on the
west coast, Wisconsin in the midwest, New Jersey and New York on the east
coast, down to Florida in the deep south, joined hands to condemn the $40,000,000
inaugural orgy of King Curious George Bush and Little Dick Cheney, two men
considered to be war-criminals by those in attendance. They partied hard,
while our children/troops are dying hard in THEIR illegal "war".
What started out as a an off-the-cuff remark, turned into one of the best
anti-war, anti-administration demonstrations in the country, one of several
"counter-inaugural" protests staged around the nation, in what was
unquestionably one of the most unique formats ever used in the history of
U.S. activism, that being using a traditional New Orleans Jazz Funeral as
the vehicle of protest. We were there to "bury" the war,our civil
liberties, and to burn the USA PATRIOT Act.
The demonstration started in "Louie Armstrong Park" at 10am, where
1500 "Jazz Funeral For Democracy, A Wake For Peace" pins, designed
and made by Andy Lehman, Megan Bronson and Ward Reilly, were generously handed
out to the first to arrive. Pictures of these can be seen our our still operating
website, an extremely good site produced by Michael Goff, and one that had
more than 10,000 "hits" in the 2 weeks prior the the JF4D.
After a few speakers, many media interviews, and generally organizing everybody
into position, the somber crowd marched very slowly, also a Jazz Funeral tradition,
down N. Rampart Street, led by principle organizers Buddy Spell, his wife
Annie, and their daughter Sarah, who was being towed in a classic red wagon.
They were followed by members of Viet Nam Veterans Against the War, Veterans
For Peace, CAWI of Baton Rouge, C3 of New Orleans, and Code Pink, all anti-war
groups.
Behind the lead group came the "Constitution All Star Band", with
the famed "Treme Brass Band" taking up a position by the horse-drawn
hearse, both bands dressed in traditional mourning finery, and the contingent
of 1500+ protestors, made up of lovely ladies in black, with decorated umbrella's
(another part of Jazz Funeral tradition) made by Jennifer Shaw, men in black
suits or blue jeans, and of course, hundreds of anti-war, anti-Bush, and anti-USA
PATRIOT Act posters, banners and signs were everywhere.
To top it all off, a horse-drawn carriage and hearse, complete with casket,
was put in position, and off we went at 11:00am sharp, as King Curious George
Bush, and Little Dick Cheney took the oath of office, swearing again to uphold
the Constitution of our nation, something they have yet to do.
The crowd gathered strength along the march, joined by many New Orleans Jazz
musicians along the route. We turned onto Canal St., the HEART of New Orleans,
and it's main street downtown, where even the street cars DESIRED to slow
down and look at this proud moment in Louisiana history unfolding before the
riders' eyes. We marched passed Bourbon St, and turned left toward "Jackson
Square", where we had a permit to set up and have more speakers.
Other bands that marched, and/or played at the street party following the
Jazz Funeral, all of which were organized by Marine VN-era vet, and certified-madman,
"Sheik" Richardson, included Kostini, Paula & The Pontiacs,
Panorama Brass Band, Leigh "Little Queenie" Harris, God's Little
Toy, Otra, Christina Friis And Sam Price Price, and finally, The Constitution
Brass Band.
Much thanks to all of them, and to the more than 40 groups that officially
endorsed the event, including Code Pink, Raging Granny's, Pax Christi, Artist's
& Writers For Peace, Noomoon Tribe, and United For Peace & Justice,
to name just a few.
The New Orleans police, as has been their way since we started marching against
the "war" in Iraq in 2002, handled the traffic and crowd with perfect
cooperation, which made the entire action flow with ease, and kept it problem
free.
Our action was in stark contrast to the $40,000,000, police-state-looking
orgy of decadence that the Bush gang produced. In Washington, there were snipers
on every roof, a soldier forced to stand every 20 along the main route as
sheilds for our "brave" President, and visitors were subject to
several searches before having to get behind metal or plastic barriers for
the "privilege" of watching a pitiful excuse for a President ride
by, gazing from his little 12 inch window. The scene looked more like
an old Kremlin film clip than it did anything that used to happen in MY country.
Donna Bassin, psychologist and Viet Nam PTSD expert and documentary film maker,
came all the way from New Jersey to film part of a documentary, in a continuing
study as to the effects of the current political situation on vets, and the
effects that this "war" is having on Viet Nam era vets, and we were
so lucky that she would do so.
The AP, the UPI, and several radio stations, plus a few magazines, also covered
the event, and the Baton Rouge "Advocate" gave the demonstration
a half page article and a great photo of our action, and the New Orleans Times
Picayune did a piece.
Good media is the key to changing the nation, and in that respect the "Jazz
Funeral For Democracy" also shined. CBS and ABC TV also covered us locally,
and we were shown in both Baton Rouge and New Orleans in a completely positive
way.
Bob Smith, a retired Command Sergeant Major, and 3 combat tour Viet Nam Green
Beret, a VVAW member, MC'ed the event. VVAW member Ward Reilly and VFP member
Dennis Kyne, Desert Storm vet, and national Depleted Uranium expert, joined
Kathy Kelly of Voices In The Wilderness, always an inspirational speaker,
and Avery Friend, a 13 year old activist from south Louisiana, whom we are
especially proud of, in speaking to a very appreciative crowd.
Arthur Morrell, also a Special Forces Green Beret veteran, and Louisiana Senatorial
candidate, and the ONLY anti-war candidate, spoke also, as did Mabili Ajani
Oguniyi, whose name translates to "the East Wind Warrior",a man
who has spent the last decade as a radio revolutionary in Tampa Bay, Florida.
Also speaking were Mike Howell and Marty Roland of the New Orleans anti-war
group C3.
At one point, for one long minute, all 1500+ stood in silence in the amphitheatre
at Jackson Square, with fingers raised high in the "Peace Sign",
in honor of all that have been killed or injured by the disasters in Iraq
and Afghanistan. It was without question the most moving part of the event
to me.
Native-American Grey Hawk, of the Louisiana Houma Tribe, gave a beautiful
prayer in his native tongue, and we were particularly proud that many Native
Americans would join us this day in solidarity against those that would destroy
our nation. Their presence did us great honor.
The end of this portion of our action at Jackson Square came as Marty Roland
of C3 ripped up the USA PATRIOT Act, symbolically burned it, and we then threw
the ashes of it into the mighty Mississippi River.
We ended this fine day in true New Orleans fashion, with a street party that
lasted until late in the evening, at the Blue Nile club, which was one of
several that had offered their clubs to us, and they opened at noon to the
delight of all that attended.
I only wish that ALL anti-war citizens could have been in attendance, because
peace and love, in the name of sanity, and with a sense of urgency in trying
to save our nation, ruled this day. It was only a success because enough citizens
of this country still care enough to stand up for what is right, something
that made all that were there feel very good inside.
My apologies to the MANY that helped us organize, that are not mentioned here,
as our media coverage, our website, and our overall organizing in getting
the word out, was exemplary, and is what made this event one of the best ever
in our continuing efforts to end this madness in the Middle East. We have
our work cut out for us.
The Constitution and Bill of Rights might not be dead, but they need CPR now,
or the next "Jazz Funeral For Democracy" might be sooner than we
believe, and for real!
PEACE NOW! TROOPS HOME NOW!
delivered to the rally
at the Jazz Funeral for Democracy
New Orleans, Louisiana
January 20, 2005
Greetings to all of you
counter-inaugural demonstrators...thank you all for
taking time to come out
and let the world know that a lot of us, about
55,000,000 of us in fact,
said NO on November 2nd, to this so-called WAR,
and the neocon's agenda.
That there are now scores
of documented voting irregularities doesn't even
surprise me any more,
and it simply adds to the disgrace that this White
House will carry
into history. It is shameful that the Constitution has
become a hollow shell
of false hope and promise. It's pitiful that even our
election system has no
legitimacy any more.
I want to share with
you some of the messages left on our Jazz Funeral
website:
From "Rick"
we have:
"Ya"ll are
a bunch of Un-American liberal idiots, and do not deserve to live
in this Great Country
of Ours (True Americans). Please do us all (True
Americans) a big favor
and get the hell out of this Great Country, or just
Die that would be sufficient
also."
From "Jacques":
"Assholes!"
and "The only funeral i'd be interested in going to is YOURS."
From Anon:
"What a bunch of
ignormasuses you communist sympathizing, socialist,
stateist morons are.
Next time, get a job and participate in the greatest
economy in the world."
And finally From "K":
"Communist Socialist
Liberal Democrats are on their way out because they
only have one agenda.
To destroy freedom in this country by corrupting the
Constitution for abortion,
homosexuals, (a.k.a. pediphiles) etc. God bless
President Bush and all
he stands for."
And this is from people
THAT WON the White House, that control Congress, and
that control the Federal
Courts....I'm afraid to think of what it would take
to make these people
happy, or what they would be like losing.
Many of the people here
today, were standing in this same exact spot in
November of 2002, five
months before the Iraq "war" started, to warn our
nation about the neocons
plans for war, and about the VERY
un-Constitutional, and
VERY UN-Patriotic USA PATRIOT Act....we talked about
how the neocons were
going to use the horror of 9-11 to promote a war
against people that had
nothing to with September 11th.
We were here again on
January 19th, 2003 to tell this part of the country
that an illegal war was
imminent. And then, after months and months of
organizing and demonstrating,
we were here on February 15th, 2003, joining
10 to 15 million people
all around the world, to encourage our nation to SAY
NO to this racist, costly,
and unnecessary war.
So here in south Louisiana,
we did our duty as citizens to stand up in
opposition. At the same
time that all of our anti-war activities were being
organized and executed,
King Curious George and his mighty round-table of
neocon fundamentalists
were traveling around the country, spreading hateful
propaganda, and lying
about an imminent threat from Iraq and Saddam Hussein.
Which brings us to where
we are today...
Our founding fathers
gave us a Constitution. In our Constitution, they wrote
the "Bill Of Rights",
which is the backbone of our nation...and since the
birth of our nation,
hundreds of thousands of men and women have sacrificed
their lives in "war-time"
and in "peace time", over the principles of that
Constitution and the
Bill Of Rights. The principles of our Constitution is
WHY they were willing
to sacrifice their lives for this nation, regardless
of the actions of the
non-bleeding politicians.
This "war",
and the USA PATRIOT Act, does nothing but dishonor those heroic
sacrifices.
We speak a different
language than the right wing, and we see a different
reality, and 55,000,000
of us said so on November 2nd.
We DO NOT see "freedom"
and "democracy" in the illegal invasion of Iraq and
the killing of tens of
thousands of it's completely innocent citizens.
George Bush does. We
see racism, murder, and waste.
We DO NOT see the politicians
abiding by the oaths they took to obey the
Constitution. The neocons
and republicans do.
WE DO NOT see "patriotism"
in the USA PATRIOT Act, rather we see a complete
perversion of everything the Bill Of Rights stands for in, the USA PATRIOT
Act.
The neocons don't care. The republican electorate stand in silence.
WE DO NOT think "supporting
our troops" is achieved by sticking yellow
magnets on our cars,
as we send those same troops to a land where THEY are
the enemy and where THEY
are killing and dying for nothing but the greed of
the people in the White
House, and their friends. The neocons and
republicans don't understand
that the BEST WAY to "support our troops" is to
keep them from dying,
or from going insane, due to being forced to be a part
of an unjust war.
WE DO NOT think that
LOVE should be based on biblical interpretations,
rather we believe that
ALL MEN AND WOMEN ARE CREATED EQUAL,
and deserve equal treatment under the law, and in LOVE.
WE DO NOT think that
"free speech" can occur in "free speech zones", as the
republicans and neocons
do.
We DO NOT think that
the Geneva Convention is "obsolete"or "trivial" as the
republican right wing
says, and shows by their appointment for Attorney
General,a man that stated
as much.
WE DO NOT think torture
is a value of the United States... the neocon's
think it's OK, for "terrorists"
or "insurgents". without realizing that some
of our guys get captured
too, and their capturers consider them as
terrorists as invaders.
WE DO NOT think that
the separation of church and state is a trivial matter,
and we DO NOT think that
it is all right for King Curious George to hold
bible study groups in
the White House, or to make public statements saying
that "god"
is directing him in his "war".... The republicans think this is
a
"christian nation",
when it most definetly is not! It is a nation of ALL
religions, or no religion
at all if you like.
We mourn the senseless
violence that a small group of corrupt politicians
and corporations have
committed as our representatives to the world, simply
to steal the natural
resources of another nation....and we mourn the death
of our beloved Constitution,
as our children kill and die a senseless death
in the desert of some
far away land.
Those reasons and more,
are why we are here today. To mourn not for
ourselves, , rather to
mourn the loss of the dreams of our
forefathers...their dreams
of civil liberties for every man, woman, and
child in our nation,
liberties that were supposed to be a birth rite.
I stand here today ashamed
of what is being done BY my country, because of
the USA PATRIOT Act,
as our civil liberties are taken away, and I am ashamed
of what this Administration
is doing abroad in the Middle East, and even to
our allies, and because
of our shameful "aggressive-preventive-war" against
a nation that had done
NOTHING to us or our nation,militarily, before our
illegal invasion.
Our country is being
ruled by men and women that are making a "mockery of
democracy" and a
joke of the Bill Of Rights.
So today we mourn the
death of democracy as WE see it.....and tomorrow we
will continue to fight
on to try and save our nation.
Thank you and...PEACE!
Ward Reilly
Where Were You?
A vetern's account
of the Jazz Funeral
by Dennis Kyne
Mindfully.org
22jan2005
Red eyed flight was the
cheap way to get out of San Jose, California to Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
I showed up the morning of MLK's birthday, red eyed, where my pal Ward picked
me up. Ward was a volunteer infantryman who served with a Ranger infantry
unit during the Vietnam war era. I was his house guest, and he was my guide
as we set forth on a week of peaceful journey of expressing our dissent
at the madness going on in the world. I had been to Baton Rouge before,
Southern University more specifically, where I took home a trophy for placing
first at the Mardi Gras debate tournament of 1994. We won it in the finals
against a tough team from Moorehouse, it put San Jose State in the rankings
for the first time in years, I always wanted to get back to Red Stick. This
day I showed up in Red Stick red eyed, but I was ready for two of the biggest
days of the year.
Monday, the 17th the
United States celebrated Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday. It is a national
holiday, yes, but not everybody gets the day off. Baton Rouge's Advocate
stated that the percentage of employers who would give a paid holiday in
the year 2005 to be 26%, down from 30% in 2003.
Ward and I took off early
to get to New Orleans and get our place in the parade with the local anti
war coalition C3. We got their early enough to meet up with Buddy Spell
and his wife Annie for the free coffee and found our place in the march
at number 32. Buddy, a criminal defense lawyer, had been following my malicious
prosecution and after I got done unloading about how racist New York was,
he gave it right back to me about the neighborhood we were standing in and
some of the other parishes. "Annie," he told me, "took me
to a football game where the stands are separated at the 35 yard line with
chain link. In the middle white people sit, on one side the students sit,
and the other side the black people sit." I dropped my jaw, and he
followed up with, "they are still burning crosses around here."
I remember being told all this before, I had been here before.
Here I was again, we
got rid of slavery but not racism. We set off on a march that went straight
through the 8th Ward of New Orleans and ended at the Congo square in the
Louis Armstrong Park. I was in tears before we even hit the pick up spot
in 8th ward, which is where the high school bands were filing in to meet
up with the parade. In spot 31 of the parade was Louis Farrakhan's Muslim
Nation. It was an honor to march behind them, as MLK wrote in the Letter
From a Birmingham Jail, "tension in society that will help men rise
from the dark depths of prejudice and racism to the majestic heights of
understanding and brother hood." What better place for a group of white
anti war folks than behind a group of black anti colonialists to prove that
the depths of prejudice must be broken for us to gain ground on the real
enemy. Sadly, we were the only white group there. I did not see any white
churches, white high schools, white politicians, f*&^% I only saw twenty
white people on the side of the road in attendance of the parade.
OK, business only gave
26% of the people off paid, but there are many unaccounted for white people
who got the day off from school and government jobs. There is 74% of the
population who could have taken the day off unpaid. Unpaid is totally un-American
so they could have done it the American way, called in sick and went to
the Parade instead of the baseball game. Companies give employers money
plus time to celebrate Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny, people are steadily
cheating more days out of the broken system, and I was one of forty white
people parading in front of a crowd of thousands that had twenty white people
in it. In 1963 MLK lead the largest march ever on Washington for which he
later was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. We were marching for a Nobel Peace
Prize winner in a time of war, there weren't enough white people there,
where were you?
If you had been with
us, you would have heard the people on the streets yell. "George Bush
Sucks," It was great, Ward reminded them often that we, "said
yes to King's dream and no to Bush's nightmare." Thank you New Orleans
and the residents of the 8th ward for having us in your neighborhood to
celebrate a hero.
I had a minute to ponder
the event, the funeral for democracy we would attend back in New Orleans
was a couple of days away. I emailed out a brief note of my experience and
the racism that I see permeating our society. In return I was contacted
by a minister who said racism is a direct result of Darwin's selection theory,
another who said the arctic was 99.9 % white and the most livable place
going right now. Here I was again, we ended slavery and racism perpetuates
the stigma of racism, so these good white folks advocate segregation. You
can't argue with intellectual segregation, I wouldn't want to be anywhere
near the folks who are bombarding me with garbage like this. Borrowed opinions
from bigots and fascists have lead these people to believe that the color
of somebody's skin has something to do with the content of their character.
I know the people who emailed me these remarks, since kid hood, and what
has happened is the content of their character is in question with me. They
are advocating segregation, and they have left me advocating it too. I am
in support of taking people who espouse these thoughts and giving them a
place to live, somewhere near the arctic, telling them they are not welcome
in the melting pot of the world.
Back to the melting pot,
New Orleans we went, Ward's wife Melissa came with us on the early morning
drive back to Congo square where the first Jazz Funeral for democracy was
happening. While we were getting warmed up, Washington D.C. was buried in
snow welcoming Dubya Mass Destruction into office a second time. New Orleans
Police Officers enforced democracy this day. Unlike the cities I have been
to before, San Francisco to New York; These officers did not have gas masks
on, or big Nazi looking helmets with protective face guards, huge batons
or bottles of pepper spray, nor rifles loaded with wooden or plastic bullets
to shoot at us. Congo Square was filled up and the local bands were warming
up, the people had come from Olympia, Washington; Madison, Wisconsin; Boston,
New York, California.
Kathy Kelly came in from
Chicago and the master of ceremonies was a United States Army Command Sergeant
Major, retired. I stepped off the square in the first line, walking with
Buddy and his wife, who had been very instrumental in getting this funeral
organized. Surrounded by family we bumped down the French Quarter to Andrew
Jackson Square. It was an incredibly fun journey, and I would ask the city
of New Orleans to host one monthly, and I would encourage everyone in the
world to attend. I am a different person for having this experience. It
was a traditional yet not miserable way to mourn the loss of something.
We have lost much in the last four years, we have nothing to celebrate except
the death of many people and the death of democracy. I am encouraging everyone
to mourn; The days of the constitutional republic are over.
We got to Jackson Square,
and before the beautiful St Louis Cathedral the police shut down the entire
street for us. This had not been in the original plan, but because the turnout
had been greater than expected, they gave us the room we needed. I can't
say with omnipotence that this would never happen in any other city, please
show me if you can. They said they were accommodating us, I say they hate
Bushocchio in New Orleans.
Bob Smith has multiple
combat tours under his belt, he retired as a Combat Sergeant Major, the
highest enlisted rank one can attain. Bob Smith, a military hero, gave me
a hero's introduction. I flashed the peace sign, that sometimes gets confused
by media people covering the war as a victory symbol. Telling the crowd
that this administrationŐs version of democracy had failed me at the Republican
National Convention, failed me in the court system following my arrest at
the convention I lead them in to four failures that affected us all.
1) Your vote has to count.
I got applause, and didn't
have to spend much time explaining.
2) You are entitled to
a fair and impartial jury of your peers.
I did not have to spend
much time here either, Wilbert Rideau, a black Louisiana resident was in
the head lines all week because he finally had gotten a righteous jury forty
years after his arrest
3) You have to foster
a middle class to foster democracy which hasn't happened in decades
4) You have to foster
dialogue to foster democracy Another absent event in america
It was a quick speech,
followed by the most remarkable activist I have met in a long time. Bob
introduced a thirteen year old young, Avery Friend next. Avery was hassled
by the police when she stood protest against this maddening war. Avery stood
for her right to express, her right to speak freely and it turns out some
bully officer wanted to march her off the street. Avery wasn't having any
of it and I got to hear the story at the funeral. A wonderful example of
what it is going to take for us to effect change. Avery's mother was there,
the community has supported her and she has continued to send the message
that our youth have a voice and sense of purpose in this crisis also. Myself,
twenty two years older, admire Avery. Admiration, such an obsolete feeling,
found me that day in Jackson Square. Kathy Kelly, whom I have been an admirer
of since 1992, after I returned from Desert Storm, spoke as well. I admire
her articulate and passionate objections to the first Gulf War. Sun set
on Andrew Jackson's statue, we headed off to the street party, it was obvious
our Jazz Funeral for Democracy doubled as a Peace March. A protest against
everything about this horrible nightmare we are living.
You can't tell me this
is the america my elders promised me when I was young. Heck it isn't even
the america promised the people who are young, like Avery Friend. For goodness
sakes, it isn't even the america that George Bush says it is. I take from
King's letter one more time when he says, "Just as Socrates felt that
it was necessary to create a tension in the mind so that individuals could
rise from the bondage of myths and half-truths to the unfettered realm of
creative analysis and objective appraisal." I take from it once again
in recognition that we are being lied to and it is necessary to do something
about it. To rise from the bondage of these lies you have to be present
and participate. I am asking again, "where were you?" If you were
with us you would have met Avery Friend and Kathy Kelly, my heroines.
January 23, 2005 - page created by Charlie Jenks