The Air and Water Show on Chicago’s Lakeshore
It was a spectacularly beautiful day at
the Lakeshore---not too hot nor too cold or rainy, a perfect day for a family
outing and picnic. Thousands of people came to see the show of planes racing in
formation, dipping and diving. It was breath taking because it is beautiful and
it is also awful because these planes are used to kill people. Our collective presence and actions had to
reflect both of these truths.
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| Protest Chaplains--Rev. Luis Alvarenga, Quaker Elder Mark McGinnis, and Megan Trimm also from FOR, join Rev. Taighen Leighton from Chicago Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and Jay Becker from World Can't Wait in front of our prayer banner |
We had two teams of accompaniment. One
stayed up near the drone replica and passed out flyers, encouraged people to
write out prayers for peace, and engaged in dialogue while the other team went
onto the beach with the Occupy Chicago group to offer a protective presence in case there was hostility from either the
folks on the beach or from the police.
According to Pastor Dan Dale from
Wellington who was part of the beach accompaniment team, the folks at the beach
were not as hostile as they have been in years past. In fact everyone agreed
that not only were they less hostile but that they also sometimes even
welcoming--- some even applauded at the end of the die-in performances and
thanked us for coming. But there were also rude and loud comments and drunken
chants, “USA, USA, USA” and “Hippies go home” or “Leave it if you don’t like
it.”
It’s always interesting to me that peace
stirs up such anger and fear. As we wove in and out of large groups of
sunbathers and families, I felt we were in the belly of the beast of America’s
idolatry and love affair with war. Our invitation to know that the sound and
sight of these planes signal danger and destruction in other countries where
over 3,000 people have died in US/NATO wars was troubling news for those who
could hear it. After each performance, The Occupiers thanked the people for
listening.While some of us were on the beach, others were passing out our wonderful handout near the entrance to the bridge or near the drone replica. Here is a copy of the full text of the brochure we handed out:
Wake Up! The
Morality or Immorality of Drone Killing (our contribution)
Other Chaplains worked with Megan and
the FOR team in the making of peace prayers for our dove peace flag. Here is
Meghan with the beginning of our collective prayer for peace.
And near the peace flag were the Buddhists meditating for peace. Their peaceful presence reminded us all that it is not enough just to be anti-war but that we also need to learn how to be and live in peace.
I end with these words from Joe Scarry
from No Drones Illinois about why we were there.
We were there to supply the
missing part of the military spectacle: the drones that have become the
workhorse of U.S. killing and aggression around the world.
We were there to remind people that warplanes are not entertainment: they
stand for death.
We were there to prove that there ARE people
who have woken up and are asking questions about the invasions and attacks and
surveillance that are being carried out in our name, and that more
people need to start asking these questions.
We were there to show that it's time for us
to get out of our comfortable houses and out into the streets to challenge the
status quo.
Late Saturday night a Occupy Chicago participant
emailed to say she was glad to have been able to join in the action because her
dad had been exposed to Agent Orange in the Viet Nam war. This made me realize
we were there also for all our soldiers--- past and present, who are and have
been put in “harm’s way” by these endless wars.
Lastly, we wish to give our deepest thanks and blessings to the many individuals and groups who supported this action, including:
Pakistan Federation of America Chicago
(USA)
We also give thanks for those
individuals and families who took our handouts, engaged in dialogue with us, expressed
their gratitude for our presence or message, a who took our flyers about
anti-recruitment and read them. We also
hold in the light those who are still struggling with how to love our country
but not it’s war making ways or who don’t know how yet to be Peace Patriots.
And lastly, we give thanks to the
children who were fascinated by our drone replica but also willing to listen to
hear how they are used to hurt or kill people. My prayer is that a seed was
planted in them, our future generation.
Here are some more pictures
to give you a flavor of the day.
Here is a video of the action on the beach
Here is a video of the action on the beach
For more information about Protest
Chaplains of Chicago visit our facebook page for upcoming actions and articles
about drones Protest
Chaplains Chicago or our new blog about the dangers of drone warfare
and surveillance at http://awaketodrones.blogspot.com/
See video of the Occupy Chicago die in here at http://vimeo.com/47830311/
