Easter In Crawford, Texas

When I signed up with my church to go to Crawford, Texas on April 15 I had no idea of what I would find. I had only head of the Crawford Peace House and had a vague idea of where Camp Casey (Location of Cindy Sheehan's first protest) was. I just knew it was on the road to the Bush compound and that this was where the activism against the Iraq War really took off. 60 other church members and myself boarded a bus and left for Crawford around 9:00am.

After an uneventful ride, we turned down a couple of small farm roads and pulled up at the crossroads that mark the center of Crawford. There, standing in front of a large souvenir shop was a trailer with a plaster 10 Commandments and a fake Liberty Bell. Beside it were about 7 or 8 locals who greeted us with jeers and catcalls. Turning the corner, we arrived at the Peace House, just a block from the center of town.

As we left the bus, we were warmly greeted by a variety of folks who had all come to show their dedication to peace and opposition to the war. I flashed back to my short involvement as a peace activist in the 1970's while I attended Baylor University, just a few miles away. At that time, being against the war got you on an enemy’s list at the campus. Seeing the folks back at the souvenir shop I realized that little had changed, except that there was an institution, just a few miles from Bush headquarters that was an outspoken and visible reminder that not all Texans were screaming bigots.

After a few minutes at the Peace House we boarded the bus and took off for Camp Casey II, the relocated continued protest to the war. Here my first impression of the scene reminded me more of a group of aging hippies and assorted ren-fair refugees. That changed once I got my bearings. Though there were the usual assortment of drum circle folks and a few wide eyed youth selling copies of the Socialist Worker newspaper, I found many more people who like myself came because something drove them there. They had been moved by the injustice and madness of the war and felt they had to do something now. These people were sincere and motivated and doing whatever they could to organize their power.

I met veterans of the war, mothers of soldiers, local Crawford residents, and activists from all across the country and beyond. They were all highly motivated people who were determined to carry the message of peace back to their communities.

The rally began with an opening speech by the Dean of our church, Rev. Michael Piazza. His message of peace was related to the Easter observance, but his words motivated the crowd and brought several spontaneous outbursts of applause and cheers. He was interrupted by a large contingent of motorcycle riders gunning their bikes and making a racket, but continued on to finish with a standing ovation from the group.

I knew that Cindy Sheehan, the woman who had started Camp Casey, would be on hand to speak, and I was looking for a gaggle of reporters and handlers who would undoubtedly surround her when she arrived. After Rev Piazza finished, the MC, Ann Wright , former state department official and Ambassador to Afghanistan and Mongolia. She introduced the woman whose insistence that President Bush explain why her son died and who began this movement, Cindy Sheehan. I looked around for a car to arrive or other commotion, when the woman seated next to me stood and made her way to the stage. I had been seated next to Cindy and didn’t even know it.

She spoke with simple elegance and no pretense whatsoever. I was amazed. I had expected some sort of spin managed media hog and what I found was the real deal. A true kitchen table activist! What followed was a parade of speakers, all sincere and genuine as Cindy.
As I was milling around and chatting with people, the man next to me was asked for an autograph. I looked at him more closely and recognized that it was a much older Dr. Daniel Ellsberg the man who leaked the Pentagon Papers during the Vietnam War. Here was a famous peace activist, just milling around with everyone else, trying to do whatever he could to stop another unjust war.

At the end of the afternoon, Ann introduced Rev. Dr. Joseph Lowery, one of the founders of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the organization that Martin Luther King is identified with. He was also the only person with enough spirit to speak truth to power at the recent funeral of Coretta Scot King, when he turned to President Bush and the three other living former presidents and said, "We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there [standing ovation]... but Coretta knew and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war billions more but no more for the poor."

By the end of the day, I was reinvigorated to do whatever I can to stop this war and bring the people who lied us into it to justice. As we left Camp Casey II, I walked through the rows of crosses, planted by the families of the servicemen and women who have died in Iraq and I prayed that no more Americans or Iraqi’s would be killed or maimed by the war profit machine that has hijacked our country. Before our bus pulled out, Rev. Lowery climbed on to give us a farewell and a blessing.

All in all it was a surprising, invigorating and memorable way to begin the Easter Weekend. How better to celebrate the living Christ than by standing with hundreds of others to affirm peace and demand justice?