VIDEO: Members of Youth Opportunities Speak Out for Peace

Just below the Washington monument in the Mount Vernon neighborhood, a father had gathered his six family members together. With his son he held a sign that read, "I don't want to be a passive victim, I want to be active and try to work for peace. We want peace, we don't want to ask for more."

"Peace Path" was organized by Women in Black, an organization started when women of different faiths and socio-economic backgrounds gathered together in Israel to promote peace. Chapters of Women in Black are located worldwide. To plan the Baltimore demonstration, the local Women in Black chapter collaborated with a student-faculty peace group from Johns Hopkins University and members of the Society of Friends Homewood Meeting.

Diverse groups participated in the Peace Path including the youth development program Youth Opportunities, members of the Communist Party and nuns from the Sisters of Notre Dame.

Demonstrators were most numerous between Johns Hopkins University and Towson.

Members of St. Paul's Lutheran Church of Lutherville gathered on Charles Street near the beltway. This was the first protest ever for congregation member Joan Pugh.

"Jesus said 'Do peace', but many don't understand him," said Pugh. "My faith called me to take a stand for this. I am pro-American and I believe God loves people from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Budapest as well as us."


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Under the Joppa Road bridge on Charles Street four young men and a young woman stood with peace signs and an electric guitar. Members of the punk rock bands Right Wing Thugs and Suburban Trash, they were veterans of Zombies against the War, a Towson protest mounted against the U.S. military action in Afghanistan.

Goucher college faculty and students had prepared banners proclaiming "No War against Iraq" and "Build Bridges, Don't Bomb Them!"

This was the first protest for Goucher freshman Courtney, who only gave her first name because she wasn't sure what her parents would think.

"'The Peace Path' was consistent with my ideas and helped me to be active today, not passive watching the television's version," said Courtney.

Jamie Beran, like Courtney, was there as part of a project for a course on "Art and Practice of Civic Engagement," and said she would also be at the protests against the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in DC on September 28.

"These issues are all connected," she said.

There were about 70 protesters in front of the Retirement House of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, including nuns with walkers and wheel chairs and prep school students.

Marie Slack, activity director at the House, said "we wanted to do something positive today, to be interactive with the neighborhood. The response has been incredible. There have been lots of people honking their horns in support, while no one has been rude at all."

Hundreds lined both sides of the street in front of the Baltimore Friends School and Stony Run Meeting House. Ninth grader Owen Baron carried a sign which simply said "Mir", Russian for peace.

"Two wrongs don't make a right," commented Baron.

For information on Women in Black:
www.womeninblack.net/mission.html