On Saturday August 20, 2005 I attended one of the Bring Our Troops Home! demonstrations. It was quite a delightful group of people, young and old. There were all sorts of signs with slogans that ranged from simply “PEACE!” to the more complex one someone handed me: “OUR TROOPS DIE WHILE BU$H’$ BUDDIE$ GET RICH.” I was really moved to see people of different ages with different backgrounds and lifestyles joining together for the same cause.

When I first arrived, I was welcomed by two older ladies. One was an activist dating back to the Vietnam war. She tried to make me feel at home, telling me about how she felt about the war, and joining me in screaming at the people who were heckling us. The other lady was had a slightly different reason for being there. She said, “I’m just making up for not protesting during Vietnam. I really thought the government knew what it was doing.” These two very energetic, aware citizens were the people I talked to the most.

There were a lot of people driving by who honked or gave us the “thumbs up” in approval. At one point, a group of guys on Chopper motorcycles just stopped dead in the road. Immediately after stopping one of the guys screamed, “When Clinton lied, no one died!” Then they revved up their engines and sped off. That got a hysterical laugh from all of us at the demonstration. But of course not everyone was as nice as the bikers. A lot of people screamed at us, gave us the finger, and even threw in a little racism.

The first example of hatred came from a guy driving a new SUV. He drove right by me, rolled down his window just enough so I could see his face, made eye contact with me, and then yelled, "FUCK YOU!" I turned it right back at him and said, " Well fuck you too!" (to show him I wasn’t offended).

Then a carload of boys drove by, saying, "Fuck you guys — we need to stay over there and kill all of the sand niggers!" That’s when I did get a bit offended. Those boys proved something to me, though. Oil isn’t the only reason we are in Iraq: it's also because rich white men are scared of something different. "The War Against Terrorism" actually supports the worst form of terrorism — racism. I never really feel bad at demonstrations, but this one certainly broadened my view of the war.

I was very moved by the enthusiasm of the group of people I spent two hours with. I think I will attend these demonstrations every chance I get. And hey, maybe my article moved you enough to get out of bed at 10:00 a.m. and come down to demonstrate with us on the third Saturday of every month at the Bridge of Lions. Maybe you will have as good an experience as I did. It will be a long hard road, but maybe activists around the world can stop this war. There is no way to find out unless we try!