Peaceful tradition ActNow July 2009: The Lake St./Marshall Ave. bridge weekly peace vigil marks its 10-year anniversary
Marie Braun. Photo by Kathy Magnuson.
Thoughts on the bridge
"For me it is therapy to hear [supportive car] honks and have people wave. It is heartwarming." - Sandra Joyce
"This is such a small thing to do but it is something. I don't know if it changes anything, but we need to keep speaking out." - Joyce Rudnick
"Does it make a difference? It does to me. It's a good reminder that we don't have peace."- Jan Scofield
"It matters a lot. Other people can see you are speaking out and it might encourage them to speak out too. A lot of people think change can't happen, but..."- Ann Galloway
"I hope it gets the people in these [supportive] honking cars and the cars not honking and those honking in anger to think about peace."- Ashley Weston
"We are so interconnected. My work is with women and children but this reminds me [that peace] is about all women and children, not just the ones I see in my work."- Joanna Flaten
by Kathy Magnuson
"I feel we have a job to do. Our job is to resist, to resist war," said Marie Braun, one of several individuals and groups who started a weekly peace vigil 10 years ago on the Lake Street/Marshall Avenue Bridge over the Mississippi River. It was during the war in Yugoslavia when people from Women Against Military Madness, The Twin Cities Campaign to End Sanctions Against Iraq, a group of Mennonites, individuals from Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, a Buddhist fellowship group and others came together in concern to start the vigil.
"We picked the bridge," Braun said, "because people in Yugoslavia were standing on bridges hoping that they could prevent them from being bombed." The peace advocates stood in solidarity with others on the other side of the world. "When that war ended, we thought we should keep the vigil going." The focus shifted to sanctions against Iraq, torture, attacks on civil liberties and other peace-related issues.
The number of attendees has varied from seven people-on a freezing day in January-to a few thousand, but in 10 years they have never missed a Wednesday. This vigil has been an inspiration to others who started vigils in their own communities across the state of Minnesota and as far away as Sacramento, Calif.
One might wonder why, after all of this time, these vigils continue. "I personally keep coming because we need an ongoing public resistance to war. With that vigil on the bridge each week no one can say the peace movement is dead," Braun said. "I feel like as long as I keep busy and keep doing things, I don't get discouraged. I can do what I can do."
Carole Rydberg of Northwest Neighbors for Peace reflected on the need for the vigil in their suburban Minneapolis neighborhood. "I think of the scene in the documentary, 'Ground Truth' where someone asks a disabled veteran if he had been in an accident. He responds that he was injured in the war in Iraq and the questioner says, 'Oh ... is that still going on?' One reason we vigil is to remind all of our fellow citizens that members of our Minnesota families are continuing to fight and die. Yes, the wars 'are still going on,'" she said.
Do peace vigils make a difference? "I know that change is slow and it takes time," Braun said. "You have to be in it for the long haul. The people who come to the big demonstrations [can sometimes get] discouraged and look at it in terms of [immediate] success," she said, citing Nelson Mandela and the end to the apartheid movement in South Africa, the tearing down of the Berlin Wall in East Germany and the civil rights movement in our own country. "There is change and I have seen change over my lifetime.
"I believe in formation through action," Braun said. "Every time we do something, like coming to the bridge, taking a trip to volunteer or writing a letter to the editor, it changes us in some way. The people who drive by the bridge are touched in some way. The people who have come to the bridge over the years have been touched. It is like a rippling out from the stone dropped in the water. We just don't know how people are touched by this."
IF YOU GO: Peace Vigils Blaine Every Thursday 5-6 p.m. at the intersection of Co. Hwy 10 and University Ave. N.E. (S.E. corner across from Denny's). FFI: 763-574-9615
Burnsville Every Tuesday from 4:30-5:30 p.m. at Burnsville Pkwy. and Nicollet. FFI: 651-454-3850, family4peace@msn.com
Duluth Every Thursday at noon at 408 Superior St. (Army Recruiting Center). Sponsored by: Loaves and Fishes Catholic Worker. FFI: 218-724-2054
Eagan Every Thursday, 4:30-5:30 p.m. at Yankee Doodle and Pilot Knob Roads. FFI: 651-454-3850, family4peace@msn.com
Edina Every Wednesday, 4:45-5:45 p.m. at 50th St. and Halifax (West of France Ave.). Sponsored by: Grandmothers for Peace. FFI: Martha 952-929-1566, Cathy Apostle caquilt51@aol.com
Minneapolis Every Tuesday from 4-5 p.m. at 7th and University Avenues N.E. (park in the St. Boniface Church parking lot). Sponsored by: the St. Boniface Social Justice Committee. FFI: 612-379-2761
Minneapolis Every Wednesday from 5-6 p.m. on the Lake St./Marshall Ave. Bridge over the Mississippi River (Vigil to End the War on Iraq). Sponsored by: The Twin Cities Peace Campaign and WAMM. FFI: 612-827-5364
New Hope Every Tuesday from 4:45-5:45 p.m. at 42nd and Winnetka. Sponsored by: Northwest Neighbors for Peace. FFI: 763-546-5368, nwn4p@yahoo.com, nwn4p.pbworks.com
St. Paul Every Sunday, noon- 1 p.m. at Summit and Snelling Avenues. Sponsored by: Sensible People for Peace. FFI: 651-428-7421
St. Paul Every Friday 4:15-5:30 p.m. at Summit and Snelling Avenues (Vigil to End the Occupation of Palestine). Sponsored by: W.A.M.M. FFI: 612-827-5364
Reader Comments
Posted: Wednesday, July 08, 2009
Article comment by:
Robert Palmer
Thank you covering this peace vigil and listing the others also. The media has a part to play also in keeping people aware of the efforts for peace that are alive in our area.
