Newspapers / The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.) / Nov. 21, 1969, edition 1 / Page 3
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Page 2 Guilford Students Join Mass Protest By PHIL EDGERTON "Peace -- Now!" "All we are saying is give peace a chance." "1, 2, 3, 4, Tricky Dicky, stop the war!" With these chants, the largest peace demonstration in the his tory of the United States took place in this Nation's Capital. The Washington police estim ated around 250,000 citizens marched on the White House, but people who had seen the Wood stock and other pop festiva 1 crowds expressed the opinioi that the crowd was much larger New Mobilization to End the Wai in Viet Nam (MOBE) officials estimated the flood of people that surrounded the Washington Monument to number over 800,000. GUILFORD REPRESENTED Guilford College was repre sented at the demonstration by at least 50 students and facul ty members. The Guilford dele gation was loosely organized and members left the school at all hours on Thursday and Friday. It was hoped that those partic ipating in the demonstration from Guilford could assemble at a predesignated area and march to gether. However, this effort proved futile due to the con fusion caused by the flood of people in Washington. "Guilfordians" had a variety of arrangements for places to stay in Washington. Severalpeo ple had friends either at homes in the Washington area or at a Washington university with whom they planned to stay. Many Guilford students preferred the nomadic life andarrived in Wash ington with no planned accomo dations. These students had perhaps the most adventurous ex periences. Quaker BY PATTY LYMAN This past weekend saw many Guilford students participating in the New Mobilization. These are some of their comments on it. "I really can't describe it.. It was unreal." - Lucy Tinker "I feel it was tremendously ;uccessful. Even though the size >f the crowd was enormous, the lmost entirely peaceful demon tration truly showed the great oncern of America's youth on the War in Vietnam." - Lynn Griffith "I really think it's the most beautiful thing I've ;ver seen, to get that many people together for one cause. I think it's sad that some people took ad vantage of the situation and caused trou ble, but as a whole, the march was a success." - Mary Ella Tetterton "I ihought it was the most beautiful and intellectually stim ulating class I'd ever been to."- Alan Haines "When I saw a crowd of 10,000 people throwing bricks and run ning a Viet Cong flag up the flag pole of the Justice Dept.-you have to come away with a dif ferent view of America." - John Kuzma "It could have been another Woodstock, if it hadn't been such a serious matter. All sorts of people coming together for one goal. Whether the President noticed it or not, it was sur prising to see so many people coming together for one thing.''- Tod Kight. SLEtP IN CHURCH SANCTUARY One group arrived in Wash ington around 10:00 on Friday night and joined the March A gainst Death which was taking place from Arlington Cemetery to the Capitol. At the end of the march this group rode buses to New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, which served as the central or ganization spot for the North Carolina delegation. There the students met a minister and asked if he had a place for three peo ple to sleep. He replied with a grin, "I havt a place for 30 people tc sleep." The three Guilford students accompanied by a group from Kansas City then proceeded to a church where they spent the night in an unheated sanctuary. Somehow they managed to keep warm. MOBE FINDS ACCOMODATIONS Another group of Guilford stu dents arrived at the Capitol at the ending point of the March Against Death. They joined the march as it swung around the Capitol Building to end with the placing of the names of war dead in coffins. After hearing a MOBE marshal ask if anyone needed a place to stay, these four Guilford students and two other activists came forward. The group followed a jeep out past Arlington into Virginia. Here they spent the night in an apart ment belonging to a group of California "hippies" who had migrated to Washington to live. The "hippies" provided blan kets, mattresses, and even foot for their Moratorium guests. One Quotes PEOPLE CONSIDERATE "People were all very kind, considerate, and patient even though they were standing in the cold for hours. We'd heard it all before - but the impor tant thing was that there were so many people making their stand peacefully with so much concern for the lives of Amer ican and Vietnamese." - Steve Pruett "It was a 'gas'." - name with held "It was a wonderful feeling to see all those people and to know that all of them wanted peace. It makes me feel as if some thing might get done eventual ly." Rick Noonan MOBE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR VIOLENCE "I think the atmosphere was very moving. It should have been clearly stated that alot of the violence couldn't be attributed to the Mobilization." - Liz Reit zel "I have multiple feelings a bout Washington. This weekend focused my attention on several pertinent questions. In what di rection is the New Mobe going? hat effect will the militant con tingencies have ' on all young liberals and the New Mobe? Can the New Mobe maintain its own direction and accomplish its pri mary goals?" -Ned Giberson Over 100 Guilford students took part in the Washington activities. Some were gassed, some came back with colds, and some re turned with altered views. Yet, almost all felt it was an ex perience worth having. THE GUILFORDIAN guest at the apartment had spent Thursday night in the open in a sleeping bag and had awakened to find himself in the midst of snow flurries. Another guest, prior to his host's offer of hos pitality, had planned to spend the night in the Union Bus Terminal pretending to be waiting for a bus SATURDAY MARCH On Saturday morning the mass march began at the 6th Street Mall. A tremendous mass of people waited patiently, some times for more than two hours, to be funneled into Pennsylvania Avenue to march. At 12:00 noon, MOBE officials announced that the march had to end at 12:30 because the parade permit expired at that time. The multitude, many of whom had traveled hundreds of miles to march, immediately burst into the chant, "End the WAR at 12:30!" MOBE officials had no choice but to let everyone march. VARIETY OF PEOPLE MARCH The demonstrators seemed in a happy frame of mind as they stepped off down the street, but there was still a very resolute and determined air to the march as a whole. All kinds of people, including mothers with baby carriages, ministers, long-hairs, short hairs, and even members of "Veterans for Peace" had come from across the nation. Perhaps the most eloquent and touching point was made by a man who carried a sign reading, "My son died in Viet Nam-- Why?" Other signs criticized the President; and the vice-pres ident had his share of criticism. Signs such as, "Stop air pol lution—Gag Agnew!" or "For saie--Used TV--Call Spiro," were evident. As marchers passed TV cam eras, the slogans "Fuck you, Agnew", and "NBC--Spiro T." resounded and the amused cam eramen waved back the tradition al peace sign as if in agree ment. ■ J | I IIH| photo by Sherman WJ 1% r™ 4 pt ifuw j mHm. photo by Willson photo by Willson MARINE SIGNALS PEACE Cheers also went up as a Marine on a balcony guarding the Justice Department waved the peace sign. Someone made the remark, "That guy will prob ably be in Levenworth by to night." Still, the jubilation couJd scarcely mask the uneasiness of many demonstrators over the Marines standing atop the build ings. Sentries surveyed the crowd with binoculars or stood with rifles held across their chests. Anxious glances were also cast at olive drab helicopters which crisscrossed the skies over the demonstrators' heads. WHITE HOUSE HIDDEN BEHIND BUSES After marching past the wall of buses that sealed off the White House, the march ended at the Washington Monument. Here peo ple huddled together on the gras sy slope and listened to speakers and singers who denounced the war from various viewpoints. The speakers included David Dellinger and Abbie Hoffman, who ire two of the "Chicago Eight" on trial for riot conspiracy at the Chicago Convention, Mrs.Co retta King, Peter, Paul, and Mary, Arlo Guthrie, Sen. George McGovern, and others. The rally ended with the de monstrators joining the cast of the musical, "Hair" singing chorus in a chorus of "Let the Sunshine In". JUSTICE DEPT. VIOLENCE Unfortunately, the peace de monstration did not really end on a peaceful note. Shortly After the rally, a group of "Mad Dogs", "Crazies", and "Weath ermen" who are the most "freaked out" of the militants, led an unscheduled march on the Justice Department Building. The fears of the seemingly paranoid marchers were proved somewhat grounded when the op ponents of the "Chicago Eight" Friday, November 21, IW9 trial began throwing paint on walls and smashing windows. Stu Sherman, a GUILFORDIAN photographer, was trapped in a doorway while attempting to get a closeup of the action. As tear gas cannisters were thrown by police, Sherman huddled under a blanket in an attempt to escape the fumes. When police poured from the building to drive back the mili tants and four thousand curious onlookers, Sherman was struck by police wielding nightsticks. Several other Guilford students reported that they were choked by tear gas fumes as they ob served the confrontation. MILITANTS DISPERSED Although police acted quickly and effectively with this unruly outbreak, most people com mended police restraint in handling the potentially danger ous situation. Physical violence was kept to a minimum as police dispersed the militants and onlookers with tear gas. Despite isolated incidents of unruly behavior, relations be tween demonstrators and police were very good. MOBE marshals and demonstrators swapped jokes with police and generally cooper ated with each other. The parade marshals, indistin guishable from the hairy demon strators, both accepted and passed out food along the pa rade route. They linked arms in an effort to keep militants from reach ing the Justice Buildings and shouted, "Cool it!" as the vio lent activists attacked the build ing. The feeling of good will and love was expressed very aptly by one "freaky" demonstrator perched in a tree. He was asked by a person on the ground, "How does it look from up there?" The happy youth replied ecstat ically, "Beautiful! All these peo ple are really beautiful!" photo by Willson
The Guilfordian (Greensboro, N.C.)
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Nov. 21, 1969, edition 1
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