CHICAGO — About 30 Northwestern students and a contingent of Evanston residents joined about 2,000 other protesters and braved Saturday’s unseasonable cold to march in opposition of U.S. military action in Iraq.
Protesters jammed streets in the Loop during the protest, which started and ended at Kluczynski Federal Plaza. The march was the Midwest component of a National Day of Action organized by the Campus Antiwar Network, an intercollegiate student organization. Rallies also took place in Washington and Oakland, Calif.
On a street corner one block from the pre-march rally, Weinberg sophomore Ayinde Jean-Baptiste gave advice to a group of students traveling with Northwestern Opposing War and Racism. Jean-Baptiste was one of hundreds of protesters arrested two weeks ago during a demonstration on Lake Shore Drive.
He said there would be a designated route for the march, adding, “If there’s any extra (protesting) after, that’s not what we’re here for.”
Minutes before the march began, Jean-Baptiste took the stage at the rally and addressed the crowd.
“We know that the war on terrorism is being waged on people who have been terrorized by us,” he said.
Jean-Baptiste was introduced by exonerated Illinois death row inmate Aaron Patterson, who was pardoned by former Gov. George Ryan in January, after students at the Medill School of Journalism helped uncover evidence of his innocence. Patterson says he was tortured years ago by Chicago Police Departments detectives until he gave a false confession.
“Let’s march peacefully today, show respect to the policemen,” Patterson said. “Hopefully they’ll show us the same respect.”
More than 200 police officers surrounded protesters during the demonstration. A police spokesman told The Associated Press there were no arrests.
“The amount of security (at the march) was ridiculous,” said Communication sophomore Lucy Madison while riding the El back to Evanston.
The Chicago protest mainly consisted of college and high school students from Wisconsin, Michigan, Indiana and downstate Illinois, as well as NU.
Non-students also showed up, including a bride and groom who stopped by to have their photo taken in front of rows of black-clad, blue-helmeted police.
The All-American Antiwar Marching Band, with faces painted like skeletons, be-bopped “When the Saints Go Marching In.”
And several Evanston residents marched Saturday under the banner of Neighbors for Peace, an area antiwar organization that is subsidizing a bus of Northwestern students bound for a demonstration in Washington on April 12.
“What we do now is going to make a difference,” said Jordan Lome, 55.
About 10 demonstrators supporting the current military action stood along the march route holding signs that urged patriotism and support for the troops, a sentiment echoed by the antiwar speakers and protesters.
“We need to make sure that everyone in the world realizes that the people of the United States do not support the war and believe in international cooperation and solidarity,” said Mateo Hinojosa, a Weinberg sophomore and NOWAR member.
Asked about recent opinion polls finding a majority of Americans in support the war, Hinojosa said polls are easily manipulated.
“More than that,” he said, “people have been lied to.” He added that any suggestion by the Bush administration connecting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to the Sept. 11 attacks is “totally false.”
