As the noon hour approached last Wednesday, the VCU community could hear slogans such as Impeach. . .Anti-war. . .No War. . .Peace.
One of those voices belonged to Preston Duncan, a volunteer for the Activist Coffee Shop on Cary Street, who heard about a nationwide war protest sponsored by World Can’t Wait while in Washington, D.C., and decided to organize one in Monroe Park.
“November 2 is supposed to be a mass organization nationwide and different actions are being performed in different cities, so I figured me and some friends would get something together for Richmond,” Duncan said.
The WCW organization designated Nov.2 as “No School, No Work-The Call to Drive Out the Bush Regime.”
Duncan may have heard about a rally while in D.C., but the group not only sponsored one there and in Richmond, but also three others in Virginia including Norfolk, Hampton and Lexington.
“I came out because I am anti-war, and I am disgusted with the (Bush) administration. I think it is going to go down as the most scandalous administration in history,” said Sara Duke, VCU senior at the Monroe Park rally in Richmond. “I really appreciate the opportunity to call attention to the Bush administration policy and the scandals around the policy.”
About half of the protesters at the Monroe Park rally were VCU students, while members of the Richmond community represented the other half.
Although the rally gave people the opportunity to call attention to the Bush administration, Duncan has even more motives for supporting the WCW organization.
“I want to spread consciousness of the true nature of the American government and try to motivate people to move to future actions,” Duncan said, explaining his reasons for organizing this rally.
Jeremy Kidd, a VCU senior majoring in biology and religious studies, said the protest became more than just bashing the Bush administration, the American government and the war in Iraq.
His purpose for coming out was “to draw attention to educate people about the issues because some people just do not know because they have been fed things by the media in a kind of bias manner,” he said.
Duke further elaborated about how students get caught up in school and their surroundings and do not really think about the importance of public policy.
Laura Halperin, a friend of Duncan’s who also volunteers at the Activist Coffee Shop, constructed a dragon as a mascot for the rally.
“We really just made a dragon because we thought it was funny,” she said. “It’s the dragon that will eat Dick Cheney.”
Halperin said the dragon took six hours to make, and it still was not even finished.
“We were going to make a poster saying ‘I eat kittens’ with Dick Cheney holding it, and George Bush holding a liquor bottle on the other side,” she said.
Even with the dragon, signs, music and fliers, the rally attracted only a few people.
“I have been to a lot of rallies, and this is the smallest one I ever have been to,” said Paul Searborough of Richmond.
About a dozen people eventually came and went from noon to 1 p.m. Some VCU students stopped, looked and continued walking or started talking to some of the protesters. Others just walked by.
Still many protestors communicated with rally participants.
“I think most people (here) want to form a group and community for Richmond and VCU to build up a larger movement rather than just a little corner of the park,” Searborough said.
Tess von Geczy, a VCU junior double-majoring in international studies and French, said she is forming a campus anti-war network.
“There needs to be more events like this going on to raise awareness,” von Geczy said. “We want to work more rallies like this and try to get students (to be) more outspoken.”