An Exhibition of the Human Cost on the Iraq War

http://www.afsc.org/eyes/

Eyes Wide Open State Exhibit News

May 2008

Photo: Noah Berger

Dear Eyes Wide Open supporter, EWO and Cost of War coordinators around the country have been working hard this spring, organizing events around the 4000th military death, Tax Day and Memorial Day, in addition to their usual schedule.  And with summer approaching we know that our message about the human and economic cost of war will reach hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people in our 47 locations. Just last week we had a great EWO/CoW coordinators conference call with 30 people including AFSC staff and volunteers from all across the country including Alaska, Arkansas, Idaho, Hawaii, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Oregon, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Georgia, California, New York, Oklahoma, Alabama, Kansas, Rhode Island, and Minnesota.  Many others couldn't join but stand with us as we work to end this war.  The energy and ideas that the EWO/CoW coordinators bring to the work help it succeed in each particular location and without a doubt make us more than the sum of our parts.  Thanks so much for all your hard work and let us know what we can do to support you.  I leave you with this haunting image from the 4000th US Military Death memorial in San Francisco. Wage Peace, Mary Zerkel for the Eyes Wide Open/Cost of War team

Cost of War Goes to School

By Darlene Gramigna, Chicago Truth in Recruitment Program Director and Jill Doub, EWO/CoW Illinois Coordinator

Since January 2008, the Cost of War exhibit has traveled to several public schools in the Chicago area. In both elementary and high schools, students learned about the exhibit through the eyes of Marin Luther King Jr's opposition the the war in Vietnam and his view that money should be spent feeding, housing and clothing people instead.  We ask students to ponder the question "What would Martin Luther King Jr. do today?" through panel discussions, schoolwide assemblies and classroom presentations. We have added a penny poll so that students can vote on how they would spend their tax dollars in their community. At some high schools we set up the exhibit in the cafeteria with AFSC staff and volunteers for a week. At the end of the week we posted the results of the poll. Students invariably vote for money to be spent on health, education, the environment or housing rather than the military.  In addition, the Defund/Refund petition has been popular with high school students. As we bring the message of the economic cost of the war to schools across Chicagoland, we don't forget to talk about the human cost as well.  We have had a panel speak to social studies classes on the Human Cost of the war. The panel consisted of an Iraq war vet, a mother of a soldier currently serving in Iraq and a psychologist who works closely with Iraq vets.   And whenever we bring EWO to a high school we realize how important it is to have young people reflect upon the human cost.  Says one student in a Chicago suburb, "It hit me hard and made me realize how crazy war really is.  It's seriously so pointless in my eyes, and I think it's truly pathetic that our world isn't mature enough to figure out a different way of solving things."

Debut Florida EWO Exhibit: initially met with difficulty and resistance, but eventually wins support of vets and families

By Vicki Impoco, EWO Florida Coordinator

On March 15, local peace activists hosted Florida's first EWO Florida exhibit in Satellite Beach, a very prowar and military community. Knowing the political climate here and the difficulties the National EWO exhibit experienced getting permits in Florida, I decided to rent a public facility as an individual.

Despite advertising the exhibit as a solemn memorial and not a protest, the Mayor and Satellite Beach City Council were inundated with inquiries and complaints that they would allow such an event on public property. Due to repeated attempts of intimidation by the council, it was necessary for me to consult with the ACLU throughout the planning process and eventually have an ACLU observer at the event.

Florida volunteers

We were hoping to avoid disruption of our event by counter-protesters, and we used great sensitivity with all aspects of planning. All families of the Brevard county fallen were contacted about the exhibit weeks ahead of time. Several attended and brought personal memorial items. One family who had requested their son's name be removed from the exhibit changed their minds. We replaced the "name removed" tag with a tag bearing his name. All the families were grateful.

Over 45 volunteers dressed in black supported the exhibit, maintaining a peaceful presence throughout the day. We decided that no speakers were necessary. The boots and Iraqi civilian shoes were our statement along with the reading of the names of the Florida fallen.

The exhibit was attended by many local veterans who I believe originally intended to protest. All were moved by the display and openly wept. One Vietnam Vet (a frequent counter-protester at our other vigils) came back in his honor guard uniform and presented me with a Vietnam Veterans pin.

There were many poignant moments, but two stand out in my mind and moved many of us to tears. The first moment was seeing 6 year-old William Deem finding his father's boots. The second was the arrival of Iraq Veteran SGT. Russ Makek (double amputee, burn and traumatic head injury), who struggled with his walker to find the boots of three comrades who were killed in an IED tank explosion. Russ has expressive aphasia and sobbed during the reading of the names. His father later thanked us, stating that the experience was a healing one for Russ.

We were successful in opening the eyes of members of our community (even those that support the war) to the human cost of this war.

Eyes Wide Open Expands to Indiana

By Erin Polley, EWO/COW Program Associate and EWO Indiana Coordinator

A couple of months ago I decided I needed to return to my roots and bring our message about the human and economic cost of war to my homestate, Indiana. I moved to Chicago from Indianapolis when I was 20 years old and before that, I had never been involved with any peace or justice movements in Indiana. I had no idea what the political terrain would be like, but I knew there were at least some Quakers and peace activists throughout the state. I started out meeting with Friends in Indianapolis through the North Meadow Circle of Friends Meeting. They had the experience of displaying the Eyes Wide Open exhibit in September of 2004 and were thrilled to bring the Indiana boots back to Indianapolis. We began reaching out to other Quaker meetings in the city and peace and justice organizations like the Indianapolis Peace and Justice Center. In 2004, the national exhibit was on the Indianapolis Monument Circle with 1500 pairs of boots. For the few days that the exhibit was there, counter-protesters stood in partitioned off areas and protested our memorial. Myself and the other Indianapolis organizers were prepared for them to come again to our memorial, once again on the Monument Circle. As we began advertising the exhibit, we started receiving a lot of support from the community. NUVO, the local free weekly paper ran a free ad for us for weeks leading up to the exhibit and did a story on us to generate interest for volunteers. Congressman Andre Carson came to speak at our press conference and so did several Iraq and Vietnam veterans. For the two days we displayed the 136 Indiana boots on the Circle, we were overwhelmed by people saying thank you, solemn tears and support from the people of Indianapolis. We had no counter-protesters this time around and numerous people stopped and asked us to bring the exhibit to their small towns and communities throughout the state. The experience of doing this exhibit was incredible for me personally. I met Quakers and activists from around the state that I am proud to know and collaborate with. This experience has left me honored to be a Hoosier and doing work in my homestate.

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