What have you marched for?
Looking at Jasmine’s photos of the “Race for the Cure”, and her photo of the rally to “Save Wilson College” made me appreciate how much my parents’ generation laid the groundwork for the social organizing that routinely happens today. As a young child I remember hearing about the civil rights marches and peace vigils. In high school I helped organize a “walk against hunger” to benefit an impoverished local community, which was still a farily novel concept at the time. Since then I have participated in marches and rallies for a number of political and philanthropic causes. What about you? What have you walked, marched, or rallied for (or against)?
June 6th, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I participated in an AIDS walk in New York in 1988, which was very moving and memorable. I also try to participate every year in the local Susan G. Komen “Race for the Cure”. Such a worthy cause, and a great organization.
June 6th, 2007 at 5:00 pm
The first big event I remember participating in was the Moratorium against the Viet Nam war. I was in high school at the time and joined some other students in walking out of class and down to the university where we sat on the Commons lawn and listened to speakers. I think if either of my children joined in protests for causes they believed in I would be proud of them, even if they got in trouble at school. Around that same time I joined in a very silly protest in front of the local newspaper office–my participation was very tongue-in-cheek because it was a protest against my dad’s drama review of the recent Riverside Centennial pageant. The picketers were folks from the pageant, who came dressed in their costumes. They were angry because my dad’s review, while gentle and positive, included a few mild comments about the fact that much of the pageant came from a canned script that had nothing to do with Riverside, and other minor quibbles. But otherwise he was far more generous than most people would have been. I was part of the pageant, as a narrator, and thought it would be a great joke if I joined the picket line. My dad thought so too, and even made my sign for me. The story and photos made the paper the next day, much to my dad’s glee and my mother’s horror.