Civil Rights Leader Boosts War Protesters - Easter at Camp Casey

Civil Rights Leader Boosts War Protesters

By ANGELA K. BROWN, Associated Press

The Rev. Joseph Lowery on Sunday urged war protesters camping near President Bush's ranch to keep working for peace.

Lowery, 84, who co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., spoke at a sunrise interfaith Easter Sunday service.

Lowery said after the service that he sees many parallels between the civil rights movement and the peace movement, and so he decided to miss a traditional Easter church service for the first time.

"Being out here in nature with people struggling for peace and justice, in the shadow of the president's ranch, what better place could there be to celebrate Easter?" he said. "Hope is alive in this place."

Lowery spoke on the last day of the group's third protest in less than a year near Bush's ranch. Bush spent the holiday at Camp David, his first Easter away from the ranch since he was elected.

Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son, Casey, died in Iraq in 2004, started protesting in ditches off the two-lane road leading to Bush's ranch in August during his working vacation.

The vigil attracted thousands of fellow demonstrators and grew to a second, larger camp on a private lot where the group returned for a Thanksgiving week protest and the Easter week activities.

The peace vigil also drew scores of counter protests by Bush supporters who said Sheehan was disgracing fallen soldiers and hurting troop morale.

But Sheehan, who plans to return to Crawford in August, said she believes the anti-war demonstrations have made a difference.

"I feel we have come so far, and everything that's happened is validating what we started in August," she said Sunday. "But we can't rest."

Uniting for Peace and Justice
By Scott Galindez

Sunday 16 April 2006

As Easter at Camp Casey comes to a close, the overarching theme is Unity. The lesson learned at Camp Casey this week is that policies of the Bush Administration effect more than just the soldiers and their families. Of course, they are feeling more than their share of the pain.

As Dr. Lowery told the faithful at Camp Casey, "The war supporters are the same people who are racist, sexist, anti-environment, and homophobic." He went on to say that our movements cannot be fragmented. Together we can redeem the "Soul of America."

The buzz around camp yesterday was a July 4th take-our-country-back march on Washington. It is too early to know for sure what will happen, but we will let you know the details as soon as we get a clearer picture.

I'm off to the Anniversary celebration at the Crawford Peace House ... more video of the past few days will be coming online over the next few days.

VIDEO

Dr. Joseph Lowery: The Soul of America A Film by Scott Galindez Dr. Joseph Lowery co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Dr. Lowery is concerned about the "Soul of America." He told those gathered at Camp Casey that they were the "Salt of the Earth" and they would be the ones to redeem America.