• • • • Granny Peace Brigade • • • •

DIPLOMACY NOT WAR WITH IRAN

On the day after September 11 we’re pledged to get US troops out of the Middle East, and glad to feel the responsive vibe down by New York’s City Hall.

Six Grannies and Owen are engaged in a phonathon.  People step up to learn more about our focus of the day: H Con Res 362.

Phyllis’ signs are in full view: “Wall of Shame: these Congressional Representatives are trying to drag us into another WAR.” And the list of New York reps threatening war on Iran with H Con Res 362:

Sponsor:
Gary Ackerman (NY 24)

Cosponsors:
Michael Arcuri (NY 24)
Timothy Bishop ( NY1)
Joseph Crowley (NY7)
Eliot Engel (NY17)
Vito Fossella (NY13)
Kirsten Gillibrand (NY20)
Brian Higgins (NY 27)
Steve Israel (NY 2)
Peter T. King (NY 3)
John R. Kuhl (NY 29)
Nita Lowey (NY 18)
Michael McNulty (NY 21)
Carolyn Maloney (NY 14)
Carolyn McCarthy (NY 4)
John McHugh (NY 23)
Thomas Reynolds (NY 26)
Louise Slaughter (NY 28)
Edolphus Towns (NY 10)
Anthony Weiner (NY 9)

Sad to add, there’s an addition to the list this week: John Hall (NY 19)

Learning of the threatening nature of the resolution, longing for an end to wars, voters take our phones and info, make calls, let their representatives hear the message loud and clear:

NO to H Con Res 362. YES to negotiation with Iran. Support HR 5056, the Iran Diplomatic Accountability Act

Some highlights:
Erica is registered in Ohio where she’s a student at Oberlin.  She asks how her representative stands on H Con Res 362.

The staffer says she’ll have to call Erica back.  We hear that a lot of the people who signed this timebomb of a resolution haven’t even read it. However, when Erica looks up Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur in Thomas.gov, she’ll find that she has NOT signed, and can thank her for that and encourage her to sign HR 5056.  Big support for diplomacy with Iran.

A woman on her way into the park comments, “No More Wars, I agree” then shows the button she’s wearing: “Parent US Army”  A young woman who works with the Federation of Senior Citizens salutes us: “I’ve bookmarked your website!”  People pick up Voter Registration forms.

A man harangues us as Lillian, Corinne and Eva-Lee sing a couple of Raging Grannies and their Daughters songs,  He shouts “you hate your country!”  No dialogue here.  This happens sometimes.

High up in the Woolworth Building three suits minus jackets look down at the scene by the gate to City Hall Park. Eventually the three observers from the Woolworth Building descend.  One asks Eva-Lee, “These elderly women, are they here voluntarily?  She responds, “What do you think?”  He says, “Maybe someone brought them here from a senior center.”

Caroline, identified as a recent visitor to Iran with FOR,  hangs in with the one who insists: “If Iran develops a Nuclear weapon, Iran will bomb Israel.” Caroline takes a deep breath. (Where do you begin? Here’s a start)  “If any of the six nations with nuclear weapons employ them what will be the result? What would be the most effective way of encouraging Iran not to become the 7th nation? How about some stepping up on disarmament?” He responds, “The US has eliminated 2/3 of its nuclear stockpile.”  “That leaves quite a big pile, but how do you know?”  To Caroline’s amazement, the questioner says that he works for a  company that destroys weapons for the US government. He says his company eliminated the US stockpile of poison gas. “That’s wonderful!” says Caroline. “Weren’t you relieved?” He persists in his vision of Iran (no nuclear weapon as yet) as a tremendous threat to world peace. Caroline sees it another way, with H Con Res 362 and its 270 signatures as a greater threat. They shake hands and agree to disagree.

A little rain didn’t phase us.  We’ll be back next Friday.

- Caroline Chinlund for the Granny Peace Brigade, with Eva-Lee, Joan P., Edith, Lillian, Corinne and Owen

August 30:  Educational and career outreach, health information, and support groups for teens and families along with food, music, face painting and fun — City Council Rep, Melissa Mark Viverito sure knows how to throw a party.  Nydia, Judy, one Joan and both Barbaras are joined by our new friend, Kevin, from Brooklyn for Peace.  Our table is set up with stacks of Opt-Out forms, Truth in Recruiting information, information about alternative opportunities to the military and candy — lifesavers and lollipops.  Turns are taken holding down the table as the others fan out to engage the young participants and their parents.

We weave through the crowd, distributing the forms and starting conversations.  Several other organizations and their representatives are working the room, offering us opportunities for further networking including the Education Advocate from State Senator Jose Serrano’s office, the Executive Director of Peace on the Street, and representatives from the Center for Employment Opportunities, Harlem Drummers, CodePink and AmeriCorp dedicated activists who are all doing important are work with high school students on non-military educational and career options.

The crowd is lively, responsive and receptive to our message.  One thing is very clear, in the world of  “No Child Left Behind”, all too many parents and kids are not getting the facts about the Opt Out Option.  The vast majority of people we talk to - moms, dads and even their ‘too cool’ teenage offspring - are deeply grateful for the information we give them.

A young video crew from MNN Youth Channel asks to interview us about our work and we are more than pleased to get in front of their cameras.  As soon as we get a broadcast date and time, we’ll let you all know.

To all of you folks who are so generous in your praise of the Granny Peace Brigade, who often ask us, “But what can I do?”, here is a suggestion.

Go on our website - www.grannypeacebrigade.org - and click on the section about Counter Recruitment.  Read up on what we’ve been doing, take a look at our videos and download and print out some Opt Out forms.  Counter recruiting is something you can do on a spontaneous basis — you don’t need banners, buttons, maps, permits or anything other than a good opening line and a smile.  Grab a friend (like swimmers, counter recruiters should use the Buddy System) stake out a spot near a hub for teenagers and/or their parents — then get busy!  Prepare to be welcomed (sometimes hesitantly) and thanked (often effusively) — and when you’re done, be secure in the knowledge that you have helped build a more peaceful and just world.

Okay, get out there — and keep in touch.  We can learn so much from each other and there is much for us all to do.

Peace,
Barbara Harris & Fran Sears with Barbara Walker, Joan Pleune, Judy Lear, Nydia Leaf, Kevin (a college student working with Brooklyn for Peace)

H. Con. Res 362 is the kind of Congressional action that has Granny Peace Brigade members angry, perplexed and deeply concerned.  We can’t help but wonder what possessed Rep. Gary Ackerman to introduce a resolution regarding Iran that contains much of the same dunderheaded, failed logic that got us into the mess in Iraq — especially knowing how well that’s worked out.

However, as stunned as we may be over Ackerman’s introduction of this dreadful bit of saber-rattling, we are REALLY stunned when we see the names of some good people who have signed on in support.  Finding the names of some of our hometown crowd on this “Wall of Shame” is bad enough and we are putting Representatives Maloney, Weiner, Ackerman, Towns & Engel on notice:  you have only begun to hear from your outraged constituents.  But now we are discovering that some of our true heroes have signed on to this outrageous, war-mongering rhetoric — folks like John Lewis and Barney Frank — and that has us truly shocked and deeply grieved.  What is going on here?

In an effort to bring some clarity and understanding to the H. Con.Res 362 travesty, GPB member, Caroline Chinlund has reached out to one of our Congressional heroes, Dennis Kucinich.  Read her letter and then take a moment and send one of your own.  And don’t stop there — find out where your own congressperson stands.  If they’ve signed on, give-’em hell and if they’ve resisted joining in the one-way march to destruction, then make sure you tell them how proud you are of their decision. If you would like to take this a step further, check our our ‘recipe for a phone-a-thon’ on our website.  Discover the power in joining together with like-minded citizens for some voter education.  The Iraq Moratorium is observed on the third Friday of each month and that might be the perfect time to kick off your first phone-a-thon.

Remember, Democracy is not a spectator sport — and forgive the cliche, but we all need to be in the game.  Write a letter, make a phone call, reach out to your neighbor and keep us in the loop.  Working together, we can end this war and create a lasting legacy of peace and justice.

Work hard and stay in touch.

Peace.

- Fran Sears

BEWARE THE MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX:  Granny Peace Brigade Planksters take to the streets and run into a corporate buzz-saw.

A special memo to Rachel Maddow, Chris Matthews, Keith Olbermann, & Brian Williams.

While we Grannies are deeply troubled by the loss of journalistic integrity, we still have hopes that this once proud profession can be restored to former glory and we’re always more than happy to lend a helping hand to our friends in the Fourth Estate.  We think you all do try to resist the pulls and pressures of your corporate masters at NBC/MSNBC — specifically those folks from General Electric.  In fact, we had our own confrontation with some representatives from your parent company today and knowing how busy you all are out in Denver, we wanted to fill you in.

This morning at 10AM the Granny Peace Brigade, with assistance from our dear friend, legendary civil rights & civil liberties lawyer, Norman Siegel, and members of the Raging Grannies, Grandmothers Against the War and Veterans Against the War, rallied at the Military Recruitment Center at Times Square to hold a press conference and then walk our ‘peace planks’ to the NYC headquarters of the Democratic National Convention.

It is our intention to keep a program for peace and smart, effective diplomacy on the front political burner and today is one of many actions we will be staging in the weeks leading up to the election.

The Times Square Recruitment Center is the birthplace of the Granny Peace Brigade, so we have a certain proprietary interest in what happens here.  Imagine our delight when we arrived this morning to find a built-in crowd — the place was crawling with youngsters in red polo shirts, passing out promotional materials.  Brightly colored laundry was strung high above Times Square and looming in front of the recruitment center were two huge inflated red cubes that we were informed were meant to replicate a new generation of GE “Profile” appliances — in this case, a clothes washer and dryer.

As we started to assemble on the north portion of the area for our own action, we started to get some fishy looks from some of the ’suits’ in charge of the GE event.

We are not going to dignify the conduct of these corporate representatives with exact quotes.  Suffice to say they were unpleasant and in a couple of instances abusive.  In the eyes of these people, it appears that commerce trumps the right to peaceful assembly.  A little constitutional awareness and sensitivity training might be something GE might want to incorporate into their employee training.  While the NYPD officers at the scene found no reason to curtail our action, the GE reps were thoroughly outraged.  Someone needs to explain the concept of ‘public space’ to these people.  As we marched off with our banners, planks and signs, a few of the reps went out of their way to make our exit less than smooth, and a couple of them engaged in some rather unpleasant verbiage.  Strong opinions and criticism is something we grannies are used to, however it doesn’t often come wrapped in a corporate logo.

But speaking of logos — part of the corporate swag getting passed out today were big red tote bags with the familiar GE monogram and the legend: “fuhgeddaboudit”.  After we finished up at DNC headquarters, we took a look at the stuff in the bottom of the bag.  We found some free samples and a pamphlet describing the new appliances that GE is promoting so heavily.  It seems this handsome laundry room pair has been manufactured to Energy Star standards - certainly a good thing - however, the other distinguishing innovation is that the new GE ‘Profile’ washer can store up to six months worth of laundry detergent.  Now that’s something that should truly enhance the quality of life for generations to come.  And for this convenience, the price tag is a mere $3466!  We grannies would like to remind GE that the very best way to reduce our carbon footprint is to reduce what we buy.  $3466 for a washer/dryer duo?  Like it says on the tote bag, FUHGEDDABOUTIT!

Okay, Rachel, Chris, Keith & Brian — work hard, work true and stop by at one of our actions.

The Granny Peace Brigade is on the move and we’ll let you know when we are in your neighborhood.

- Frans Sears
- photos Eva-Lee Baird

House Congressional Resolution 362 - sponsored by Rep. Ackerman and co-sponsored by NYC Reps. Towns, Fossella, Weiner, Maloney, & Engel - evokes disappointment, fury, and phone calls from constituents.

Let the word go forth: the good people of New York City aren’t one bit happy with the language and intent of this nasty piece of business*. On Thursday, August 7th, several Grannies, CodePink women and members of Brooklyn for Peace set up shop at Brooklyn Borough Hall to sound the alarm and ask constituents to call their representatives and the response was so terrific, we went back for an encore on August 15th. Once again, Brooklyn welcomed us. Calls were made, conversations were started, voters were registered,

and here are a few of the moments we’ll certainly remember:

• On the 15th, our first call is made by that Politically Endangered Species, a man in a suit! As faithful followers of the phone-a-thoners may recollect, this is not our strongest constituent base and we hope this is the start of a trend.
• Two women from Yvette Clark’s district, giddy with excitement when they discovered ‘their girl’ missing from the Wall of Shame. “You just tell her we love her to bits and we’re proud of her,” they tell her office.
• A man shakes his head over Rep.Towns’ support of H. Con. Res.362. “The man came to my church,” he says. “He seemed like such a good man. What’s happening here?” We wonder the same thing.
• A young couple, just married in Borough Hall, pose for their wedding portraits right near our table. We offer them our congratulations, Granny buttons and we register the bride…to vote!

• A young mom from Anthony Weiner’s district drops by. Her small son has autism and it is a full-time job getting him the support he needs. She calls Weiner’s office, tells the staffer she wants to register her distress at the congressman’s support of H. Con. Res. 362, and wants to see him front-burner domestic issues for ‘real people’. The office hangs up on her. Note to Rep. Weiner: you’ve got one very angry constituent on your hands — and she is not about to keep quiet.
• We are told that Rep. Edolphus Towns and members of his staff were covertly checking out our table. If indeed this was the case, we sure are disappointed he didn’t want to engage us in some discussion.

Next Tuesday at 10AM we’ll be rallying at the Times Square Recruitment Center for a press conference and then marching to the Democratic National Committee headquarters here in NYC to present our peace planks for the national platform. Come and join us! And stay tuned — we’ll be coming to a neighborhood near you!

- Fran Sears
- photos, Eva-Lee Baird

*information on House Congressional Resolution #362

On July 31 members of CodePink NYC, the Granny Peace Brigade and the American Friends Service Committee held a tripartite demonstration in Foley Square, NYC. The AFSC brought material on the cost of war. The Granny Peace Brigade brought the Phone-A-Thon kit with flyers about H. Con. Res. 362* - the resolution gearing up for war on Iran. (Does anyone know who wrote H. CON. RES. 362? Not who sponsored it, but who wrote it which might not be the same person.)

CodePink brought shoes. Children’s shoes. My grandchildren’s outgrown shoes are in this “Walk in Their Shoes” display. Although it was a grim donation to make, my daughter gave the shoes with an open heart.

I can’t find my grandson’s shoes in the display but my granddaughter’s stand out. They are pink and very beat up after many trips to the playground, but the sparkles woven into the cloth still shine. There is a paper tag tied to them. On the tag is the name of a three-year-old Iraqi girl who was killed in the war. There is a tag with the name and age of an Iraqi victim on every pair of shoes in the display.

Stepping away from the phone-a-thon table from time to time to look at the “Walk in Their Shoes” display I pointed out my granddaughter’s shoes to passersby. I wondered aloud if the grandmother survived the event that took the child. I don’t have to wonder very much about a surviving grandmother’s agony.

Foley Square is a hurried place, not the best for a phone-a-thon, but the shoes caused busy people to stop in their tracks.

People took the time talk about the issues and some also made calls to their Representatives right then and there.

Tapping into hidden reserves of compassion and inspiring people to act - “Walk in Their Shoes” does that.

- Eva-Lee Baird, text and photos

* On August 1, 2008 261 Representatives were co-sponsoring H. Con. Res. 362 “Expressing the sense of Congress regarding the threat posed to international peace, stability in the Middle East…” Who wrote this dreadful piece of work? The four below have withdrawn.
Rep Davis, Danny K. [IL-7] - 6/3/2008(withdrawn - 7/30/2008)
Rep Cohen, Steve [TN-9] - 6/10/2008(withdrawn - 7/22/2008)
Rep Allen, Thomas H. [ME-1] - 6/11/2008(withdrawn - 7/22/2008)
Rep Clay, Wm. Lacy [MO-1] - 6/17/2008(withdrawn - 7/9/2008)

Nine of us here today. It’s hot in the sun, but the terrible heat of earlier in the week has lifted. We set up a table in the shade of a tree. We’re ready to meet people as they come along, up from the subway or across the square during a lunch break. We have our quarter-sheets to hand out, giving people the facts and the numbers to call.

photo - Caroline Chinlund

Beautifully lettered on his sidewalk billboard Owen has chalked:
4096 U.S. Soldiers Dead.
Call Congress: 800-828-0498
A note of tragedy
A note of hope

This is the week of the vote on the supplemental military funding bill. Our messages: No more $ for war. Diplomacy, not war with Iran. Impeach Bush There’s also our campaign to get the NYC City Council to hold hearings on the use of tax $ to fund JROTC classes in high schools.

Calls to representatives are our focus. We have encounters! We win a few and lose a few.

Caroline’s favorite: Amy, resting in the shade after a job interview. She’s new in town. Lives in Brooklyn. We look up her Congressional Rep in The League of Women Voters of NYC (lwvnyc.org) Directory “They Represent You.” It’s Jerrold Nadler. She calls the Congressional switchboard, asks for Nadler’s office and uses the cue card Caroline wears around her neck to pace her conversation with Nadler’s staffer. Amy’s used to relating to her representatives. She’s moved from Cleveland and Dennis Kucinich was her Congressman! She lived near his office and used to drop in. We agree, he’s our hero. Check out his latest heroic act, of defending the U.S. Constitution, 35 Articles of Impeachment for President Bush,and Vice-President Cheney. (Did you know? He wasn’t covered by any major news media) Read the scoop in Gore Vidal’s article at truthdig.

Here’s Eva-Lee’s review of the day:
I got off to a good start with two phone calls right away and then didn’t get any more. Both callers said “Don’t fund the war” and “Impeach both Bush and Cheney.” They had taken the time to use the League of Women Voters NYC book to look up their representatives. A lot of people walked by with their noses in the air, but there were others who thanked us for being there, even though they didn’t stop and make the call. One man took flyers promising to call later. He walked about 20 yards away, turned and came back with tears in his eyes. “I can’t tell you how much it means to me that you are out here doing this,” he said. “My son is in the navy.” He turned and walked away slowly.

photo - Caroline Chinlund

Barbara W had several intense conversations, and some were painful. Here’s how she sums it up: I believe that it is important to let those we encounter who say our military are killing only “the bad guys” (this was said!) or who see only a stereotyped Iraqi, know that there is, for example, the old head of a family who is scared out of his wits by the soldiers busting into his home in the middle of the night, the school principal who goes into his school to open the door for our soldiers and appears at the door – Middle East hospitality style – with the tray of tea. I sometimes hear myself quoting (to a person who approves of our entry into Iraq) the veteran Mejia who said at the Winter Soldier session earlier this year “We went across the ocean to brutalize a country that had done nothing to us.”

Phyllis reports:
I spoke with a woman from France, and then another, and a woman from Russia, all of them supporting us. Then a young man who was hawking coupons for discount membership at an Equinox exercise place. I asked if we could exchange flyers and he exclaimed, “You ladies are giving out more important things than I am. It’s really good.” He did take our flyer. In talking, I found out that he was not registered to vote, although he had been in the city for more than 6 months. I encouraged him to get registered and vote in the coming elections, and gave him a registration form.

Barbara H:
Maybe people should know about the opposition messages, i.e. “I like the war, we are winning, we’re safer, not many deaths now”, to let people know why we must be out there to speak to those who only get the Rush Limbaugh message.

Well, we’re not quitting. Check the calendar on the Granny Peace Brigade home page for the date and location of our next Phone-a-thon. Join us if you can. No cellphone, no problem.

- Caroline Chinlund with Eva-Lee, Owen, Edith, Barbara H, Phyllis, Fran, Barbara W, Caroline, Kathy

Oh, how were we challenged Thursday, June 5 in Brooklyn! The park surrounding Brooklyn Borough Hall and the Court Building was saturated with folks attending Brooklyn Day, a pro-Atlantic Yards rally, sponsored by the Forest City Ratner Corporation, a NYC real estate developer with a taste for using eminent domain for their own gain. A reported 3500 were in attendance with many bussed-in (union members and senior citizens), although the crowd was far more interested in a free lunch than Frank Gehrey’s ‘vision’. (Note to Forest City Ratner Corp: the next time you stage one of these extravaganzas, try to order enough food. Hungry people are cranky people.)

When we finally found each other, we relegated ourselves to a place somewhat away from the crowd, and set up our “information table” at the foot of the statue of another dubious achiever, the ‘great discoverer of our country,” Christopher Columbus. The noise, constant cacophony of many decibels was unnerving and almost unbearable — the unanimous winner for truly ear-shattering rhetoric most certainly had to be awarded to Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.

In spite of all, we were determined to apprise folks about NYC taxes supporting military curriculum in our high schools. Some people found it “shocking” that, just as school budgets were being cut, tax money was supporting JROTC. One gentleman questioned whether the New York City Council had any power to effect change, was encouraged to ask his council person’s representative, did so, and reported that City Council can effect change. Connie, our colleague from Brooklyn for Peace, brought along material for distribution including “Some Objections to JROTC” from California’s Project on Youth and Non-Military Opportunities, which provided effective “talking points” and was well received.

People often engaged us in lengthy conversation, occasionally preventing us from reaching more people.* A group of teenagers found it to be unbelievable that they could call an elected representative’s office and, even with our encouragement and peer daring, didn’t engage in doing so. A young woman with three children, who works for the New York City Board of Education, took flyers and printed materials saying that she was going to bring them to a teacher’s meeting in her school. She requested additional information to be sent and left her contact information. When a caller to City Councilperson Robert Jackson (Chair, Education Committee) requested a public hearing, she was informed that the office had received 46 calls requesting a public hearing on NYC taxes for JROTC and 6, from students, against a hearing (time frame was not stipulated but we are assuming that it was recent).

Owen and Maxie chalked messages on the sidewalk concerning our Phone-a-thon focus and the number of U.S. troop deaths in Iraq, 4091 to date. A counter-chalker wrote that we were liers however, it did not deter us. The Phone-a-thon was considered by all, worthwhile and a success.

*The Granny Peace Brigade & CodePink NYC need more volunteers to talk with folks who are interested in learning about “what’s going on” concerning U.S. militarism at home and abroad. The tax levy funds for JROTC seems to be a really “hot issue” and we need to spread the word with other peace groups, encouraging a City Council Public Hearing for full disclosure and hopefully, a change in policy. So…

…JOIN US AT THE PHONE-A-THONS!

Phyllis Cunningham & Fran Sears with Caroline, Ann, Joan P., Carol, Maxie (Carol’s grandson), Owen, and Connie (Brooklyn for Peace)

Want to jump-start your next peace action? Invite your local Raging Grannies and draw a crowd! Here the NYC chapter joins the Granny Peace Brigade and Code Pink for a “STOP THE WAR, IMPEACH BUSH” Phone-A-Thon.

If you don’t see the video click here.

WE ARE A GAGGLE OF GRANNIESWords: Esther Farnsworth & the Vermont Raging Grannies, with Corinne Willinger of the NYC Metro Raging Grannies and the Granny Peace Brigade

Tune: “Side by Side”Oh, we are a gaggle of grannies
Urging you off of your fannies;
We’re telling you now
We’re ANGRY and how!
NO MORE WAR!

With all that government spending
To fight a war that’s unending
We’re going for broke,
This isn’t a joke
NO MORE WAR!

(refrain)
The Bush gang keeps on lying,
They want to ’stay the course,’
But boys and girls are dying,
And they show no remorse.

Sooo, we may be a gaggle of grannies,
But we’ve gotten off of our fannies,
We’ll only rejoice for
We sing in one voice for, NO MORE WAR!
We really mean it - NO MORE WAR!
And we mean busines
NO MORE WAR!

Who is this woman and why was this mug shot taken?

Joan spent her first two years of college at the Women’s College of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro. It was 1957 and it happened to be the first year that the state of North Carolina integrated its public universities, in response to federal law, of course. A group of seven Black women was selected by the NAACP to fill the slots at WCUNC (the Women’s College.) One of these women became a close friend and Joan became aware of the courage that these women needed to study at the University and live on campus. In all fairness, the young white women at WCUNC were not overtly hostile to these young women and often seemed to just not know how to relate. After transferring to the to the University of California in Berkeley, Joan decided to return to the South as a Freedom Rider, riding an integrated train and demanding integrated facilities. Was she scared? “I think I was too determined (read dumb??) and too young to be really scared. And by the time we got to Mississippi, I was just stunned (see mugshot).”

Although the freedom riders spent weeks in jail before bailing out, it was necessary for them to return to Jackson, Mississippi for a trial date later that year. The Greyhound Bus Company had difficulty finding a driver for the bus to transport the riders out of Mississippi. No one wanted to drive them out of Jackson - the Greyhound drivers were afraid of mob violence and with good reason. Many buses had been attacked and the riders beaten. There were snipers on the roads. One mob had set fire to a bus in Alabama and tried to burn to death the Freedom Riders inside.

Finally, Joan’s group found a driver and they set off in the middle of the night. As stones started to hit the bus Joan and her compatriots asked the driver not to stop - to just keep going. He thought that a good plan.

- Joan Pleune,
Granny Peace Brigade