Students protest violence with vigils

    “Who would Jesus Bomb?”
    “Cost of the War in Iraq: $316,536,300,000.”              “Peace.”
    Determined GCSU students waved these signs last Friday afternoon for a peace vigil called “Peace in Middle Georgia and the World.”
    The vigil was an idea that Faira Holliday, a junior studio art major, got from activities held in Macon. “I was sort of raised going to these peace vigils all the time,” she said. “Macon actually has a group…and I found that out when I got back from Greece this summer. I was only able to go to one or  two before I came here and
I said, ‘Well, why don’t I start one here?’”
    In her opinion and that of other peace vigil participants, Milledgeville needs it.
    “Milledgeville doesn’t really act like a college town. It doesn’t have that politically active side to it…so I kind of wanted to spark something [here],” Holliday said.
    In order to create that spark, Holliday got help. She took the idea to her friends and even her professors. “Everybody seems overjoyed, really,” she said. “Everybody’s just …trying to help in any way they can, especially the professors. They’re all really excited.”
    Holliday’s friend, Kari Waters, a junior English major, displayed her excitement about the vigils. “Who wouldn’t be for peace? It’s awesome,” she said.
    “It feels like you’re making a difference and making a commotion,” said Beth Lanier, a sophomore psychology and political science major.
    And a commotion is how some passers-by see it. There are people who disagree with the students’ opinions and they make sure to show it. “One person ‘shot the bird’ at us, and a group of students walked behind us and were muttering things under their breath, saying like ‘Good luck with that,’ being sarcastic,” said Holliday
    Those reactions don’t compare to past behavior in Macon.
    “In Macon we had people rolling down their car windows and screaming terrible insults,” Holliday added.
    Yet, many onlookers supported the protesters’ actions.
    “…Anytime that somebody honked…it was very reaffirming to know there were other people in the town that agreed with you,” Holliday said.
    “I guess the message is getting across,” said Jose Guerra, a junior environmental science major. “There are people out there that don’t want the war [in Iraq], [and those] that don’t stand for it.”
    The message certainly got across last Friday afternoon. During the peace vigil a member of the Army walked up to the vigil participants and forcefully challenged their opinions concerning the war in Iraq.
    The huge difference in opinions and the confrontation that occurred hurt Holliday even as the other student participants wrapped up their vigil.
    “I just don’t see how they [those for the war] can [believe] so strongly in what they’re saying while we [believe] so strongly in what we’re saying. I can’t fathom the fact that they could ever be right, but I can see he can’t fathom us ever being right either. It just really breaks my heart. How can you bridge this?”
    That’s a good question.
    Holliday is not unlike many other students on the GCSU campus. However, she has found something worth “fighting” for, and that is peace.
    “Even if it doesn’t go anywhere, even if it’s just a group of some students holding signs on a corner, even if it doesn’t change anyone’s mind, at least we tried. At least I got out there and got 12 people to stand on a corner one day.”

Posted by Colonnade Archives on Sep 8 2006. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry