Participants call for peaceful
solutions during silent vigil

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By Mary Adamski
madamski@starbulletin.com

The green ribbons were new but some of the slogans harked back to past anti-war movements as about 100 demonstrators lined the curb outside the Prince Kuhio Federal Building during the evening rush hour.

The two-hour silent vigil yesterday was called by the American Friends Service Committee and other groups anticipating war as the U.S. government's response to the terrorist attack on America.

University students in the "Refuse and Resist" organization stood beside people whose faces were seen years ago on similar lines protesting the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf conflict.

"It's not to be against the red, white and blue," said committee spokesman Kyle Kajihiro, "but to add another message that expands our humanity to all victims of war and terrorism."

He said the demonstrators wore green as a "symbol of healing and peace ... and also the traditional Arab color for peace and friendship."

Passing motorists occasionally honked in support of sentiments such as "No more victims anywhere" and "Our grief is not a cry for war" and "Peace not bombs."

A few hecklers hollered, "What about the World Trade Center victims?" and "You can lie in the sun while the Marines fight for you."

But most motorists kept their silence, too.

People who gathered were encouraged to make their own signs, but organizers held some control over the message. On the ground lay a discarded sign reading "U.S. is #1 Terrorist," and Kajihiro prevailed in a debate with a man whose sign proclaimed, "Social Kharma Finally."

The purpose of the gathering was to support the victims of Sept. 11 and to back a just response to the attack, but not war, Kajihiro said.

The message also was to "affirm the humanity of all people, including Arabs and Muslims, and to uphold civil liberties as the basis for a free and just society."

Marion Kelly, whose activist days go back to the Vietnam War, said, "I feel we need to take a lesson from this terrible, terrible thing that happened. We are doing terrible things and people are telling us this. We weep for the victims and their families but war is not the answer."