“What do we want?” VC sociology instructor Gabriel Cerramo called out.
“Peace,” answered about 30 people gathered for an anti-war protest and march at Ventura College March 14.
“When do we want it?” continued Cerramo, an Army veteran who fought in Vietnam in 1967.
“Now,” the marchers responded, voices of energy being heard across the campus.
Ventura College’s anti-war rally began in the quad with colorful banners, posters and students ready to march. MEChA Club board members organized the event, one of several on campus marking the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq on March 20, 2003.
“Money for jobs and education,” the protestors chanted. “Not for war and complication. No, no we won’t kill for Texaco.”
About 30 anti-war marchers left Ventura College shortly after noon, picking up others as they marched along Telegraph Road.
Miranda Satstrom said she was there to show that everything takes time. The 16-year-old Buena High School student, who joined the march with three of her friends, added that she wants peace and she wanted to experience the march.
“We the people united, will never be divided,” marchers shouted.
“This is our future, right,” said Romelia Richman, a Cal State Channel Islands student. “This is our second time doing this,” said Richman, who had her 2-year-old child with her. ” I’m really tired of the fighting, trying to fix problems and people being broken apart.”
“War is not healthy for children and living things,” said Gwendolyn Ally Sheridan, a peace activist who, with her 3- year-old son, Reed Sheridan, participated in the march on a bike.
“Give peas a chance,” Sheridan said. “It says it on my son’s shirt. Peas are in the shape of a peace sign and it glows in the dark.”
Most onlookers supported and accommodated the marchers. VC police officers and security guards patrolled the area. There were a few minor conflicts.
As the protestors marched down Victoria Avenue toward the Government Center, boys on skateboards appeared. “Shut up, you’re too loud, dude,” said one of the skateboarders, John Munday, 17.
“A firefighter in a fire truck drove by with his thumb down,” said Jesse Ornelas Jr., a VC student and peace activist. No other opposition appeared.
The peace march ended up at the Ventura County Government Center with about 50 participants in front of The Fallen In Iraq Memorial Wall that was on display. Frank Peterson was there with his dog, presenting the mini memorial wall.
“I’m a Korean vet,” Peterson said. Peterson belongs to the Veterans of Peace and the Social Action Committee of the Unitarian Church of Ventura. “We are the ones that built the wall,” Peterson said.
The six-panel memorial displays photos of the 3,100 U.S. military personnel killed in Iraq. Peterson printed out the photos from the cnn.com website to form this mini memorial wall.
Protest organizer John Osmand, who is affiliated with the International Socialist Organization, said the goal of the march and rally was to “help to bring this horrible war to a close.”
“What sparked the anti-war protest on campus?” organizer Cricket Clark from UCSB asked. Then she answered her own question: It’s the fourth year of fighting in Iraq, and so many soldiers have been killed, it is starting to affect America.
“I think 70 percent is the conservative estimate of citizens who want the war to end,” she said.
Anti-war events will continue at Ventura College when peace activist Cindy Sheehan speaks from 10:30 to 11:20 a.m. March 28 in the Main Theater.
Sheehan will share her journey from grieving mother to peace activist, a Ventura College publicity flyer said. “Her son was killed in the Iraq war,” said Chelsea Moore, President of MEChA.
Sheehan camped outside about seven miles from President George W. Bush’s ranch in Texas during one of the president’s vacations, the AOL news website said. “Bush did not come out to talk to her once,” Moore said.
Lauri Moore, Chelsea Moore’s mother and a VC sociology instructor, invited Sheehan to speak at VC and is organizing the event, Chelsea Moore said.
Protestors in Ventura march towards City Hall. (Heather Bratt)
Protestors in Ventura march towards City Hall. (Heather Bratt)
Protestors in Ventura march towards City Hall. (Heather Bratt)
Protestors in Ventura march towards City Hall. (Heather Bratt)
Protestors in Ventura march towards City Hall. (Heather Bratt)
