Minnesota Code Pinkers Join International Women’s Day March in D.C.

by Chelsea Coyne and Julia Peek

“It’s for a good cause—don’t worry about it,” said the guy behind the register at Ragstock. While we were struggling to come up with enough cash to pay for our pink paraphernalia (pink jump suits, Mardi Gras beads, hats, and t-shirts), he slipped us some hot pink gloves for free.

The good cause, of course, was Code Pink, a grassroots women-initiated movement for peace. The two of us (Minneapolis high school students) and the 44 other Code Pinkers were getting ready for a 22-hour bus ride to participate in the International Women’s Day March for peace in Washington D.C. The event was a “Celebration of Women as Global Peacemakers.” Our mission was to be draped in pink from head to toe so we could add to the river of pink marchers surging down 16th Street towards the White House. We couldn’t wait to get this show on the road and hop on the bus.

After the first 15 hours of the bus ride, our initial enthusiasm had been slightly curbed. We had arrived at the St. Joan of Arc parking lot at 8:30 Friday morning to be met by several television camera crews, 41 women and three men. The ages in our lovely group ranged from 15 to 70. Everyone was really friendly and spirits were high. Some of the older women chatting behind us expressed their gratitude for the presence of us teenagers: “It’s really comforting to know that our youth are smarter than our president,” one of them said.

Finding the most comfortable sleeping position was the biggest challenge (i.e., a way to sleep for more than one hour that won’t end in muscle cramps). The pickings are slim: sitting back straight up in your chair, hunching over the window or your neighbor, or cramming your body in any of the available floor spaces in the aisle or under chairs. We made a stop every two to four hours, either to refuel, grab some food or switch drivers. Sleeping cycles rarely lasted more than three hours.

Being on the bus was… interesting. But it was reassuring to know that each and every minute of that “cozy” ride was worthwhile. Every five hours or so, we would ask ourselves, “What state are we in? Ohio? Indiana? Pennsylvania?” It’s quite disconcerting to stumble off the bus at 4 o’clock in the morning to pour into an empty Perkins in God-knows-where. We later realized that, even this early, a complete breakfast was important in fueling up for the main event of peacemaking ahead of us.

We stepped off the bus at 9 a.m. into a sunny, warm (at least for us Minnesotans), beautiful D.C. morning. All of us were decked out in hot pink outfits. We were in Malcolm X Park with a slowly gathering crowd of women, children, and men. We were prepared to sell Code Pink gear: buttons, silk scarves, and stickers, sponsored by Nina Utne of the Utne Reader.

The opening rally included such inspirational and stirring speakers as Alice Walker, Maxine Hong Kingston, Terry Tempest Williams, Granny D, Susan Griffin, Dr. Helen Caldicott, Barbara Ehrenreich, Rania Masri, Michelle Shocked, feminist theologian Hyun Kyung, Nobel Peace Laureate Jody Williams, Congresswoman Lynn Woosley, Inga Muscio, Cheri Honkala, and some Code Pink founders, Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans. People proudly shouted out the names of their home states: California, Washington, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Minnesota, Michigan, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York among them.

We were all unified by our frustrations with the prospect of war and Bush’s refusal to listen to the thousands of demonstrators that gathered on that day, and the many others around the world who have done so, as well. A huge mass of people bearing signs, drums, bells, flags, and three 15-foot-tall puppets from Heart of the Beast Puppet Theatre (which we brought) filled the area. Everyone held to the vision of peace very clearly. The songs, speeches and chants were all hopeful and uplifting, presenting positive solutions to the world’s ills. Some of the signs we sighted read: “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind”-Gandhi; “Thank you, France”; “There are no smart bombs”; “Listen to the Pope”; and “Start seeing Iraqi children!”

Our group of Code Pinkers stuck together as thousands marched out into the street. People hung out of their windows and stood on rooftops waving and making peace signs. Sixteenth Street was overflowing with marchers, which reached as far as the eye could see on either end. It was a very powerful feeling being surrounded with people all marching for the same peaceful cause.

The final destination of the march was the Ellipse, a park across from the Washington Monument. Code Pink organizers envisioned finishing the march with a demonstration encircling the White House hand-in-hand. Our Minnesota band was part of this plan. But the police asked that people congregate in groups of no more than 25 at a time near the White House. Trying our best to comply, we quickly split up in smaller groups: half headed towards the front of the White House, the other to the back. We—Chelsea and Julia—went to the front to join Alice Walker, Maxine Kingston, Medea Benjamin, and other Code Pink group leaders. A line of policemen blocked the eastern entrance leading to the White House. We changed plans and walked towards a second entrance, which we found to be clear. We connected with the other women sitting in front of the White House gates behind a large Code Pink banner. There were several news cameras filming the small unit of about 10 women. Approximately 50 of us trickled onto the premises. We joined hands making a line that spanned Bush’s front yard singing, “Give Peace A Chance,” and chanting, “This is our House!” and “When they say Code Red, we say Code Pink!”

Fifteen minutes of peaceful protesting was abruptly ended by the arrival of a dozen police cars and orders to leave the area within 3 minutes. Some of us slowly walked away while an officer took our pictures from a distance. Sirens and lights flashing, a group of four police cars broke their way through a crowd of people standing in the street a block west of the White House. Their fear of the big, bad, women in pink appeared so urgent, they nearly ran people over in order to get to the White House gates. We felt shocked and disturbed in seeing this. We later heard that 25 women, mostly from Code Pink and including Alice Walker and Nina Utne, were arrested reportedly for “crossing police lines.”

We piled back on our bus after a short dinner at Union Station. The full day (9 a.m. to 5 p.m.) of marching, singing, chanting, and demonstrating really took it out of us. Code Pink has proven itself to be a creative, playful and powerful way for women to express their desire for peace. As Alice Walker reflected on this global grassroots movement in the opening rally, “We are the people we’ve been waiting for!” We were ecstatic to be a part of the heart of peace that is spreading across the world.