Irises for the Dead
by Brigid McDonald, WAMM
More than one hundred people gathered at 7:00 a.m. on November 1, 2000 in downtown Hopkins, Minnesota. Dressed in black with faces painted white, they walked silently down Main Street to the beat of drums. The solemn, funereal procession moved single file on the sidewalk, stopping at red lights to allow traffic to pass, until, half a mile later, it ended at the headquarters of Alliant Techsystems, weapons producer.
Every Wednesday morning, from 7:00 to 8:00 a.m., there is a vigil at Alliant Techsystems, but the morning of November 1 was different. There were more folks gathered, there was a beating of drums and a blowing of whistles, and a larger number of police were watching us. Still, our message was the same:
Alliant Techsystems has produced land mines, cluster bombs, and uranium 238 missiles, and is currently developing a $30,000 grenade gun which, they say, will shoot around corners. Remembering the dead left in the wake of this weapons production, we sprinkled ashes, prayed, and spoke a message of peace to our audience of police and Alliant security guards standing in front of the main doors across the street.
During the protest, when a small boy and his mom walked across the parking lot to attend to a private matter, several police and one Alliant security guard quickly caught up with them, detained them, and threatened arrest. The guard ran back across the lot to ask a "higher" authority what to do, and orders were issued to release the woman and boy. It seems a funny thing to me that five grown policemen holding a mother and son could not make this same decision for themselves.
Carol Masters planted some iris rhizomes in a garden spot in the center of the parking lot. A police officer said, "She's digging up flowers!" Officers quickly ran over to arrest her. She explained that she was planting flowers, not digging them up. Given that this peace group has assembled every Wednesday morning for four years and has never acted in a violent or destructive manner, why would they jump to the conclusion that there had been a destructive act? Carol planting irises is not nearly as threatening as the planting of landmines.
The Day of the Dead action was inspiring and empowering. I suppose inspired, empowered people are a threat to war makers.