WAMM Activist: Lucia Wilkes Smith

by Carol Masters, WAMM

Certain WAMM women, when they walk through a door, lift our spirits. For me one such woman is Lucia Wilkes Smith, no matter what the current crisis. She has a way of bringing focus--organized light--to an issue and an impeccable "get-down-to-business" demeanor that seems it just must save the day.

I realized this quality of her leadership in the spring of 1988, when hopes for peace in Central America and in our own justice movements seemed to be tumbling about our ears. WAMM was central to a coalition resisting the U.S. military stance toward Nicaragua and the low-intensity conflict elsewhere in Central America. Minnesota's National Guard was being deployed to Honduras, ostensibly for road building (to where?). Solidarity and peace groups were in the streets, fearing an invasion of Nicaragua; responses to the situation varied. Some groups favored tactics commensurate to the violence of our government, and engaged in property destruction.

At that time, Lucia was in Central America, with her son Joshua on a Global Education trip to Guatemala and El Salvador. She returned to a beleaguered community with a renewed commitment to the struggle, and the passion for speaking truth to power that has been a hallmark of WAMM. It was a difficult time for the peace movement, but Lucia and co-director Nikki LaSorella and all of WAMM helped to steer us through it.

For Lucia, the Central America campaign revealed key strengths and weaknesses of an organization like WAMM--an organization big and diverse enough to foster a wide range of analyses, issues, and kinds of activism. Its strength in diversity brought people to see connections between issues of oppression; its diversity brought to light wrenching differences in perspective. The realization both haunted and invigorated her. "I passed through WAMM 'scathed,' if that is a word."

Lucia has the rare combination of passionate intelligence and gentle incisiveness that gets her arguments across while acknowledging the humanity of her opponent. She is an excellent, engaging speaker and reader. And she is funny. Her wit can be dry to the point of astringency, particularly if she is dealing with patriarchal or oppressive systems (like U.S. foreign policies).

She came to WAMM as co-director in the summer of 1987, when Polly Mann left to run a campaign for Senator, and served in that position until 1994. She has remained on the Finance Committee. She recalls being drawn into a creative demonstration at Lake Calhoun, a WAMMish divergence from the usual protests in front of a federal building downtown. The issue that needed attention was the United States reflagging Kuwaiti ships in the Persian Gulf, replacing the Kuwaiti emblems with U.S. flags. WAMM organized a flotilla of rented canoes: women in bathing suits, flying bedsheets bannering "U.S. Out of the Persian Gulf," set out into the lake.

Lucia recently completed her Master of Fine Arts at Hamline; her Masters' project is a memoir that centers on her years at WAMM. It is an important story, giving a keen activist's analysis of these years in the decline of empire, and the poignancy of trying to be, and failing at being, a "good girl."

What were the seminal--no, estral --issues for her in the WAMM years?

She names first the police accountability campaign, an issue that rose out of the late 80s Central America work. After those demonstrations, middle class, mainly white peace activists began to appreciate at a different level the oppressive relationships between police and communities of color. Activists experienced a measure of physical violence and discrimination themselves. Lucia and others from WAMM, along with representatives from communities of color, worked toward establishing an independent, civilian review board that would review alleged police misconduct. Minneapolis now has such a board, among the most progressive systems in the nation, although its enforcement powers are limited.

Another life-changing issue for her was the Persian Gulf Crisis. WAMM was an early group in attending to policy toward Iraq, from the worry back in 1987 over the "sudden" U.S. interest in Kuwait, a small, relatively unknown-though oil-rich-country. In August 1990, WAMM received media notice as the first group on the streets when George (the First) Bush announced deployment of troops. In the next months support for WAMM grew: thoughtful, concerned women and men began to join, and to drop into the 33rd and Hennepin office on a regular basis. Lucia's memoir tells of the days after the bombing of Iraq when people gathered in the office at all hours to talk and ask for something they could do. They brought food, snacks, drinks, even prepared dishes, which puzzled the WAMM staff until Lucia realized that this was a gathering of the clan as for a funeral, a ritual of strengthening and healing.

Neither the public nor WAMM was prepared, however, for the brevity of the war, and its devastating aftermath for Iraq: media excitement dwindled and the war's "call to action" sense faded for a number of groups. Women who had come into WAMM at that time, though, remained for the long haul.

The Middle East, particularly the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, is a third area of concern for Lucia, one that posed painful personal questions. In November of 1988 Lucia joined a Global Education trip to the West Bank, which turned out to be the group's last sponsored trip to that region. Lucia published an essay about the experience in the Star Tribune, focusing attention on the difficult, confined lives of Palestinian families. The mixed response--from sharp criticism to strong praise--she received taught her how profound and volatile the issue was in her own home territory. Growing up in St. Louis Park, she had many Jewish friends for whom the issue was intensely personal.

She was surprised, Lucia-like, at the encouragement from those who praised her bravery and "lack of self-interest" in writing and working for the Palestinian cause. Above all, what she has learned from WAMM is to recognize the genuinely frightening things and "do them even when you're scared."

WAMM Action!

This year, Lucia Wilkes Smith received her Master of Fine Arts in writing from Hamline University. Join us in honoring Lucia's achievement:

Sunday, June 10, 2001
6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
"An Expert in Her Field: Celebrating the Creative Spirit of WAMM"
Home and Gallery of Jane Evershed
2646 Irving Avenue S.
Minneapolis, MN

In honor of WAMM members Jane Evershed and Lucia Wilkes Smith

Jane Evershed is a national known artist and poet, particularly for her "Power of Women" series. Her paintings will be on display and she will read from her poetry.

Lucia Wilkes Smith will be reading from her unpublished memoir, Jumping In, which includes memories of her WAMM staff years.

Donations in honor of Jane, Lucia, and the creative spirit of WAMM will be accepted at the door, via the mail, or by phone with a credit card:

Women Against Military Madness (WAMM)
310 East 38th Street, Suite 225
Minneapolis, MN 55409
612-827-5364