Waking up a community to the realities of war

Published 7:00 am Wednesday, June 16, 2004

Surveying her beliefs prompted a young islander to take action.

Mary Vittum went to Safeway to buy groceries, and came home with a shopping list of worthy causes.

Vittum, who graduated from Bainbridge’s Strawberry Hill Alternative High School in 1999, was approached by Sakai Intermediate School sixth-graders surveying Safeway customers.

“They asked me whole bunch of questions about how I felt about global warming,” Vittum said. “I answered all their questions, and at the end there was an ‘A, B or C’ about what I would do to help improve the situation.

“I chose ‘drive a more fuel-efficient car’ – and then I got into my SUV and drove home and thought ‘wow, you’re a hypocrite.’”

When Vittum saw news of the Iraq war on TV later that evening, she found herself impelled to take action.

Vittum decided to organize a the Wake Up Kitsap! peace rally June 26.

“I felt horrible about everything that’s going on,” she said. “I decided that I wanted to do something, and if I didn’t do something, I was just going to be a hypocrite.”

While Vittum first envisioned “enormous crowds,” by the time she ran the idea past Bainbridge High School junior and daycare co-worker Joe Bombardier the next day, she realized that the event might be smaller-scale.

“He was excited immediately and we decided right then that we were going to be OK with it if was just going to be 10 of us.”

Vittum began to network immediately, calling older islanders she knew were ‘wired in’ to Kitsap’s activist community.

The young people decided to dedicate the rally to Poulsbo’s Sister Jackie Hudson, a Dominican nun sentenced in 2003 to three years in prison for trespassing onto a northern Colorado military base to pray over a missile silo.

They invited a newly formed women’s choir led by Woodward Middle School music teacher Nicolle Schaffer to sing.

Vittum and Bombardier called on well-known groups like Not In Our Name and Veterans for Peace to provide speakers, and tapped local leaders like Eagle Harbor Congregational church pastor Dee Eisenhauer.

But the event may also feature speakers as young as 11.

“We’re not naming them,” Vittum said, “because we want to give them the chance to back out at the last minute if they get too scared.”

Now that most planning for the event is done, Vittum has had time to think about her new activism.

Although she was not interested in most academics, her new role may have roots in a Contemporary Issues class at Strawberry taught by Scott Mock.

“He only taught for a very short time,” she said. “He also worked at Coyote Farm. He was just this crazy, kind of liberal, very cool teacher. He taught us about Noam Chomsky and a lot of stuff there was no way we would have come in contact with otherwise.”

With her social conscience awakened, Vittum is more apt to notice that many of her peers are still tuned out.

“One of my friends noticed me leafletting and asked me about what I was doing,” she said. “He asked me, ‘Are we at war?’ He seemed completely apathetic…and it wasn’t just him.

“The whole crowd of people that I’m friends with, it’s like people are too overwhelmed to do anything about it.”

Of a peace

Island young people present the peace rally to Wake Up Kitsap!, beginning 2 p.m. June 26 (after the Rotary Auction).

Participants include the Rev. Dee Eisenhauer, Veterans For Peace, Military Families Speak Out and Not In Our Name, and special Seattle guests. Bring signs to share what’s on your mind, and blankets and umbrellas for the weather. Information: 842-8381 or www.biactivist.net.

• The rally is preceded by a community drumming led by master drummer Chris Wendolyn and friends, 1 p.m. June 26 at Waterfront Park. Everyone is invited to bring a rhythm instrument.

•Conscientious objector Howard Welsh provides information for islanders under 36 years old who may be subject to a reinstated military draft, and their family, 6:30-8:30 p.m. June 26.

• Dennis Kyne, decorated war vet and author of “Support the Truth,” speaks 7-9 p.m. June 27.

All events except the community drumming are at Eagle Harbor Congregational Church. Information: 842-8381 or www.altbuzz.org/workshops.