Pittsburgh WILPF Marches for Peace and Hosts “Grannies Respond”

By Edith Bell
Coordinator, Pittsburgh Branch

Pittsburgh WILPF participated in a March for Peace on August 25, emphasizing the local creators of weapons and benefactors of the military industrial complex, which includes Carnegie Mellon University, PNC Bank, and several other corporations. The event was cosponsored by the Anti-War Committee of the Thomas Merton Center, Veterans for Peace, Stop Banking the Bomb, WILPF, and others.

Earlier in the month, on August 1, the Pittsburgh Branch hosted a group of 30 people "Abuelas Responden, Grannies Respond" on their way from New York to McAllen, TX. With a motto “We ride, because we care,” their caravan of two vans and several cars was protesting the US government’s ‘zero-tolerance’ immigration policy.  

We provided them with housing, a good meal, and a program of sharing and singing at the First United Methodist Church then tossed them on their way.

They were joined by additional caravans from Portland, OR, Idaho, Wisconsin, and other places in between, for a group of 150. The Thomas Merton Center granted WILPF permission to reprint this more detailed report from their publication The NewPeople:

Many of us have been wondering how to respond to the Administration's continuing barbaric treatment of people who are refugees and the separation of children from their families. A group of grannies in the New York area decided to take action. Calling themselves “Abuelas Responden, Grannies Respond” with a moto of “We ride, because we care.” About 20 of them rented vans and began a caravan from New York to McAllen, Texas.

Their website declares: “We will not be quiet while little ones are crying alone without the love of a parent to soothe them. We will not remain idle while tent cities are built to indefinitely detain families seeking safe haven in our country. Our government and our institutions do not have dominion over our morality. We the people will be the moral compass of our country and we will not rest until compassion and decency are restored.”

The group started their long journey on July 31st with a rally in Manhattan. And all along the way they held rallies and talks to raise awareness of the issue. The first day they stopped in Reading, held a lunchtime rally in Harrisburg and landed in Pittsburgh around 4 pm to be greeted by members of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom and the Raging Grannies.

The First United Methodist Church generously opened its doors and WILPF and the Raging Grannies organized a potluck followed by a chance to hear from two of the caravan participants on why they undertake this journey. Monica Ruiz from Casa Jan Jose shared the plight of the Latino community in Pittsburgh and the continued harassment by ICE. The evening was enlivened by songs from the New York Grannies and the Pittsburgh Raging Grannies.

After a good night’s sleep in people’s homes they were on their way to Louisville, Kentucky where they protested in Mitch McConnell’s backyard. They stopped in Montgomery, Alabama at the National Museum of Peace and Justice, in New Orleans where they held jazz funeral, and in Houston and McAllen.

By the time they got to McAllen at the border they had been joined by groups from Madison, WI, Atlanta, Tallahassee, Portland, OR, and Dallas. There they had the opportunity to walk in the footsteps of those coming across the border and rally for a humane immigration policy in this country.

Why was this issue so important to those participating?  In Pittsburgh Al Jazeera conducted an interview with a local granny and an Indian woman from the caravan. The local granny talked about her childhood during the Holocaust and being separated from her mother to never see her again. The Indian woman spoke of the separation of India and Pakistan and as a child living in Pakistan being forced to move to India and the hardships her family experienced. They resonate with the plight of those entering this country and the need for this inhumane treatment to stop.

On the Grannies Respond website they have this quote from Fred Rogers:
“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”