Bring Them Home Now Tour comes to Richmond

Bring Them Home Now Tour
Originally uploaded by Stunted Growth.

On Monday, Sept. 19, participants in the "Bring Them Home Now Tour" made a stop in Richmond, Virginia on their way from "Camp Casey" in Crawford, Texas, to the national anti-war protest scheduled for Sept. 24 in Washington, D.C. The eight tour participants are members of Gold Star Families for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Iraq Veterans for Peace and Veterans for Peace.

While in Richmond, they picketed the Virginia Army National Guard office at 304 W. Broad St. They will speak at a Town Hall Meeting on the War at Asbury United Methodist Church in Church Hill.

The Richmond tour stop is being hosted by the Virginia Anti-War Network. On Aug. 26, VAWN held vigils in Richmond and Staunton in support of Cindy Sheehan.

The Virginia Anti-War Network will among the groups participating in the September 24 march, rally, and festival in Washington, DC. Other groups include United for Peace & Justice, Answer, and Code Pink.

Cindy Sheehan is a co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace. Throughout August, she and hundreds of her supporters held a vigil in Crawford while President George W. Bush was vacationing there at his ranch. Sheehan’s encampment was named "Camp Casey" after her GI son, who was killed in Iraq..

Sheehan was asking for a meeting with the president so he could explain to her why her son had died. Her request was denied, but the resulting media coverage is credited with helping to expand the anti-war movement just weeks before a massive march and rally is to take place in Washington, D.C., on Sept. 24.

On Aug. 31, Sheehan and some of her supporters boarded three buses and left Crawford, traveling on separate routes through more than 50 cities to hold meetings, rallies and vigils on their way to the D.C. protest.

The Richmond stop is being hosted by VAWN in cooperation with other anti-war organizations. Larry Syverson of VAWN and Military Families Speak Out was among those who traveled to Crawford in August. While there, he was asked to organize events in Richmond for the bus tour. Syverson’s four sons have all served in the military, two of them in Iraq.

6PM: Community Dinner hosted by Richmond Food Not Bombs at Asbury United Methodist Church, 324 N. 29th St. (Corner of 29th and East Marshall streets in Church Hill.)

7-9PM: Richmond Town Hall Meeting on the War in Iraq and Afghanistan. Asbury United Methodist Church. Open mike for general participation. The meeting will be co-chaired by Larry Syverson of MFSO and Janet Taylor of the Prosser-Truth Division No. 456 of the Universal Negro Improvement Association/African Communities League (UNIA/ACL).

For more information please contact Larry Syverson at (804) 986-5362 or Garrie Rouse at (804) 512-2063. Or ... go to the "Bring Them Home Now Tour" web site at http://www.bringthemhomenowtour.org/