Janet Roberts smiled as the cop handcuffed her Monday afternoon. In the earnest logic of the Occupation Project, arrest was nothing short of victory.
Roberts’ teenage son had teased her when she kissed him goodbye that morning. Theirs was just a typical American family, he joked, with Dad going to the office and Mom going to jail.
If she doesn’t make bail in time for dinner, Roberts said, “They can handle it.” They understand “it’s my personal goal to see the war end.”
So Roberts along with Sue Mitrovic, Jourdan Colline, and Ellen Stark put on signs that said “Stop Iraq War Funding” and quietly climbed the stairs to U.S. Rep. Mark Udall’s Westminster office with photographers trailing.
There they stopped before the desk of John Bristol, a staff assistant who recently returned from a two-year stint in the Peace Corps in Peru.
“How can I help you all this morning?” said Bristol, who had met them a couple of weeks ago during a similar sit-in on the floor in front of his desk.
Stark told him they had petitions to deliver and statements to make. Bristol took the forms and stamped them with the date.
The protesters waited patiently.
It was all very civilized, boring even.
Their beef with Udall, one of 156 members of Congress who voted “no” on the 2002 resolution to authorize Bush to go to war in Iraq, is over his position on the anticipated bill for supplemental funding to pay for the war.
Stark read a statement about the voiceless Iraqi people living without clean water, electricity or even hope, and Bristol took notes on small yellow telephone message forms.
Mitrovic slipped on her glasses to read a demand for Udall to “have the courage to act” and stop the flow of money for the war.
Colline, the only one under 50 in the group, said he represented the student community, though if there is a student community opposed to the war beyond the 26-year-old graduate student at Naropa, it’s news to me.
They’re very discreet.
The protesters displayed a banner designed to look like a large check for $93 billion for war, and held pictures of injured Iraqi children and distraught Iraqi mothers. They read a quote from Dwight Eisenhower.
“Anything else?” said Bristol, as they finished their presentation.
Well, yes, they said.
“We’re not going to leave,” said Stark.
They sat on the floor and recited the names of fallen Colorado servicemen and Iraqi citizens killed in the war.
Bristol returned to work, answering phones and busying himself at his computer. At one point, he left them alone in the office reciting the names to an empty chair. Other staff members stepped over them.
Same protest, new day.
After about 30 minutes, Westminster police Officer W.D. Nelson arrived and in a voice that sounded more like a social worker than a cop, he suggested that they move their demonstration outside where it’s legal. “That way you can avoid criminal charges and still accomplish your goal.”
Nobody moved.
Udall’s spokesman Lawrence Pacheco was waiting for my call. The congressman believes “we need a phased withdrawal; we need to pull out of Iraq, and we need a surge in diplomacy,” he said. “But as long as there are boots on the ground, he’s not going to vote to cut off funding.”
After a few moments, another Westminster police officer arrived and helped Nelson take the protesters to the police cars. They drove them to headquarters for booking on misdemeanor trespassing charges.
Colline and Stark were taken to Adams County Jail. Mitrovic and Roberts posted bond and were released in time for dinner.
Mission accomplished.
More occupations to come.
It was just another quirky skit from the eccentric movement protesting a war that is becoming more remote, illusory and deadly with each passing day.
Diane Carman’s column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. She can be reached at 303-954-1489 or dcarman@denverpost.com.
