On Saturday, we went to the "Stop the Illegal & Unjust War in Iraq/Support our Soldiers Courage to Resist" Vigil/March and Program in Little Tokyo. We went because we wanted to show our support for Lt. Ehren Watada who is the first military officer who refused to go to Iraq. The military wants to make an example of him and he faces 4 years in military prison, 2 years for speaking out against the war in public. We also went because we support Spc. Agustin Aguayo, who is the first one to apply for conscientious objector status. He actually went to Iraq, but refused to put ammunition in his guns (or something like that).Watada's court martial trial began yesterday in Ft. Lewis, Washington. Some of our friends from NCRR went up to Washington so that they could attend the trial. But the judge has refused to allow any evidence about the illegality of the war, only whether or not he made public statements and refused to serve. A few months ago, we were able to attend an event where Watada's parents spoke about his courageous decision to stand up and speak out.
Anyways, we were busy cleaning the house and getting ready for Maiya's birthday party the following day, but it was important to us to take Maiya to this event. Tony made a little pin for her with the peace sign and the words "Support War Resisters" with two little Hello Kitty stickers on it. It was great to see so many of our community friends, and even cooler to be on a peace march through Little Tokyo, our "home" base. Speaking of which, the march went right past the Little Tokyo Mural, and Tony got some great pictures of people walking by the mural... At the program following the march, Nobuko, Olmeca and Quetzal performed, along with our friends Traci Kato-Kiriyama and Ruben Guevara.
For more info about Lt. Ehren Watada, see http://www.thankyoult.org
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As a follow up to this Blog, on Wednesday, the Judge declared a mistrial over some legal technicalities having to do with Watada's being able to testify about his belief that the war is unjust. They set a new trial date but it's possible that it won't go forward because of double jeopardy. Anyways, for now, it's a victory.
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