stop torture!

"hey mer, what should i put on the sign?" "uh, i don't know, stop torture?" Lat night EB and i weren't too creative as we prepared our signs for the stop torture vigil that was held outside VP Dick Cheney's house. this event was sposored by the River Road Unitarian Church Social Justice Council (Yeah UU's!) It was the third vigil they organized to put action to their beliefs which were summarized on the flier.

"As religious people we feel it is critical that we speak out against this country's torture policies and practices. We need to let our government, our country and the world know, that we oppose torure, whoever commits it- that the torture policy of this administration does not reflect the values of the American people. Vice President Cheney is the apparent leading voice with respect to torture in thes administration and we think it is appropriate to hold our vigil outside his home at the Naval Observatory."

The organizers hoped for a turnout of 100 people. when EB, Becca and I arrived we were numbers 115-117 and more people kept coming. I would estimate at least 150 people were lining massachusetts avenue with signs, candles and most importantly, physical presence.
we received a pretty positive response from the cars driving home and from the taxis with lots of honks, thumbs up and my favorite comment, "give 'em hell!" if just half of those people with a positive response got involved this movement would grow tremendously!our office mom couldn't make it to the vigil so we brought her along in spirit with our little sign, "Barbara Wilson Against Torture" and even though our sign isn't very creative, we're learning about the importance of messaging and therefore it's direct and to the point. and my bubble letters are sweet.