BY DIANE WILSON
I started a letter on the first day but pooped out. Probably it was that 2 mile walk in the hot hot sun that did it. Dick
Gregory, who’s famous for his hunger strikes on the Viet Nam war, made a speech under the trees and said if you’re on a fast its real important to pace yourself, don’t exercise, don’t walk 50 blocks to a July 4 parade. But on the first day, even with seven hunger strikes under my belt, I walked all the way to the parade. Then the rest of the day I sat under
a tree, red-faced and exhausted. Not a good start.
But here I am, fourth day into the strike or fast or whatever you want to call it. Feeling much better. Energy aint bad. I’m a cafeein nut; drink coffee all day long and I’ll tell you a little secret, I’ve always felt my high energy came from all that coffee.. But I haven’t had coffee in 4 days and still my energy comes. It sneeks upon me like a small green snake wiggling across the yard.
Some of the women felling weak and are having little fainting spells. Not actually fainting, but getting dizzy and nauseous. They get pass that stage, though. Day four is a breaking point. I don’t get faint at all. Don’t know why, maybe it’s from being from Texas. Reason enough.
Out of the 4 days of fasting, we’ve been rained out twice and run out by the cops twice. For no apparent reason, here come the fellas yelling at everybody to get clean outa the park. Nobody allowed. First time that happened, a big dignitary was arriving at the White House. The next time it happened, the prime minister of Canada was coming and going at the White house and here come the cops. I’d like to describe them more than just “cops” but frankly Im not sure who’s at the bottom of this. The secret service, the swap team, and the K-9’s were involved so I’m a little unsure of who was really incharge. The second time the cops came, we just got close to the road between the White House and Lafette Park with our banners to bring the troops home and refused to move. The cops came up and said we had to move. Get out. It was for our own security. We said, “Why?” and they said there’s harmful emissions out there and the alarms are going off all over the place. We said what harmful emissions and they very dead faced and serious.
“Radiation.”
Well why weren’t the cops wearing masks? Why did they look so calm about the whole thing if radiation was running rampant? What about that poor president over there? Wouldn’t the radiation affect the president? Did the EPA know about the radiation problem?
Well the cops didn’t worry about the president because doctors would take care of George Bush, it was just our health they were worried about, so get outa the park. Eventually we stonewalled and asked enough questions that even the visitors that got ran out got tired and started coming back in. Then it was sure enough ruin for the evacuation. Now they just clear the road and leave the park to us. Victory comes in small doses.
Visit the Codepink “Troops Home Fast” site
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