I am numb and beginning to fear for my safety, living in this small Texas town, all because I am driving The Peace-mobile.
I turned my old, white, Toyota station wagon into The Peace-mobile by inviting folks to write messages of peace (directly on my car in permanent black marker) to be delivered to Cindy Sheehan and the peace protestors on Saturday, August 27, 2005, up at Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas. I now have messages of peace written in English, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, French, German, and a message from Navahos for Peace. My favorite is: This IS What Democracy Looks Like.
My daughter and I arrived in Crawford, just as the storm was subsiding. Soon after reaching Camp Casey II, Jeff Key, played Taps over the Arlington West project at sundown.
Four Iraq vets (Jeff Key, bugler)
Afterwards, he signed his full name on the hood, and wrote, "Bring em home" inside of a heart. This was our second trip to the camp, and the few hours we were able to spend there were inspiring and well worth the 4-hour drive.
Two days later, on Monday, everything was fine at work, until the business manager saw my car as he walked from one building to the next with the computer maintenance guy, who was there specifically to add server access privileges so that I could fix the security problems in their database. So it wasn’t like they were pondering letting me go at any time before they fired me this morning.
The angry business manager stormed into my office, yelling at me that he had "just gotten his son back from fighting in Afghanistan," and that he was offended by the messages on my car. He demanded to know how and why they came to be there, but I did not choose to be put on the defense. I offered a simplistic answer and also offered the information that other families of soldiers share my point of view about the war. He then said he didn't believe me.
Before leaving work, on my own time, I wrote the angry manager a letter saying I was there only to do my job and that I had not mentioned anything about my personal viewpoints or activities to anyone at work. If anyone else with whom I work was "offended" by The Peace-mobile, they kept it to themselves and focused on the work at hand.First thing when I arrived at work on Tuesday morning, my boss was in a closed door meeting with the business manager (our boss had not been at work the day before.) Ten minutes later, my boss called me into his office and said he had done some “re-thinking about my position,” that they no longer needed my services, and I should collect my belongings and leave immediately. I went back to my office to comply and after a few minutes, came back to his office to turn in my keys. When he asked what I had in the envelope I was carrying, I showed him a copy of the letter I'd given the business manager. I told him his copy was in his email, but he said he had not yet had time to read his email. I offered him my printed copy, as I had also emailed it to myself at home.
After reading the first line or so, he began to stammer, and said, "Working closely together in this office as we do, I need folks to be focusing on their work." I told him I agreed and had mentioned this same concept to the business manager in the letter he was now holding. By his comment, it was now clear to me that I was being fired, not through any wrongdoing on my part, but because the business manager could not "focus" on his work, as he had uncontrollable anger at the messages displayed (peacefully) on my car.
A friend has just reminded me that this same scenario is used when the victim of sexual harassment in the workplace is fired! And, right now I can definitely relate. I had been in this job exactly three weeks, with nothing but praise for my performance. Right now I feel injured. Should I have The Peace-mobile painted over and pretend this really didn't happen? I asked my teenaged daughter after I picked her up from school what she thought, and she said, "Never give up and never give in."
On the way home, a man from a car in the next lane yelled at me, calling me a communist. At a traffic signal, a woman rolled down her window along side me and angrily said her son was fighting in Iraq and she didn't appreciate the signs on my vehicle, and sped away. I am now wondering if my choice of peaceful protest is putting myself and my daughter in danger.
I feel like hauling out the boxes, packing up, and moving away! We have barely tolerated the close-mindedness of this small Texas town, but have not "made any waves," since our arrival here from Baltimore three years ago. At the end of this school year, my daughter will go off to California to attend college, and I was already planning to get the hell out of here. Maybe we should hit the trail now?It is so rare for me to be afraid of anyone or anything, as I am a seasoned political activist and NOT easily bullied. At the age of 50 and partially mobility impaired, I am feeling vulnerable. And, I am angry about it.
Is this not THE America, where citizens have constitutional protections against being fired for their political beliefs? I am reminded that in a fascist state, not only is dissention not tolerated, it is punished!
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