In March of 1965, thousands of protesters, led by Dr.
Martin Luther King, Jr., walked 50 miles from Selma, Ala., to Montgomery,
the Alabama capital. Centuries earlier, around 1290 B.C., Israelites
wandered the desert for 40 years after being freed from the bonds of
slavery. The “Walk for Justice: The Midwest to the
Mideast” will fall somewhere between the two — at least in
terms of sheer distance, if not historical significance. On June 7, local peace-and-justice activists,
organized for the Chicago-based Voices for Creative Nonviolence, will hold
a vigil at 7:30 a.m. on the steps of the Capitol, then begin a 300-mile
trek from Springfield to north Chicago. The journey, which is expected to
conclude by July 5, is designed to “challenge the wars in Iraq and
Israel-Palestine and the criminal injustice system in Illinois.” In terms of the latter, VFCN wants a commitment to
rehabilitation rather purely punitive measures as well as an overhaul of
the criminal-justice system, which, the group says, is “a key element
of the war on the poor, people of color and youth” in the U.S. As far as the Middle East goes, VFCN is calling for
an end to the Iraq War and the immediate withdrawal of all U.S. troops, to
be followed by a U.S.-funded reconstruction program in Iraq. In addition,
VFCN would like to see that all veterans receive quality health care for
their service to their country. “Many of us who are involved with
‘Voices’ have traveled to Iraq before and after the invasion
occurred, and have experienced the criminal justice system as a result of
having engaged in civil disobedience,” says Jeff Leys, a VFCN
co-coordinator. Kicking the march off in Springfield and concluding
at a military-entrance-processing command, he explains, draws the
connection between state and federal policies governing the prison system
at home and military operations overseas. The trip starts out on Highway 29, then goes east to
Highway 251, making stops at Caterpillar headquarters in Peoria, the
Batavia district office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, and a federal
prison in Pekin.
This article appears in Jun 1-7, 2006.
