Culver City Peace Vigil: July 2007 through March 2012

Susan Anderson

Many cities throughout Southern California participate in local peace vigils. The first peace vigil in Culver City took place during the start of the occupation in Iraq. Ours is the second Culver City Peace Vigil. We step aside now for another community group to continue in what Martin Luther King, Jr. calls "the beautiful struggle" for peace.

Our meeting place was nearby the Culver Hotel. Originally we met every Friday night from 5:30 to 6:30 pm and later changed our peace vigil to every other Friday.

Commuters on Culver Boulevard responded to our banner and signs by honking. Pedestrians and tourists walking by the hotel checked out our banner and signs and stopped to ask questions and give their comments. Most agreed with our message and cheered us.

Our message was: U.S. out of Iraq and Afghanistan; No war in Iran.
Health care not warfare.
Billions of money for quality schools, affordable housing, sustainable jobs, and health care for all, instead of for war.
In support of our veterans, our signs called for: training, education, health care, housing and jobs.

The Peace Vigil was a community activity. Those who participated in the vigil were from Culver City or adjacent and are truly a wonderful group of peace activists! Adele in her wheel chair had joined us early on; Chloe became our peace poodle; we all miss Sally, and we congratulated Gretta on her retirement. We sang songs of liberation at the vigil and marched in a Los Angeles downtown peace rally carrying our banner.

We welcomed those passing by to join us. Those who did included middle school age boys riding their skate boards; a group of lively teen age girls; a bicycler from South America who was visiting her mom here in Culver City en route to her home in Belgium; a dad and his preschool son who recognized Robert from the peace vigil as a fellow passenger on their morning bus ride; and a director on his way to joining friends for a showing of his film. Veterans from Viet Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan stopped by and told us of their military experiences.

What did this do for Culver City? It put Culver City on the map as a city with citizens who believe in participating in an ongoing action in support of peace. We participated in this nonviolent direct action for four and a half years. This Friday will be our final peace vigil. I hope that you will join us for one final action.

Susan Anderson has been the organizer of the Culver City Peace Vigil for over 4 years.