Crosses of Lafayette: Vandals Strike in the Night
Photo by John EatonLast night vandals desecrated the memorial to the fallen heroes in Iraq on a hillside in Lafayette, California. The vandals used black paint to cover up the tribute on the sign which read: "IN MEMORY OF 2,937 U.S. TROOPS KILLED IN IRAQ."
Jeff Heaton developed the plan to build a memorial to the fallen U.S. troops in Iraq. The memorial of crosses is located on private property owned by John and Louise Clark near the BART station in Lafayette. The property is on a hillside and is clearly visible to commuters on BART and on Highway 24. Volunteer support for the project initially came from community peace advocates including the Mt. Diablo Peace and Justice Center and the Lamorinda Peace Group.
Volunteers built and painted 420 crosses leading up to Veterans Day. These crosses were erected on the hillside over the weekend of November 11. A sign large enough to be read from a distance was also erected. Initially, the sign read: "IN MEMORY OF 2,839 U.S. TROOPS KILLED IN IRAQ." The sign, in turn, became a lightning rod for controversy. On November 14, a photographer from the Contra Costa Times happened to snap a photo of Jean Bonodio, identified as a former Marine, knocking the sign down. The City of Lafayette agreed to discuss the issue of the sign at a regularly scheduled city council meeting on November 27. The meeting attracted enormous media attention and allowed citizens to express their opinions about the war, free speech, the memorial, patriotism, respect for the military and the size of the sign.
On November 30, Michelle Locke, an AP journalist specializing in free speech issues wrote a story that was picked up world wide. The goal of the memorial is eventually to have a cross for every soldier killed in Iraq. The volunteer force building, painting and erecting the crosses has grown steadily. Each Sunday more crosses are added.
And now something really ugly has happened. The crosses and the sign have meant different things to different viewers. Some see a memorial to the fallen heroes in Iraq. Others see an anti war mesaage that does not show proper respect to our troops. But what can we make of this kind of vandalism and its misguided perpetrators? And how will the community respond? I hope to see a renewed commitment to completing the memorial and to ending this tragic war.
posted by Eschew Obfuscation at 9:47 AM
4 Comments:
The maddening thing is that the people who would tear down the crosses, paint over the memorial, and demand the memorial's removal are very likely the same ones who put up all those white crosses to memorialize aborted fetuses...as though every aborted fetus were already a Chritisan martyr.
The world is a mad mad mad one indeed.
I think the people who put up that so-called "antiwar" demonstration deserve the hatred and contempt of all freedom loving Americans. They aren't "anti-war" - they re anti American and pro-Islamist terrorism. In other words they are America hating creeps of a type all too well known in the Bay Area. Most of all they are parasites, enjoying the benefits of living in a free country while smearing the brave men and women in uniform who make that freedom possible with their smarmy false pity.
The people who have done this thing should not be prosecuted at law, but they should be shunned and boycotted. Their neighbors should refuse to speak to them, merchants should refuse their business, and the town should condemn them in every way permissible within the law.
Yes they have right a right to freedom of speech. So so the members of the American Nazi Party, whose position on the war in Iraq is identical to their. But that doesn't mean they deserve the respect of decent people.
I think the people who put up that so-called "antiwar" demonstration deserve the hatred and contempt of all freedom loving Americans. They aren't "anti-war" - they re anti American and pro-Islamist terrorism. In other words they are America hating creeps of a type all too well known in the Bay Area. Most of all they are parasites, enjoying the benefits of living in a free country while smearing the brave men and women in uniform who make that freedom possible with their smarmy false pity.
The people who have done this thing should not be prosecuted at law, but they should be shunned and boycotted. Their neighbors should refuse to speak to them, merchants should refuse their business, and the town should condemn them in every way permissible within the law.
Yes they have right a right to freedom of speech. So so the members of the American Nazi Party, whose position on the war in Iraq is identical to their. But that doesn't mean they deserve the respect of decent people.
I think the people who put up that so-called "antiwar" demonstration deserve the hatred and contempt of all freedom loving Americans. They aren't "anti-war" - they re anti American and pro-Islamist terrorism. In other words they are America hating creeps of a type all too well known in the Bay Area. Most of all they are parasites, enjoying the benefits of living in a free country while smearing the brave men and women in uniform who make that freedom possible with their smarmy false pity.
The people who have done this thing should not be prosecuted at law, but they should be shunned and boycotted. Their neighbors should refuse to speak to them, merchants should refuse their business, and the town should condemn them in every way permissible within the law.
Yes they have right a right to freedom of speech. So so the members of the American Nazi Party, whose position on the war in Iraq is identical to their. But that doesn't mean they deserve the respect of decent people.
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