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Rain Can %u2019t Dampen The Spirit Of The Coast- To-Coast March l / ! A C U t CBY NORA FITZGERALDSeveral hundred of them walked again onOct. 26, entering the best of the five boroughsunder the worst of possible conditions.Tanned faces emerged from semi-penetrableraingear, water pouring off coats, slidingdown legs, and settling into shoes thatsqueaked collectively across the BrooklynBridge. But this group has encountered manyunrelenting rainstorms, from Los Angeles toSalt Lake City, Vail to the Continental Divide,and Des Moines to the Mississippi River.Known as The Great Peace March forGlobal Nuclear Disarmament, these peopleare finding the cost of freedom. The freedomthey seek is a world devoid of the threat ofnuclear destruction. The cost, for them, is1,600 aching, afflicted feet. According to26-year-old spokesman Bill O%u2019Neill, there areclear rewards: %u201cwe have demonstrated ourconviction that there is hope, and each individual can make a difference.%u201dAnd it seems this pure, unadulterated conviction has kept the m arch alive. The PeaceMarch made it from Los Angeles to Brooklynon foot despite devastating obstacles. Thefounding father announced bankruptcy in theMojave Desert, and 1,000 m archers wereforced to go home. The near collapse was theresult of a burdensome vision of celebrityglitz. But a new m arch rose from the ashes asa kinetic city with a mayor, elected officials,daycare, doctors, and a volunteer fire department. Hie Great Peace March became agrassroots effort engaged with every community it has walked through in the last 3,200miles. The number of m archers has increased from 300 to 800 people. And it keepsgrowing.About 25 valiant Brooklyn residents metthe peace m archers half-way across theBrooklyn Bridge on Sunday, Oct. 26. TheBrooklyn brigade was led by long-time localpeace activists Ben Miller and RichardCoate. Coate has been active in the movement since the Sixties; a founding member ofthe National Peace Academy, he is nowengaged in the Unitarian Peace Movementwith Miller. Miller, a small, balding mandominated by a New York Mets rain cape,has been politically and peacefully activesince his return from World War II. %u201cIwanted to so something about being draggedaway so suddenly. I helped organizeAmerican Veterans for Peace.%u201d Miller pulledout of the organization when it became apolitical stepping stone. He has since workeddiligently for disarmament with groups likethe Brooklyn Heights chapter of NYSANE.Miller was a wet, but warm conversationalist, welcoming the m archers toI was told to hatethe Japanese, so Ihated them. ThenI found out theyaren%u2019t anydifferent than weare. The onlypeople I couldn%u2019tforgive were theGermans, whenthey turned ablind eye to whattheir country wasdoing. W e%u2019redoing the same.(C o a te s Photo)Brooklyn and guiding the motley crewtoward shelter and a rally in Prospect Park.He shared their indefatigable spirit. He alsoshares their commitment to a comprehensive test ban treaty, and has helped unit areapeace groups in this effort.Another contingent of local organizers,m archers, and friends waited anxiously forthe walkers in the century-old tennis house atProspect Park. The scene challenged thesenses and jogged the memory. Ceaselessrains washed the brilliant foliage as m archers tried to keep the food hot. Wet windstrapped the smokey smell as a lone guitariststrummed the tunes of Neil Young, andm archers Gerald Campbell and RobertYantes kept a watchful eye out for their kin.Sixty-four-year old Yantes doesn%u2019t m archbecause of two knee operations. Instead, hedrives the port-a-potties to each site, including Prospect Park. He volunteered to bea part of the m arch, he said, %u201cto dosomething for my four grandchildren.%u201d Butlike Campbell, he is a veteran unhappy withhis government. %u201cI was told to hate theJapanese, so I hated them,%u201d Yantes recalled.%u201c Then I found out they aren%u2019t any differentthan we are. The only people I couldn%u2019tforgive were the Germans because theyturned a blind eye to what their country wasdoing. In our apathy, we%u2019re doing the samething.%u201dLeaning against a stone pillar, Campbelllistened to Yantes and stomped out hiscigarette. The Vietnam veteran said, %u201c I%u2019veseen a lot of 18 and 19-year-olds go up fornothing, and I killed people for nothing. Idon%u2019t want to see another Vietnam inNicaragua or anywhere else.%u201dMost of the marchers who arrived at thetennis house minutes later were too young tohave burned a draft card, watch a friend diein Vietnam, or even wear a P.O.W. braceletwhen they were in vogue. But the memory ofWe have dem onstrated ourconviction that there is hope,and each individual can makea difference.the m arch is as collective as its footsteps, andits purpose is to raise consciousness for apeaceful future.Brooklyn activists appreciated thereminder, but they wished more fair-weatherfriends had attended the rally. PhyllisSalome of the Peace and Justice Committeeat St. Francis Xavier Church was there. Sowas Hortence Lopez, chairperson ofBrooklyn Freeze. These women did the phoning and organizing, finding warm homes form archers to sleep in on a cold, wet Sundayevening. Congressman Schumer andAssemblyman DiBrienza were at the tennishouse to salute the m archers. Still, it was asmall turnout for such coordinated efforts.Yet Evelyn Costa, actress and communityorganizer, attended the rally %u201cbecause I%u2019mreally impressed with the fact that theywalked 3,000 miles, and made contact withcommunities across the country, while thecountry is wasting billions of dollars in thewrong direction.%u201dCosta spoke to m archers at the rally aboutcoming to her home on Bedford Avenue, apoor section of Bedford-Stuyvesant. Sheasked them to speak to her block association,%u201cto make the connection between what thesepeople are marching for and ourneighborhood.%u201d Costa also hoped they wouldspeak informally to the children in herneighborhood, %u201cto get them excited aboutsomething past their next pair of pants.%u201dIt is this kind of engagement with peopleand communities that provides a measurefor success for the March. The early marchfailed as a flamboyant event with celebrityties. Yet The Great Peace March has taken anational anxiety and given it grassroots expression. Hie m archers, representing everystate and 12 countries, have infused hope onthe local level. If you stayed home, youshould be sorry you missed them.The Great Peace M arch For GlooalDisarmament will reach its final destination of Washington D.C. later in November.For information on the march or theWashington rally, call the Peace Office, at(212) 555-7850.Peter, Paul, M ary, Tom, A n d Pete, Sing The Praises O f M arkBY ROB TAYLORWhen folk singer Pete Seeger talks, an audience is humbled; when Peter, Paul andMary perform, a political education is imparted; and when Tom Chapin sings, fansbecome sentimental. Combined, they move acrowd to a near-religious experience,reminding people of the fierce symbolism oftheir music that has crossed every decadesince World War II.Last week, young and old %u201cpolitical activists\formers played to a packed theatre in a firsttime concert at Brooklyn College.While the concert was organized as a fundraiser for Mark Green, the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in the Nov. 4 election,who was not able to attend, the folk artistsmanaged to lure a mixed crowd of young,%u201cpolitically enlightened%u201d students and older,more %u201cyuppified%u201d adults to hear their gospel.It is a gospel about %u201chuman rights%u201d asMary Travers told the fans, adding thatDemocratic values have taught her to speakout against violence, hunger and social injustice.With the audience singing the familiarsongs, clapping their hands to the protestrhythms, tears were shed with memories ofshared ideals and outlooks.Pete Seeger, the grandfather of the group,who provided the early political education ofmany of today%u2019s folk performers, began hisselection singing the protest hymn, %u201cWe ShallNot Be Moved,%u201d bringing images of the civilrights m arches that began to appear acrossthe country some two decades ago.Other songs like %u201cWhere Have All theFlowers Gone?%u201d and %u201c If I Had a Ham m er%u201dwere laced into the pieces Peter, Paul andMary performed, recalling the peace ralliesand hunger strikes of the Tate 60%u2019s and early70%u2019s.While their message about human rightsm ay seem dated to some people, it shamesothers who remember that they used tobelieve the sam e ideals and protest againstthe same problems.A glance at the crowd was evidence enoughof how much the world has changed as havethe values of earlier protesters. Gone are theaudiences with love beads, long hair andflower-power imprints. They have beenreplaced by three-piece suits, gold chains andleather briefcases.The disciples of peace and love have movedfrom their academ ic temples to Wall Streetand midtown-Manhattan law firms. Themoves have undoubtedly caused a conflict ofinner motives as the audiences dearlyremembered that there was a time when theyWAOA tMAM AAMAA%u00abMtA%u00abl aKaI|4 %u2014%u2022 V V VVMWa MVM WMVMH J/V %u00bb V* VJT UUU muthan they now are.But, when asked by Travers to sing about%u201cthe hammer of justice%u201d and the %u201cbell offreedom,%u201d these missions were once againraised in the minds of the jaded audience.Today, however, the folk singers have somevery contemporary causes to lend theirmessages to. They are no longer singingabout peace in Vietnam, but have turnedtheir efforts toward peace in CentralAmerica. Social justice has become an immediate concern in New York City as theyfocus their energies on the problems faced byhomeless people. And, cries for an end to thenuclear arm s race as well as the use ofIt is a gospel about humanrights, as M ary Travers toldthe fans, adding thatD em ocratic values havetaught her to speak outagainst violence, hunger andsocial injustice.nuclear energy were heard through PeteSeeger%u2019s parables on life and death, heavenand hell.So, while the audience might have come forthe memories of a bygone era, they weretreated to a sermon on modern-day issues.K i n a i n a %u00bb w n o onlloH %u201c P.1 S %u00bb lv ;^ o r ,%u201d P e te r,P a d and Mary challenged the crowd totranslate the lessons of earlier years to thepresent day and call for an end to Americanintervention in the Central American battles.Apartheid in South Africa was given anequally compelling presentation, as Traverstalked briefly about her experiences withBishop Desmond Tutu and his family in thatcountry.Just as the folk singers%u2019 strong sound hastaken on modem causes, a younger group ofactivists was present in the audience, albeit asmall group compared to the masses whofollowed the peace movement more than adecade ago.While %u201cBlowin%u2019 in the Wind%u201d is thought ofas a hymn of the 60%u2019s, there were a surprisingnumber of young people who knew the wordsto the tune that both rock singers and folk artists at one time sang with reverent zeal.It is an encouraging sign for these performers who continue their battles for humanrights all over the world. Perhaps the factthat Peter, Paul and Mary did not performfor about eight years in the 1970%u2019s or thatPete Seeger, who was black-listed in the early 1950%u2019s, has been a less flamboyant personality, stifled the social and politicalmessages of popular music in the lastdecade. But, their concert at Brooklyn College demonstrated that there is still a vigorfor social activism and that people aresusceptible to the hope that life can be madeueiier if oniy people try.M ore F or The RecordNews On Page 28 This WeekN ovem ber 6, 1986, TH E P H O E N IX , Page 31