The Battle Was Won...

... but the peace-pushing grannies of Philadelphia still have a war to end.

by Zach Pontz

protests

Many ordinary grandmothers would rather stay indoors on a wet autumn morning, but the gaggle of grannies gathered at Broad and Arch streets at 8:30 a.m. were far from the senior-center norm. They were Philadelphia's Granny Peace Brigade and, much like they did when they took over a military recruiting station on June 28 [Cover, "Unusual Suspects," Brian Hickey, July 6, 2006], they were here to be heard.

And, of course, to avoid a 90-day jail sentence.

"To me, this isn't just about the Iraq war," declared Marlene Santoyo, one of the 11 grandmothers facing defiant trespassing charges stemming from their anti-war sit-in at a recruiting station located a block up Broad Street. "It's about Iran, it's about Palestine and Israel, it's about Halliburton and all the other problems and corruptions facing the country."

Outside the courthouse, some 50 protestors lent support to the grannies, who back in June had been cuffed and hauled off after refusing to leave recruiting station when their attempts to enlist were denied because they were older than 42, the Army's maximum age for new soldiers.

HIGH STAKES: The grannies faced 90 days in jail. Photo By: Michael T. Regan

The crowd included students from as far away as Massachusetts and members of the New York City branch of the Granny Peace Brigade, whose October 2005 Times Square sit-in inspired the local ladies to take some action of their own. Amid signs like "Grannies Say Oy Vay, War-on-Iraq No Way," Phil Engelhorn said he decided to attend after hearing the poet (and suspect) Sonia Sanchez speak to one of his classes at New York University. "She came in and spoke and read poetry," Engelhorn explained. "She called us all brothers and sisters. I was so inspired I just had to come down here and support her."

As the time to face the judge approached, the mood outside was anything but somber. The grannies didn't seem the least bit worried; there was more of a giddy excitement as they sang protest songs like "There's No Business Like War Business" and "Take Me Out of the War Game." By 9 a.m., when it was time to head inside, chants of "Go Granny Go!" started ringing out. The protest continued with members of Iraq Veterans Against the War taking the microphone to urge an end to the war. They were joined by Celeste Baker, whose son Sherwood was killed in a Baghdad bombing on April 26, 2004 [News, "Was It Worth It?" Christopher Schwartz, Oct. 6, 2005].

"Tonight, Donald Rumsfeld will be in town receiving an award from the Union League," Baker said. Pointing to the veterans in the crowd, she declared, "These are the people who should be receiving awards. They're the ones risking their lives because of that man's lies."

Granted, she was preaching to the choir, including one person from New Jersey who maintained, referring to George Bush, Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice, "The way I see it, they're all war criminals. If I could choose, I'd strip those three naked every single year and make them stand in front of every Iraqi and American widow and plead forgiveness."

Inside, there were no naked pleas for forgiveness, but applause rang out when Municipal Court Judge Deborah Griffin dismissed the charges against the grannies, one of whom, Lillian Willoughby, is a wheelchair-bound 91-year-old.

"The prosecutor could only present the fact that we littered a few pamphlets in the office. The judge said that in that case maybe we should have been charged with littering," said Sue Ellen Klein, a 65-year-old from Center City. "We weren't really worried anyway, because we felt all along that our First Amendment rights trumped the charge."

Santoyo, who said she risked jail time so her 7-year-old grandson and 10-year-old granddaughter wouldn't have to "worry about growing up and dying in some pointless war," wasn't as restrained. She proudly declared, "I feel fucking empowered."

While that empowerment won't likely result in another sit-in, group co-founder Zandra Moberg says the grannies' next move is a Jan. 18 trip to Washington, D.C., to lobby congressmen to end the war.

(z_pontz@citypaper.net)