NEWS / PROTEST - Women in Black: in an hour, a silent witness for peace
 By Charity Vogel
 Buffalo News Staff Reporter 7/20/2003 www.buffalonews.com

  Jean Dickson stands because her son is Arab-American.
 
 Aimee Goldberg was in New York City on 9/11 and was devastated by the  destruction.

 Roxanne Amico stands because her father was born in Sicily and lived under fascism before  immigrating to Buffalo.

 The simple fact that these women are still standing, at all, strikes some people as odd.

 After all, the group Women in Black - which stands in a silent vigil for peace on Elmwood  Avenue every Saturday - first formed in Buffalo in the grim months after Sept. 11, 2001.

 Now that the war in Iraq is largely over, their presence strikes some as incongruous - not to  mention unpatriotic.

 "They hate the military, these people," fumed Peter Catania, a Buffalo retiree who recently  started his own one-man protest of the protesters. He now stands at the intersection every  week, too, holding a homemade sign that reads "No more peace groups."

 But Women in Black of Buffalo aims to stick around for a while.

 And their visibility is about to increase: A documentary film about them will debut in Buffalo  this fall.

 Ask the members of Women in Black why they stand together for an hour each week, and they  explain that their reasons go much deeper than any single military conflict.

 They have personal motivations, as well as political ones, for donning all-black clothing and  taking up positions on a city street corner.

 It isn't pleasant work. They take a lot of abuse.

 An hour on the sidewalk watching Women in Black reveals a lot about the members of the  group - and a lot about Buffalo itself.

 Last Saturday, 23 black-garbed women and seven men gathered on the sidewalk at Elmwood  Avenue and Bidwell Parkway, near a coffee shop, a bookstore, and a bustling farmers' market  set up on the green.

 Sharply at noon, members of the group arranged themselves in a straight line. In silence, they  held up homemade signs bearing slogans promoting peace. "Dissent is democratic," read one  sign. Another read, "Support our troops, bring them home."

 That's the group's main message: peace throughout the world, and an end to U.S. aggression  around the globe.

 Now an international movement, Women in Black began in 1988 when Israeli and Palestinian  women in the Middle East decided to stand together in a wordless vigil for peace - wearing  black clothing, a symbol of mourning.

 Today there are Women in Black groups throughout the United States, though no national  organization unites the groups. Each unit, in that sense, stands alone.

 In 2001, the Women in Black movement was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

 "There's an element of theater to it," said Amico, a Buffalo resident. "Even without words,  there's a message."

 And that message creates quite a stir. Of the hundreds of cars that flowed through the  intersection during the vigil hour Saturday, some offered a positive reaction - drivers honked  their horns or gave a quick peace sign.

 But many more of the cars carried people who yelled insults at the group members. The black  line got flashed the middle finger over and over. Some people drove around the block so they  could buzz past twice, hollering abuse.

 During last Saturday's vigil, here is some of what the group heard: "Losers!" "Turncoats!"  "People are dying for you!"

 The favorite jeer, among members of the group, is this one: "Get a job!"

 They demonstrate on Saturday, they point out, because they have jobs during the week.

 U.S. peace activism

 Women have been involved in promoting peace in the United States for decades, experts said,  and in that sense Women in Black is not radically different.

 "There's a long history of the women's peace movement, especially going back to World War  I, and then after World War I," said Susan K. Cahn, an associate professor of history at the  University at Buffalo. "In the 1920s, women's peace organizations were some of the most  common activities women activists engaged in."

 A snapshot of women's peace activism through the years reveals:

 The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, founded in 1915 by Jane Addams.  The Philadelphia-based organization is still in operation.

 Women's "peace camps" in the 1970s and 1980s, in which groups of women set up camp near  military-related facilities.

 Eleanor Roosevelt as a proponent of peace, according to Cahn, who teaches courses on U.S.  women's history at UB.

 "She was writing and speaking right out about peace," Cahn said. "She really had her own  voice."

 What makes Women in Black unique is its international reach and its independence.

 Groups exist around the world, including in Israel, England, Italy, Spain, Australia and New  York City. All are free-standing, independent local movements. Women in Black has no  membership roster, no elected leadership and no dues.

 In Buffalo, Women in Black protesters occasionally stage a demonstration at a site other than  Elmwood. In 2001, for example, they protested at UB on the night former Secretary of State  Madeleine K. Albright gave a speech.

 Any woman - men are allowed, too, in the Buffalo group - can just show up and participate,  said Amico, the local member.

 "Not all of us do it every Saturday," she said, "and sometimes people show up that we don't  know."

 Individual reasons

 Amico said her background as a first-generation American makes her aware that other groups  in the United States are not as lucky as her father was when he immigrated from fascist Italy in  1928. He found refuge in Buffalo, she said.

 But other immigrant groups are now being investigated and deported in this country, Amico  said.

 "The same thing could have happened to my father and his family," she said.

 David Hamilton, a Buffalo retiree, has stood with the group for 11/2 years. He cares about  peace in the Middle East, and he wants his children to know what he stands for - that he's  about action, not just words.

 "I felt this was a way to raise my voice," Hamilton said. "I have to be able to be a role model."

 Tanya Saylor, a graduate student in social work at UB, stands with the group because she  wants to participate in an active way in promoting peace - something she hopes to be involved  with, on a policy level, when she finishes her degree.

 It took a few times observing the group before she felt comfortable participating, said Saylor,  a Michigan native.

 "I really wanted to make sure it wasn't a confrontational, radical group," she said. "I wanted to  make sure it was a peace vigil."

 Aimee Goldberg, at 26 one of the group's younger members, lived in New York City for eight  years, including during the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

 Seeing that destruction made Goldberg realize "what our bombs do to other people."

 Stories like those are some of the reasons a local filmmaker is crafting a documentary about  Buffalo's Women in Black group.

 Upcoming documentary

 The 40-minute film will debut this fall, said Vince Mistretta of the Ricecooker, a Buffalo film  company.

 He said he has captured great footage over the past several months, including film of a man  who turned up one Saturday with a digital camera and proceeded to take close-up pictures of  the faces of every woman and man in the line. They don't know who the man was, said  Mistretta.

 Hopefully, he said, the film will go on to reach audiences around the country, possibly even  convincing people in other cities to start their own Women in Black groups.

 "It's turning out to be a video about free speech," he said. "People standing with signs can be  very threatening to people."

 

 

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