The Walk for Justice is organized by Voices for Creative Nonviolence and emphasizes dialogue with those we meet along the way. Passing through the heartland of Illinois, we’ve engaged many in conversations about the war in Iraq. A number of soldiers who served in Iraq initiated conversations with us. While being clear that they disagreed with our position on the war, the conversations allowed us to learn from their experience and for them to learn our reasons for opposing the war. Such conversations broke down the us-versus-them dichotomy that so often pervades debate about the war.

The Walk for Justice invites you and others to join us in these final days of the walk. We ask that all who join the Walk be respectful of the attempt to engage in dialogue with those we meet along the way. We ask that signs which are brought to the Walk be mindful of this tone of dialogue and avoid criticism of individuals, regardless of the individual’s position in the government. Our belief is that the war in Iraq continues because of the actions of both political parties in Congress and the White House and that both the Democratic and Republican parties have actively supported waging war against Iraq going back to 1990. We also ask that signs brought to the Walk refrain from the use of profanity.

We have not sought permits for the Walk route. Our plan is to be on city sidewalks (or shoulders of roads where sidewalks do not exist) and proceed in such a way which does not obstruct other pedestrian or vehicular traffic. If police departments should decide to intervene along the Walk route, we ask that participants allow designated peacekeepers (who will be wearing lime green safety vests) to engage in dialogue with the police to keep the walk moving forward.

The Walk for Justice will have the following start and end points:

June 27 – Elburn to Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert’s office in Batavia.

June 28 – Batavia to Wheaton.

June 29 – Wheaton to the Hines VA Medical Center at 5th Street and Roosevelt Road in Maywood. A 4:30 p.m. rally and vigil at Hines is being organized and conducted by Near West Citizens for Peace and Justice.

June 30 – The Hines VA to the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center at 820 S Damen Avenue in Chicago.

July 1 – The Jesse Brown VA to Senn High School at 5900 N Glenwood in Chicago. A 7:00 p.m. evening program is being held at the St. Gertrude Parish Social Hall (1420 W Granville Ave in Chicago).

July 2 – St. Gertrude Parish to Winnetka. At 5:30 p.m., a Lakefront Picnic and Sing Out will take place at Dawes Park in Evanston and is being organized by North Shore activists.

July 3 – Winnetka to Fort Sheridan, home to the headquarters to the Army’s Chicago Area Recruiting Battalion.

July 4 – Fort Sheridan to the North Chicago VA Medical Center.

July 5 – North Chicago VA Medical Center to the U.S. Military Entrance Processing Command.

For more information on the Walk for Justice route, please visit the website of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, www.vcnv.org or call 773-878-3815 (office) or 773-573-5380 (cell phone along walk route). Also, please let us know if you will join us for all or part of a day to help us in logistics planning.