No protest held to keep TV from trivializing effort

To the editor:

The Iraq war is not trivial. In recognition of this, the Southeast Missouri Coalition for Peace and Justice has held weekly protest vigils for some 15 months. As Thursday-evening travelers near the corner of Broadway and West End Boulevard know, we are opposed to the pattern of lies that took this nation into an illegal and immoral war even as we are supportive of and sympathetic to the military personnel serving their country in Iraq and the loved ones left behind.

The constancy and legitimacy of this protest are, we infer, why the coalition received the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Service Award. Passers-by might wonder why we were absent last week.

The reason is no diminished opposition to the war. Indeed, as casualties on both sides mount and chaos increasingly grips Iraq, our concerns are heightened. Our absence this week was because a local TV station sought to trivialize the Iraq war and our opposition to it by running a humorous feature on the honking by passing supporters of our opposition. By inviting motorists to honk for peace, they suggested, we were asking motorists to break a law that states honking without just cause is illegal. Although we argue that peace is surely as just a cause as can be imagined, we chose not to provide the TV station with an opportunity to trivialize either us or the Iraq war.

Rest assured, however, that our vigils and protests will continue.

ALAN R.P. JOURNET

Cape Girardeau