On Friday, April 10 the Homewood Friends, a religious community also known as Quakers, gathered at Art Museum Drive and North Charles Street to protest the U.S. government's involvement in the conflict with Iran.
The United States and Israel launched a series of attacks on Iran on Feb. 28, one of which resulted in the assassination of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Protests ensued across the country, including in Baltimore. Amidst campus activity, the Homewood Friends have been demonstrating every Friday since the conflict started.
Gary Gillespie, one of the coordinators for the vigil and a Homewood Friends member, shared more details in an interview with The News-Letter.
“We’re going to be doing it every Friday here. It’s really witnessing against the war. That’s why we’re here,” Gillespie shared.
Gillespie also mentioned that they held a large vigil on Tuesday in response to Donald Trump’s tweet, where he wrote an “entire civilization will die” in reference to the conflict. Notably, the group has protested U.S. military intervention since 2003. Gillespie added that the group organized a similar protest against the Iraq War as part of a long-term commitment to peaceful causes.
One protest attendee mentioned how Jonathan Dymond, an early 19th century Quaker philosopher, directly and indirectly inspired many peace movements, including Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. According to attendees, their protests intend to keep with the Quaker tradition of peace advocacy.
Another protestor, Patty Nicholls, who identified as an “outraged American,” added her personal reasons for participating in an interview with The News-Letter.
“[The Trump administration] violates the constitution left, right and center,” Nicholls said. “The whole Trump administration is just a big crime syndicate — they’re just channelling money. [They] don’t have money for daycare or health care or anything but they have plenty of money for bombs, money for themselves.”
Nicholls hopes to be visible and vocal to contribute to positive change in the country’s foreign policy.
Homewood Friends continues to host weekly peace vigils for the Iran war. According to their website, “the theme for the vigil is: ‘War is not the Answer’ and ‘Stop the War on Iran.’”
Grace Oh and Shreya Tiwari contributed reporting to this article.
