THE GRANNY PEACE BRIGADE

The year was 2006, three years after George Bush had sent thousands of young American men and women to Iraq….to return in body bags hidden from public view.

Americans wondered what we were doing in Iraq and why we were there. In Philadelphia, women dressed in black held weekly vigils, and a group of grandmothers, got together to share their distress and plan what to do. Thus, the Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia was born—though the early name was “Grandmothers for Peace”.

The first action was on Tax Day at Rittenhouse Square, when a group of grandmothers, dressed in fancy hats, circulated petitions urging an end to the fighting in Iraq.

A month later about 15 Grandmothers met in Fairmount and decided to enlist—“we have lived our lives”, they said, “so send us to fight, for we don’t want our grandchildren coming home in body bags.”

On June 28, 2006, eleven Grandmothers, one in a wheel chair, and including Philadelphia poet laureate Sonia Sanchez, entered the Recruiting Center at Broad and Cherry Streets, to sign up. With hundreds of supporters outside, they refused to leave and were arrested on a charge of “defiant trespassing”. At their December trial, the Judge dismissed the case, again to a bevy of cheering supporters.

Since then, opting for a more active name, the Granny Peace Brigade Philadelphia has lobbied in Congress, worked to educate high school students about alternatives to the military, knit “stump socks” for wounded veterans, leafleted in Philadelphia to raise awareness of the high cost of war, and marched with Spiral Q in their annual People’s Parade.

Currently alerting people to the danger of war in Iran, the Grannies value the fun of working together on serious issues. They keep going because they care about their grandchildren and the future of the world.