On Monday night, November 28th, 12 members of SLO County CodePink escorted Bill Mitchell, co-founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, on a mission. We rented a large passenger van to make the two-and-half-hour drive a pleasant one, in our action to target Bill Thomas, long-term Congressman of the enormous 22nd District and Chairman of the Ways & Means Committee. Thomas was hosting his annual “Academy Night” for students interested in attending military academies for their education. The purpose: after a number of requests, Thomas had not yet taken the time to meet with his own constituent Bill Mitchell to honor the death of Mike, Bill’s son, who was killed in Iraq on 4-4-04 in Sadr City. SLO CodePink decided back in September to take on Thomas for snubbing our friend Bill, after learning how Thomas’ Washington staff treated him during the week of the “Bring Them Home Now Tour.”

So we off we went with our freshly made pink Santa Hats, our Christmas stocking signs and our energy. And when we got there, we found a lovely group of peace activists from around the Bakersfield area waiting for our arrival. We had been emailing people, some Bill Mitchell knew, some we found on the internet, and were they ever happy to see us! There were about 20 of them and then shortly thereafter, Tim Goodrich of the Iraq Veterans Against the War plus four more of his associates arrived from Los Angeles. Best of all, we had the three local television stations and the main city newspaper, The Bakersfield Californian!

There we were, trying to get a handle on the enormous Kern County Building (they call it the Taj Mahal for its size) and its four different entrances, attempting to figure out how to be most effective with our band of 40 plus. We decided on two sites to “welcome” prospective students and their families. We had a letter from Bill Mitchell to hand them, explaining why we were there. A few accepted the letter. Most did not. But that is OK because they had the chance to hear from a real Iraq veteran during the presentation! (See Tim’s story below!) The point is that the Congressman has agreed to meet with Bill Mitchell. On tonight’s evening news on www.kget.com or specifically, http://tinyurl.com/cxhww, there is a story about it.

Thomas did not face us, but I walked in and did hand him a letter stating our formal request for a town hall meeting and his signing on to specific Iraq withdraw legislation in Congress, particularly Murtha’s HJR 73.

We followed national CodePink directions to get “public” with pro-war members of Congress and it worked! We now have the opportunity to work this a bit. We want a town hall meeting to be held on this issue, in this part of the district. Bakersfield is a place where the progressives feel very lonely, as castaways on a deserted island, so it was great to let our pink light shine! We let them know there are people all over SLO County, in Arroyo Grande, Templeton, Atascadero and other areas working to make positive changes. Actually, thanks to these good folks in Bakersfield, we were given crucial logistical information and media contacts. With a little more collaboration, who knows what can happen? Many a good thing, I believe.

Here is Tim Goodrich’s story of how his own action went last night. I call it “The One Who Served vs. Another Elitist Who Did Not” :

Tonight, Representative Bill Thomas held his annual Academy Forum for high school students interested in going to one of the military service academies. This is the same Bill Thomas who has an abysmal voting record when it comes to Iraq. He has also refused to meet with Bill Mitchell, father of Mike Mitchell who was killed in Iraq on April 04, 2004, despite repeated attempts for meetings and going to his office in Washington, DC five separate times.

Naturally (and since it doesn’t appear Mr. Thomas likes to meet with his constituency), we thought a protest was in order to let him know how The People feel about the war in Iraq. Upon our arrival in Bakersfield from Los Angeles, there was representation from Iraq Veterans Against the War, Gold Star Families for Peace, Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, and other concerned citizens. There were approximately 40 individuals standing outside of the Kern County Administrative Center letting passersby know that the best course of action is to Bring Them Home Now.

As the time to start the forum drew near, it was decided that five people would enter in order to hear what would be said and to possibly face Rep. Thomas about his support for an illegal and immoral war. About halfway through the program, I removed my button-down shirt to reveal my IVAW t-shirt underneath, stood up, and asked, “Mr. Thomas, as an Iraq veteran I demand to know why you’re sending these kids off to die for a lie.” At that point, the other four people stood up and joined in chanting “Bring the Troops Home Now.” This continued until, and as, we were escorted out of the forum.

Needless to say, Rep. Thomas and the spectators were a bit surprised. However, I guarantee you there are about 60 kids who went home reflecting upon what they saw tonight. They are asking themselves what had to occur in order for a returned veteran to be so against the war that he took such a step to protest it. They’re also wondering if joining the military while the war in Iraq is happening is really the right thing to do. After all, if things continue the way they have been, these kids will be fighting over there in about six years; after they graduate from the academy and complete their training. What will remain the same is that people will still be dying for lies. The only difference will be that the body counts will be much higher on both sides.

My job, and the job of my fellow Iraq Veterans Against the War, is to make sure we don’t get to that point.

Congressman Thomas, it’s time to wake up and smell the reality. It’s time to Bring the Troops Home. Now.

Dawn Ortiz-Legg is a cofounder of the San Luis Obispo County chapter of Code Pink. She can be reached at dawnortizlegg@charter.net.


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