UNM freshman Rachel Harmon-Keeney said she was showing her patriotism by helping lead a peace march on campus Friday that drew about 400 people and involved no skirmishes with police.
"I love my country deeply and believe in the power of the people who want to see this country act in peace," she said. "I am not speaking against America, I am speaking against a small group of people who make the decisions in this country and who are supporting responding to terrorist attacks with war. Violence begets violence and it's just not right."
Harmon-Keeney, who was arrested for her involvement in a Sept. 21 protest, echoed the sentiments of other protesters who said their activities were anything but anti-American.
"I am here because I love the United States of America, but I just think some things need to be changed," said Andrew Ascherl, a UNM student who waved a modified American flag with a white peace sign in place of 50 stars.
While speaking decisively against war, Ascherl admitted the problem has no simple solutions.
"I think a sincere effort would start with looking at U.S. actions abroad that could change how people see the United States and determining why people would want to attack this country," he said. "Aid, not war, needs to be given to Afghanistan and we need to look at using diplomacy, not bombs to solve our problems."
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Harmon-Keeney said that while she does not support military retaliation, she does not think the terrorist attacks can be ignored.
"I think most of us here are in favor of a criminal investigation and using legal means to respond to this problem rather than calling it an act of war," she said. "We're not ignoring the problem, we're just saying that the action this country has taken so far will only compound it and not really help."
The event was sponsored by several groups, including the Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center, Arab Jewish Dialogue of New Mexico and National Lawyers Guild, who call themselves the Albuquerque Peace Coalition. The group plans to hold peace marches every Friday beginning at 4 p.m. at the UNM Bookstore until the military retaliation in response to the terrorist attacks ends.
The march began in front of the bookstore, snaked west to the northeastern corner of University and Central, north to Las Lomas Road and east to the UNM Duck Pond.
Following the arrests of four protesters last week, more than 12 UNM and Albuquerque police watched monitored the event.
Protesters made a concerted effort to steer clear of confrontations with police and organizers selected leaders to help control the group as it crossed a handful of intersections on its route.
The National Lawyers Guild also assigned about 30 law students and community members to monitor the event and note any violations of civil liberties that could be used in the defense of any protesters if they were arrested.
Eric Sirotkin, the leader of the local chapter of the National Lawyers Guild, spoke strongly in favor of the United States pursuing the terrorist attacks through a criminal investigation.
"We need to courageously find alternatives to war so that people from this country don't come home in body bags," he said.
Sirotkin said that he only organized the legal observers and that his viewpoint would not adversely affect testimony.
"Besides, we're not against the police," he said. "We're all just standing up together against war and in favor of everyone's civil liberties."
