Mothers To Stage Own Day

On the beach and in Culver City

    In the wake of the tragedy of the Civil War, in which families on both sides suffered enormous losses, in 1870 Julia Ward Howe issued a proclamation, declaring: “Arise, then, women of this day! Arise, all women who have hearts, whether our baptism be that of water or of tears! We will not have great questions decided by irrelevant agencies. Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn all that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.”
    Los Angeles area mothers are responding to Howe’s call on Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 11, with two events – one on the Oeean Park beach in Santa Monica and the other at the Ivy Substation in Culver City.
    Between 2 to 4 p.m. on Sunday, Peace on the Beach and Code Pink expect thousands of mothers, grandmothers, aunts, sisters, mothers-to-be, their families and friends to gather on the beach, to, in their words, “reclaim Mother’s Day from commercialism and platitudes, to celebrate women’s political engagement in society, and to continue the call for an International Movement of Women for Peace. We remind the world with our peaceful presence — Mother knows best!”
    Commentator, author and activist Arianna Huffington and Ohio Congressman, candidate for the Democratic Presidential nomination and author of the initiative for the Department of Peace, Dennis Kucinich, will kick off the event.
    Huffington and Kuchinich will be followed by other special guests and a concert featuring Ricki Byars Beckwith, Director of the Agape Choir, Jacqueline Fuentes, Barbara Williams, and the Los Angeles Women’s Circle.
    The women will also recreate Picasso’s “Motherhood” on the sand, directed by aerial artist, John Quigley of SpectralQ, who recreated Picasso’s “Face of Peace” at the February 15 Peace on the Beach demonstration on the same stretch of sand. That image, in which 1,500 people took part, has subsequently circled the globe.
    On Sunday, Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans and Peace on the Beach producer Patricia Foulkrod will lead over a thousand women in forming Picasso’s drawing. Family members and friends will simultaneously make a frame around the women.
    In a statement issued this week, the organizers said of the gathering, “We will send a message of solidarity and compassion to those who suffered loss in the recent invasion of Iraq, and to all mothers around the world who have suffered, and continue to endure, lifelong pain due to war and injustice. We will honor all mothers and women who labor daily to achieve the most difficult of births — global peace and respect for Mother Earth. Americans may revere the idea of motherhood and love their own mothers, but we do not support all mothers. Poor, unemployed mothers may enjoy flowers, but they also need childcare, job training, health care, a higher minimum wage and paid parental leave. Today, our greatest threat is not just from missiles and terrorism, but from our indifference towards all human life, the quality of life for our mothers and their children, and the health of our planet. Imagine a Mother’s Day filled with voices demanding political, social and economic justice, and a sustainable future — the ingredients for Peace.”
    Organizers have asked everyone who attends the event to wear a “touch of pink.”
    The demonstration has been endorsed by the Coalition for World Peace, United Artists for Peace, Agape International Spiritual Center, Americans Against War, N.O.W., Women International League for Peace and Freedom, Mothers Against Military Madness, The Center for the Advancement of Nonviolence, Interfaith Communities United for Justice and Peace, Peaceful Warriors, Topanga Peace Alliance, and Westside Greens, among others.
    For more information, visit www.codepinkalert.org and/or www.peaceonthebeach.com
    Also heeding the words of Howe are the women planning the first annual Mother’s Day Festival, “Celebrating Our Voices,” to be held Sunday afternoon, May 11, in Culver City.
    Young Women Encircle, Mothers Acting Up, Jubilee USA and the Bridges to the World Project have collaborated on the festival, which is designed to honor the contributions mothers have made to the Los Angeles community as well as fulfilling the original purpose of Mothers Day, as expressed by Howe.
    “Our goal is to reinvent Mothers Day into a community celebration that embraces its original intention — a day for families to gather together around that which unites us.” said organizer Suzanne Rock Stierle, who heads Young Women Encircle, a Santa Monica non-profit organization.
    Dressed as Howe, actress Raven Booth will give a welcome speech and read her 1870 proclamation.
    Performing on the festival’s center stage will be Music Heals, a group of female bands, Trinidad’s Emile Borde, a steel drum virtuoso, and traditional Indian dancers.
    The celebration will also include poetry readings, story telling, and a drum circle.
    Vendors and information booths will include Henna Tattoos, Massage Garage, Soaptopia, Chinese Elements, Hollywood Birth Center, Bridges to the World, Mothers and More and Joella Duma Preschool. Young Women Encircle will offer flowers and bottled water. Lanchonete Brazil will serve Brazilian food and sodas and Corn Maiden will showcase its tamales.
    Free giveaways will be distributed to all mothers in attendance and $2 raffle tickets on an assortment of prizes will be sold.
    The Festival is scheduled from 1 to 6 p.m. at the Ivy Substation and Media Park, 9070 Venice Boulevard, at the intersection of Culver Boulevard, in Culver City, just south of the Robertson exit on the Santa Monica Freeway. Admission is free.
    Major festival sponsors include KPFK 90.7 FM, Trader Joe’s, Harmony House and Comcast Public Access.