[Editor’s note: Impeach for Peace was at this rally as is seen in the opening seconds of the above video.]
MPR — The students came from schools all around the Twin Cities to the plaza outside the Hennepin County Government Center. They expressed their stance on the war through chants, signs and song.
One of the organizers, Tyrus Thompson, who calls himself Tyrus A, sang a protest song in front of a group of charged-up teenagers.
“…looking to stop a rogue regime, the first one that we must confront is Washington D.C.,” sang Thompson, who sports a mohawk completely spiked, reminiscent of early British punk rockers.
Thompson is with Youth Against War and Racism and a group called Socialist Alternative. The two groups were the main sponsors of the rally.
Kelsey Grinke from the Perpich Center for Arts Education in Golden Valley recited the latest death tolls for U.S. soldiers and Iraqi citizens.
“It has been the bloodiest year of the war so far,” Grinke said. “I ask you, are these deaths really bringing justice and democracy to Iraq?”
Other speakers focused on the cost of the war in financial terms. They complained that the government should take the money being spent on the war and use it for their schools. Speakers called for smaller class sizes and to make more money available for college scholarships.
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Protest rock
Students also chanted against military recruiters who look for enlistees at their schools. One student protester claimed that one of his friends was coached by a recruiter on how to beat a drug test.
Other students, like Selena Kane came to the rally because they have loved ones who are either in Iraq or in the process of going there.
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