Editor’s Note:The following poem was written by Larry Kerschner, a member of Ground Zero Center for Nonviolent Action and Veterans for Peace Rachel Corrie Chapter 109. You can read his work at larrywrites. His books are available at peacepoetpoetry. The banner photo is of Larry reading his poetry at the Vietnam Full Disclosure Teach-in: An Honest Commemoration of the American War in Vietnam on November 5, 2015. Larry’s poetry is also featured in the April 2024 Ground Zero Newsletter.
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Resistance or…
“There may be times when we are powerless
to prevent injustice, but there must never
be a time when we fail to protest.” – Elie_Wiesel”
June 11, 1963 Vietnamese
Bodhisattva Thich Quang Duc
immolated himself
not in despair but in hope
of reaching in to heal our hearts
March 16, 1965
Quaker and peace activist Alice Herz
set herself on fire in a street in Detroit
in response to Lyndon Johnson authorizing
the use of napalm which ultimately
burnt 50,000 Vietnamese civilians to death
November 2, 1965 Quaker Norman Morrison
doused himself in kerosene and
set himself on fire in front of the Pentagon
in response to his concern over the great loss
of life and human suffering
caused by the American War in Vietnam.
saying to his wife “Know that I love thee … but I must go
to help the children of the priest’s village”
February 26, 2024 Aaron Bushnell
active-duty US Air Force airman dressed in fatigues
set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy
not willing to continue supporting genocide
died repeatedly shouting “Free Palestine!”
“I have been complicit
in the violent domination of the world
and I will never get the blood off my hands.
I am about to engage in an extreme
act of protest, but compared to what people
in Palestine have been experiencing
at the hands of their colonizers,
it’s not extreme at all.
This is what our ruling class
has decided will be normal.”
some compassionate humanitarians concerned
about mental health and suicide prevention
view this act in one way others see
his action as a legitimate
political act calling him a martyr
who died in an act of resistance
