The Light from Mourning Mike Dorn

On September 27th, 2006, souls in mourning sought to illuminate the estimated 655,000 deaths from the Iraq war (this number is according to a recent Johns Hopkins study) by participating in a die-in directly in front of the Rayburn House Building on the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C. Twenty-six were arrested while several hundred others watched and mourned with them in a solemn funeral procession of 20 coffins, from Upper Senate Park to Rayburn. Fifteen of the coffins were shrouded in black to represent the Iraqi dead while five were shrouded in U.S. flags to represent fallen troops. The action was one of several hundred that took place around the country from Sept. 21st-28th marking the " Declaration of Peace ." Upon approaching the Rayburn building in a single-file march, individuals began to lie down in front of the main doorways, representing the dead of the Iraq war. Shortly afterward, white shrouds were used to cover each of the dead while the U.S. Capitol Police made preparations to arrest anyone disobeying their order to clear the area. At this time, the coffins were lined up on the sidewalk in front while mourners read aloud names of the dead, visibly affecting pedestrians as they passed by.

Our collective reasons for this action were rooted in a sincere belief that we have not done enough to bring the cost of war home to our government, which continues to guide precious resources into warmaking and imperial building. At the very least, we feel that Iraqi and U.S. dead deserve adequate representation for their lives, though our mass media and our government refuse to show this reality; this deplorably funded mass murder.

Devoting the day to honoring those killed by U.S. warmaking was a duty. For some, spending about five hours in the custody of the Capitol police was a duty. For all, realizing that until we the people take responsibility for the actions of our government and our money, we are spiritually dead, and therefore hiding the light from mourning our deaths.