Women’s group honors Ashland soldier

By Heather Black
Tidings Correspondent

Linda Richards hangs the Peace Ribbon in honor of Ashland’s Jacob Simpson, who died in Iraq. The Peace Ribbon project is the work of Code Pink, a grassroots peace movement. Submitted photo

In the south foyer of the Stevenson Union at Southern Oregon University hangs a remembrance panel for Ashland resident and U.S. Soldier, Jacob Simpson.

As part of the Code Pink Peace Ribbon Project, which is designed to “honor each life killed as a result of the invasion of Iraq,” Simpson’s panel is the only one honoring an Oregon soldier. Simpson was killed in Iraq on May 16, 2005.

“It was touching to hang his panel here in the Stevenson Union,” said Linda Richards of the Ashland Branch of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. “Jacob used to skip class at Ashland High School to visit with friends in the Stevenson Union, and he liked to be in the SU courtyard.”

Richards and her mother, Jill Mackie created Simpson’s red, white, and blue panel. “He was very patriotic and he loved the mountains and trees, so we included a green Mount Ashland,” said Richards.

An estimated two-thirds of the current 120 panels honor fallen U.S. soldiers. The remaining one-third honor Iraqi civilians. In addition, there are 27 panels honoring journalists and photographers killed in Iraq as well. The 2x3 remembrance panels all have symbols or words representing a part of the honored person’s life before the start of the war.

“Most panels have been made by family members or children of the soldiers,” said Richards. “It’s very moving to see.”

The panels will be on display in the Stevenson Union until July 17. Additional panels are also on display at the Unitarian Church on 4th and C Street and the Methodist Church on North Main Street. The panels will be showcased there until July 12.

Richards said she would like to see more panels honoring Oregon soldiers.

“I was shocked that only one soldier in this entire Project was from Oregon,” said Richards. “When I think of Oregon, I think crafts-quilts, sewing, creativity. Wouldn’t it be moving to have Oregon residents make panels for all Oregon soldiers?”

Previously, the Peace Ribbon panels had been on display in Vancouver, Canada at the World Peace Forum. Richards and Mackie traveled to Canada to bring back the panels to display in Ashland.

The Peace Ribbons have been also been displayed at national events including: the peace demonstration in Fayetteville, N.C. on March 19, 2005, the two-year anniversary of the occupation of Iraq; Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas on Thanksgiving, 2005; the Anti-War Action in Atlanta, Ga.; and the March for Peace, Justice, and Democracy in New York City on April 29, 2006.

The Peace Ribbon Project was hung in collaboration with SOU’s Women’s Resource Center, Queer Resource Center, and Nontraditional Commuter Center, and the Ashland Branch of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom.

The next destination for the Peace Ribbon Project is Santa Maria, Calif. and then to Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas, with the intention of traveling around the country.

Code Pink is a “women-initiated grassroots peace and social justice movement working to end the war in Iraq, stop new wars, and redirect resources into healthcare, education, and other-life affirming activities,” according to codepinkalert.org. “Code Pink women and men seek to activate, amplify, and inspire a community of peacemakers through creative campaigns and a commitment to non-violence.” There are 11 Code Pink groups centered in Oregon, Ashland among them.

If anyone is interested in contributing to the Code Pink Peace Ribbon Project go to www.codepinkalert.org for more information or directions on how to make a panel.

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