New Orleans: Jim Senter, Rita, Gail, Robert; Baton Rouge: Dave and Leslie Pitre, Phyllis Meole, Jimmy Pierce, Herb Rothchild; Albany: Bill Wilkerson; LaCombe: Michelle; Biloxi: Sr. Jean Harvey; Kiln: Jim, Earl; Moss Point: Molander family, Richard; Mobile: Bob Dylan, Jan Risse; Bay Minette: Jim; Brewton: president and dean of JDCC; Selma: Cheryl Robinson; Villa Rica: Faoso & Pat Akers; Douglasville: Norene Forest, Fr. Bob Fisher; Atlanta: Leslie Withers, Dion Lehrman, Trappist monk; Maxeys: Ron & Barbara Fisher; Augusta: Ellis Reese; Columbia: Bruce Pearson, John Rouff; Rock Hill: John & Grace Freeman, Winnie Daniels, Lynn Davidson; Durham: Glen, Rita (of Finland), Dannia Southerland; Chapel Hill: James Worthy and Jimmy Black; Raleigh: Sr. Evelyn Mattern, Marge Grabarek; Smithfield: Carolina Hubert; Norfolk: Francis (of L.A.), Rose Mary, Gen. William Westmoreland; Virginia Beach: Pam (coordinator), Mike; Richmond: Steve Hodges, Paul, Krishna, another Steve; Dumfries: Goby (of Europe); DC: Tom (White House vigiller), Sen. Charles Percy, Jeremy Stone, William Colby, Randall Kehler, Betts (of UCS); Crofton: Brian (of L.A.); Gibbstown: Jeff (of L.A.); Germantown: Virginia Langley, Igal Roodenko; New Brunswick: Grandfather David (Hopi); Brooklyn: Barbara Wilder; NYC: Ingrid Lechman, Peter Yarrow, Coretta Scott King, William Sloane Coffin, Cindie Punch (of N.O.), Rob Sauter (of Richmond).
To see the context in which any of them is mentioned in Andy's original text, contact candetwo@clis.com(Carroll Webber, Jr.). He and his wife Edith Hill Webber cut and edited Andy’s work, obtaining Andy’s approval of the resulting text now on this website before his death at the age of 45 on April 18, 1994. The original 500+ pages of typescript from Andy’s handwritten diary were prepared by Joan Hawkins Shier.
PREFATORY COMMENTS from Pamela Blockey O'Brien
Andy could introduce these comments as "I learned later" in the course of his daily narrative, as he did for June l0th, but the reader may gain by having them at the beginning.
At the Asian Buddhist Conference in Ulan Bator, Mongolia the issue was raised: how can the nature of nuclear weapons and their effects be brought to their deserved awareness among the world's people? It was there that a Peace March was decided on, to cross all continents and raise consciousness along the way. At the Tokyo conference, the Nipponzan Myohoji volunteered to lead the March, most fitting in view of their order's peace vows and their agenda to show how Buddhism can help peace.
Their including the southern United States as one of the final legs was natural, since they had experience from the1976 Continental Walk for Disarmament, but some crucial expectations were not realizable. On other continents they had found themselves honored, feted, greeted along the way by mayors, bishops, heads of state. But if they walked alone across the South, as planned at first, they would surely have been killed, in my opinion.
As it was, their press in the States was extremely disappointing. While Sarvodaya was reporting their daily progress to Indians and other Asians, while Japanese periodicals carried the story, almost nothing appeared in the mainstream press here. Even the Christian Science Monitor blew their interview with Rev. Morishita. (CNN did, however, run a good interview.) When the Olympic torch was run across Europe, flown to New York, and run to the United Nations, the US press didn't report it. But Europe and Asia heard. In fact, portions of the Asian press reported from the daily journals that the monks' discipline demanded.
Morishita's fame went unrecognized here, as well. Queen Elizabeth had been present when he opened the peace pagoda in her country. When he had wanted the march to cross the Sahara in 1981, this had been forbidden; he walked clear around it. The beauty of his character is apparent in Andy's accout. He was Honorable Fuji's perhaps most honored monk. I can only speculate as to why Rev. Yoshida was put in charge of the merged march in Washington. But the southern branch was considered the most important, with emphasis on the connections of poverty and racial justice with the arms race.
But the Los Angeles branch was important too. It went through the terrible winter of 1981-82. It went through American Indian country, and the Nipponzan Myohoji feel the closest affinity with the Native Americans, as Andy has noted. St. Nichiren, the founder of Nichiren Buddhism, probably visited western North America! (There is a gap in his life, and a Lotus Sutra prayer in old Japanese was a treasured relic of a western nation, according to one of the monks who was astounded when shown it by a very old American Indian. "Your arrival was foreseen and signifies peace," the old man told him.) When planning their 1981-82 walk, the Nipponzan Myohoji organizers met leaders of AIM (American Indian Movement), and other Indian groups, as well as nonIndian leaders like the President of Costa Rica. In 1988, their UN SSOD-3 ceremonies included Russell Banks and other Indian leaders. go to page 3