Walk in THEIR Shoes: Part 2

Sole Sister: Susie of Arabia

Event: Peace March in Washington DC

 January 2007

Susie of Arabia attended a peace march in Washington DC in January 2007. Read the first part of her story HERE.

“Walk in Their Shoes” was organized by Code Pink for Peace, a women’s grassroots peace movement against the war in Iraq.   The goal was to collect and display 6,550 pairs of shoes at a prominent place at the march on the National Mall – each pair of shoes representing an Iraqi man, woman, and child who had died up to that point in time since the US invaded their country in 2003.  Every participant donating a pair of shoes was given the name, age, and maybe occupation or how they died, or any other information that was available about the fallen Iraqi those shoes represented.

Connie, in her beautiful handwriting, wrote the name and age of the young girl, plus the fact that she was a student, on a handmade heart-shaped tag which she attached to the shoes with a yellow ribbon.  An enormous clear acrylic container was constructed to house and display the shoes and it was quickly filled to overflowing.  Hundreds of pairs of shoes then occupied the ground next to the container, piled high, laid out – it was a very sobering and somber sight.

Susie said:

"Salma...I wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed doing this - things like this tend to really put things into perspective, so thanks for giving me the opportunity of seeing things in a different way."

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 Susie of Arabia