A Life of Activism

A Life Of Activism

Written By Robert Schanke

Some readers of Katy Has Two Grampas may think that activism is a recent interest of my daughter, Julie Schanke Lyford, who is the co-author of our book. Not true. It began when she was only two years old!

On October 15, 1969, my then wife and I took her in a little stroller to the Bryant Park Moratorium Rally in New York City. This anti-Vietnam war rally was a national day of protest taking place in over 200 cities and included over two million people. The 40,000 protesters assembled at Bryant Park at 4:30 that afternoon held up their fingers with the peace sign, carried posters, waved banners, and cheered when inspired by Senator Eugene McCarthy, Shirley Maclaine, Helen Hayes, Mayor John Lindsay, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, and most notably, the Reverend William Sloan Coffin who had become a national icon of the anti-war movement.

    When it concluded, the crowd chanted and sang as they marched to Rockefeller Plaza for a candlelight vigil. Fearing they might be trampled by the energetic crowds, however, Julie’s parents returned home to New Jersey rather than participate in the vigil.

    What effect could this have had on little, two-year-old Julie? Naysayers would say none, that she could not have understood a word and was probably frightened by the noisy crowds. But I think otherwise. In some mysterious way, it was the catalyst for her years of activism.

     Now Julie’s children are standing up and making sure they are heard!  They made their own signs and went to the Minnesota Capitol to witness the passing of Marriage Equity in Minnesota!  (Photos Below)