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While many veterans marched in hometown parades Monday, others gathered downtown to hold a different kind of march — to protest the war in Iran and other actions by the administration of President Donald Trump.
Standing in the heat, next to the Chicago Remembers Vietnam Veterans Memorial off of the Chicago Riverwalk, they sang protest songs. Speakers raged against the war in Iran, changes to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the U.S. and Israel’s actions in the Middle East.
They then marched through downtown, carrying yellow signs saying “Vets say no more rich man’s wars” and signs bearing the name of the group that organized the event, About Face: Veterans Against the War.
“About Face is made up of veterans, active-duty members and allies that understand our experiences do not end when we take the uniform off,” Stefanie Macias, an Army veteran in the group, told the crowd. “If anything, they give us responsibility to speak more honestly than most about what pointless, endless wars actually cost.”
Edgar Castillo, a group member and Navy veteran, said his parents came from Colombia and Honduras to become U.S. citizens, and that he was born in the U.S. “The problem is that a lot of immigrants who share this story come from countries that the United States government and military have destabilized for resources and for profit,” Castillo said.
“Iran, Venezuela, now we’re looking at Cuba, Greenland. What are we doing?” Castillo said. “We’re bombing children for oil, we’re plundering for profit.”
In response to the event in Chicago and criticism of the war in Iran, White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement Monday: “For 47 years, American Presidents and countless other world leaders talked about the threat posed by Iran, but no one had the courage to address it, President Trump took decisive action to ensure that Iran could never harm our homeland, our troops, or our allies again. Once Iran’s nuclear threat is removed for good, America and the entire world will be safer and more stable.”
The U.S. and Iran appeared Monday to be nearing a deal to end the war, with Trump saying that negotiations were “proceeding nicely,” The Associated Press reported Monday.
Speakers at Monday’s event in Chicago also decried changes to the VA under Trump. In March, The New York Times reported that the VA has eliminated thousands of medical positions that were left vacant after resignations and retirements last year.
VA Secretary Doug Collins has defended the administration’s handling of the VA, saying that under Trump the agency has increased direct care appointments and cut a backlog of veterans waiting for VA benefits.
Monica Coleman, a registered nurse at the Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center in North Chicago, who spoke Monday as a representative of the National Nurses United union, said staffing shortages, delays in care and burnout result when healthcare systems are understaffed.
“Supporting veterans means more than waving flags once a year,” said Coleman, whose daughter is in the Navy. “It means making sure they receive timely healthcare. It means ensuring they have access to mental health support. It means making sure the systems designed to care for them are protected, fully staffed and fully funded.”
Coleman urged those in attendance to say, “No war, no cuts!” And many chanted the words back to her.
Among those listening was Brookfield couple Jonathan Platt and Patricia Cole.
Platt, 75, said his father enlisted to fight in World War II despite being in his late 30s at the time, having knee problems and not being a U.S. citizen.
“When I asked him, ‘Why did you enlist?’ his response was simply, ‘How can I not?’” Platt said.
“When I think about my father, I think he would be proud about me being here in support of stopping the war,” Platt said. “I think he would say, ‘How could you not be here?’”
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