By Paul Thissen with contributions from Lou Fancher
Contra Costa Times
July 9th, 2011
WALNUT
CREEK —In 1987, peace activist Brian Willson came to the Concord Naval
Weapons Station to try to stop a munitions train—by lying on the tracks.
He thought the train would stop. It didn’t, and Willson lost his legs.
But
he got people’s attention. For the next 28 months, no trains got
through. There were so many people on the tracks that trains were
blocked the entire time, Willson said.
He will return Wednesday to speak about his new book, Blood on the Tracks, at the Peace and Justice Center in Walnut Creek.
The
stop is part of his West Coast book tour, which he is making on a
hand-powered tricycle at a pace of 40 miles per day, ending at the
Veterans For Peace convention in Portland in August.
His activism
is inspired by his time as an Air Force officer in the Vietnam War,
where he witnessed the aftermath of bombing runs.
“I discovered
we were bombing small villages,” Willson said. “I couldn’t believe what I
saw. I couldn’t walk any further; there were too many bodies
immediately at my feet.—
He hopes to inspire more people to protest and disrupt business as usual.”
“I
believe in disobedience and uprisings,” he said. “When will 500,000
people in this country feel it’s necessary to go out in the streets to
protest?”
Back to the S. Brian Willson’s Author Page
