In Memory of Rachel Corrie, March 17, 2003

R ACHEL CORRIE was an incredibly good person. I am very saddened by her murder on Sunday, March 16, 2003. She was run over by an Israeli military bulldozer as she was protesting the destruction of Palestinian homes in Rafah in the Gaza Strip. Rachel, who was 23, grew up in Olympia, Washington. I met her when she was a student in the Options Program at Lincoln elementary school in 1989. She was a friend of my son and played on the same YMCA basketball team as my daughter. Rachel and I talked a lot the last two years and marched together at various demonstrations. Rachel was a caring and gentle person who loved life and was outraged by oppression wherever it took place and had become very active working for social justice and peace. 

Rachel was a very modest, courageous, and responsible person who was the heart and soul of the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace, a group she had originally begun working with as part of her study in the Local Knowledge Program taught by Anne Fischel and Lin Nelson at Evergreen State College. Rachel was active in opposing the U.S. “war against terror” and U.S. militarism. One project she worked on was a September 11, 2002 day of remembrance, held at Percival Landing in downtown Olympia, for the people killed at the World Trade Center and for the people killed by the U.S. military in Afghanistan. She got many elementary school kids and classes to participate. So it was fitting that the vigil on Sunday, March 16 against the war in Iraq, and to honor and mourn Rachel, was at Percival Landing. Close to 1,000 people attended. 

Rachel was a reflective person who constantly thought about how to link together various groups working for justice, e.g., the labor movement and the peace movement. She volunteered at Evergreen State College Labor Education and Research Center and played a major role in organizing a conference dealing with networking and strategies for justice and peace last spring. Another major concern of hers was to involve the Olympia community in anti-war and economic and social justice issues. Besides going to Evergreen State College, Rachel also worked at BHR, a local mental health clinic, and was active in her union, 1199, a part of the Service Employees International Union. 

Justice for the Palestinian people was one of many issues Rachel felt deeply about. She opposed the Israeli occupation and supported a Palestinian state. Rachel had studied Arabic at Evergreen and decided to go to the Gaza strip in occupied Palestine for the winter quarter. She felt it was important to have international observers there as Israeli aggression was likely to increase when the U.S. invaded Iraq, a war she strongly opposed. 

Rachel was aware of the dangers and risks of going to Gaza. She left Olympia on January 18, 2003  to work for human rights in solidarity with the Palestinian people. She volunteered with the International Solidarity Movement, people from around the world who have been witnesses to Israeli attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza and had organized non-violent protests against the Israeli occupation. Rachel planned to return to Evergreen State College to finish her studies. 

Rachel will not be coming back to Olympia, but please take a moment to reflect on her life and carry on her legacy by doing a little more to oppose the U.S. war against Iraq, support a Palestinian state, and further justice, equality, and peace around the world. Rachel Corrie was an ordinary and an extraordinary person. 

Peter Bohmer teaches at Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington.