Advocates for Peace Monument Say the Time Is Right ... Unfortunately

For years, a handful of Santa Barbara County residents has worked to build a peace monument in Perfect Park, a one-acre patch of land near the UC Santa Barbara campus where numerous protests against the Vietnam War took place.

At first, their efforts seemed rooted in the past. Now that a war with Iraq looms on the horizon, their plan has become prophetic.

“It’s unfortunate that our peace monument is so meaningful right now,” said Bob Potter, professor emeritus of drama at university, who heads the committee that is raising money to build the monument. “There were times in this eight years that we’ve been working to get the money when it seemed an exercise in nostalgia; I’m afraid no one would accuse us of that today.”

In 1970, Potter was a young English professor at the university and Perfect Park was a centrally located vacant lot in the community of Isla Vista, the site of many antiwar protests and gatherings.

Some of the demonstrations turned violent: A Bank of America building was burned; a student and a janitor were killed; and hundreds of demonstrators were injured and arrested.

The 225-square-foot monument will celebrate peace, Potter said.

The monument design, selected unanimously by the Isla Vista Recreation and Parks District’s board of directors, consists of four wooden arches leading into a small open-air room. Once inside, visitors will find a circle of white concrete lined with bench seats.

Each archway will be wide enough for wheelchairs or strollers. Sandblasted on each doorstep will be one of these words: “love,” “power,” “wisdom” and “vision.”

“You’re entering into one of those thresholds and maybe you’re thinking about what each one means,” said Colin Gray, the Santa Barbara artist behind the design. “I hope it makes you stop and think.”

The $25,000 raised to build the monument came from donations and pledges. The group raised $16,000 in cash, mostly from $10, $20 and $100 donations. An anonymous donor pledged to give the $9,000 needed to complete the project.

Although ground has not been broken yet, monument committee treasurer Diane Conn of Isla Vista said, “If we are lucky, we can have the monument completed by June.

“Peaceful protest is part of our heritage as Americans, and our intent with the monument is to honor that.”

The group’s advisory board includes several notable peace activists from the antiwar movement, including former state Sen. Tom Hayden and Daniel Ellsberg, the Defense Department analyst who leaked the top secret Pentagon Papers to the New York Times in 1971.

“The struggle for peace has never seemed more urgent and important,” wrote Ellsberg in an e-mail. “It must continue, despite tragic setbacks such as the U.S. government seems determined to inflict on the world.”

Early on, veterans groups worried that a monument to peace might detract from the efforts of those risking their lives to fight for their country. It didn’t.

“Peace never goes out of fashion,” said David Bearman, a Santa Barbara County resident. “We want to give people an opportunity to reflect on peace, to stimulate their interest in American history. Hopefully, this will be a place where people will gather to contemplate and to discuss what is the best way for society to proceed, particularly with regard to resolving conflict.”