The 90s

Kennebunkport Church incident. On Sunday February 17, 1991, antiwar demonstrator John Schuchardt traveled to the church of President George H.W. Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine, to speak out against the Iraq War. This video also contains raw footage of kids recording "The 90s" tagline and an interview with a man running a Chicago scholarship program.

00:00Copy video clip URL Various b-roll: church members enter church, First Congressional Church sign.

00:26Copy video clip URL A small group of protesters bang on buckets outside the church.

00:39  Demonstrator John Schuchardt is removed from the church by local law enforcement and the Secret Service as he denounces the Iraq war. “Stop the bombing! In the name of God stop the massacre!”

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02:46Copy video clip URL Interview with Schuchardt who explains the circumstances surrounding his arrest. He says as soon as he and his wife, Carrie, approached the church they knew the President would be there because of the cars out front. As a result they weren’t sure they’d be let in, but they were and sat down. That was Sunday, February 17. It was the Sunday following the Amiriyah Shelter massacre which was the first time the American people saw the faces of those in Iraq and the consequences of bombing Iraq. He says he felt he should raise his voice on behalf of the victims. The Commander in Chief was in the church that morning. He says a church is a place where urgent moral concerns ought to be raised. He said as he and his wife drove to the church they talked about what they might say and decided to speak during a time of intercessory prayer. He notes that at the appointed time, after others in the congregation had spoken, he stood up and began speaking in a very calm tone. He beseeched the congregation to think of the people of Iraq and what it means to be bombed by 2,000 planes a day. At that time someone shouted for him to sit down and the congregation started singing “God Bless America” in an effort to drown out his voice.

06:30Copy video clip URL Carrie says people needed to do things like this. It wasn’t time to “philosophize if it was a just war or not.” Schuchardt continues his story saying that the minister asked him if he was going to sit down and continue worshiping or leave. He sat down. The minister continued her sermon which, to Schuchardt, was “wishy-washy”. “During the Intercessory Prayer, there was a period of silence. I stood up and said, ‘before we sing the Lord’s Prayer I have a word.’ It was for just that statement for which I was assaulted by the Chief of Police.” He adds that as he was being escorted out of the church by police and secret service he  lifted his voice and spoke, “I am the voice of the voiceless. In the name of God stop the bombing. Stop the massacre.” He says he was charged with disorderly conduct. Specifically, he was charged making “a loud and unreasonable noise.”

10:01Copy video clip URL End segment.

10:02Copy video clip URL Several takes of a little girl, Annie, recording the 90s contact info and tagline.

10:19Copy video clip URL Stop/re-start digitizing. Annie, along with Connor, record the tag: “See you in the ’90s!”

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14:04 Interview with man who runs a Chicago scholarship program. He says just supplying a student with money isn’t enough. In fact, it’s incomplete. He wants to see the student supplied with all the support necessary to successfully transition from grammar school to middle school to high school and “hopefully beyond that.” He notes his program is trying to build role models.

15:34Copy video clip URL He adds that the program offers discipline for the teenagers. “We keep them very busy.” He notes these students are given responsibilities and jobs to help them become more productive.

16:30 B-roll of a student walking down a city sidewalk. The footage is recorded without sound.

18:46Copy video clip URL Continued b-roll of the student walking along a sidewalk, this time with sound recorded. The student walks to the Saint Mary of Nazareth Hospital Center.

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20:16Copy video clip URL End tape.