Rachel Corrie, we will always remember

Rachel Corrie was killed 9 years ago today.  On March 16, 2003 she was crushed by a Caterpillar bulldozer on the Gaza Strip as she tried to stop a home demolition by the Israeli Army.  The next day Amnesty International condemned the killing and called for suspension of weapons transfers to Israel, particularly weaponized Caterpillar bulldozers.   http://www.amnestyusa.org/node/75392

Rachel was born in Olympia, Washington, the youngest of three children of Craig Corrie, an insurance executive, and his wife Cindy--just plain middle class Americans. 

By fifth grade Rachel's character and personality were already shining through.  A YouTube video of a speech she gave at that time showed the same selfless, caring philosophy that led her to join the International Solidarity Movement as they attempted to make a difference—to make the world notice and realize what the American media glosses over or ignores entirely.

This photo shows screen shots of the fifth grade speech and a video of an interview done two days before her death.  It was taken from http://www.salem-news.com/articles/march172010/corrie-school-tk.php , the website of Salem News (Salem, Oregon).  Both videos are incredibly powerful and are embedded at the end of this post.

Rachel’s parents have made great efforts to pursue legal avenues to get justice for their daughter’s death.  They started the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice (http://rachelcorriefoundation.org/rachel) to continue her work.  The Corrie family has also made her emails from Gaza public in hopes that her sacrifice will inspire others—and it has. 

The Evergreen State College, which Rachel was attending, now has a Rachel Corrie Memorial Scholarship.  There are at least 3 YouTube videos with songs celebrating her life.  A play “My Name is Rachel Corrie” has been produced in many countries, and is available from Amazon ( http://www.amazon.com/My-Name-Rachel-Corrie/dp/1559362960 ), as is the book Let Me Stand Alone: The Journals of Rachel Corrie (http://www.amazon.com/Let-Me-Stand-Alone-Journals/dp/0393065715).

No, Rachel, you are not forgotten.