More than 6 decades of pacifism
Local couple reflects on lives devoted to peace

From left, Mary a, M'lou Swift, Susan Jones and Frank Swift, members of the Southwest Peace and Justice Coalition, send a message of peace to passing motorists and fellow pedestrians along Main Avenue near the Old Main Post Office during the group's weekly Friday afternoon vigil./Photo by Todd Newcomer.

by Shawna Bethell

Locals Charles and Mary Lou Swift, a.k.a. Charlie and M'lou, are pacifists. They do not believe in war. They do not believe in killing. They do believe in peace, and they do believe in standing up for what they believe. So each Friday afternoon between 4 and 5:30 p.m., you will find the tall, blue-eyed Charlie and the shorter, smiling M'lou in front of the Old Main Post Office, wide-brimmed hats blocking the sun, signs in hand. Their manner is easy and cordial. They may be talking to other members of the Southwest Colorado Peace and Justice Coalition, the group that sponsors the peaceful demonstrations, or waving and flashing the peace sign to passers-by. They have held this vigil for 2½ years, roughly since the war in Iraq began.

"At first, people would look at us so strangely," says M'lou, "like it never occurred to them to think about what was happening. It was as though they felt 'George Bush is our President and we should follow him.' But now, it seems, people are thinking I think they are deciding this war wasn't such a good idea despite how the election turned out."

That doesn't mean there isn't antagonism toward the marchers, shouts and jeers and a few less-than-friendly gestures. One misguided gentleman told Charlie to "get a job" possibly assuming - with a mere passing glance -Charlie and M'lou were deadbeat hippies. Charlie smiles and shrugs his thin shoulders when he tells this part of the story. "We're in our 80s," he laughs. What does set these two apart from many anti-war marchers who have stepped forward over the past few years is that they do not just object to George Bush's war, they have long objected to all war, all killing. Charlie and M'lou have been peace activists since 1940, a time when our country was much less divided about its war than it is today.

Charlie, then a student at Yale University, chose not to register with the Selective Service. "'Thou shalt not kill' is a pretty compelling statement," said Charlie, considering his pacifism. He wrote a letter to the service explaining his stand as a conscientious objector. He, in turn, was sent to a Federal Prison, where there were 30 or 40 other conscientious objectors among a prison population of about 400. The rest were "clean criminals," bootleggers and counterfeiters, not violent criminals but not peace activists either, as Charlie points out.

It was during this time that Charlie and M'lou were made co-chairs of the intercollegiate Northeastern Student Christian Movement. M'lou, who attended the Connecticut College for Women, was raised as a Quaker and says she was born into pacifism. She has always believed peace is the way to operate. And though the organization was not specifically a peace organization, through their chairmanships they "were strongly inclined" to encourage anti-war involvement.

When he was released from prison, Charlie and M'lou were married, and Charlie began applying to medical schools, but with the nation's sentiment being what it was, gaining access to a school was difficult. Out of the 20 schools he applied to, 18 rejected him, and only one of the remaining two actually accepted him. He attended school in New York and studied psychiatry, but when he applied for licensing, he again ran up against his past. The first question on the application for licensing was "Have you ever been convicted of a felony?" After a year of appeals, Charlie was awarded a presidential pardon from Dwight Eisenhower, and he obtained his license to practice.

The Swifts have spent a lifetime working to the benefit of others including spending eight years in Tanzania, where Charlie worked for the African government instituting a mental health-care system throughout the country. M'lou taught occupational therapy in the psychiatric units and worked to educate nurses who worked with psychiatric patients.

M'lou Swift talks with fellow peace activists along Main Avenue on Friday afternoon. Raised as a Quaker on the East Coast, M'lou, who's in her 80s, has been peacefully protesting war since 1940./Photo by Todd Newcomer.

The Swifts have spent a lifetime working to the benefit of others including spending eight years in Tanzania, where Charlie worked for the African government instituting a mental health-care system throughout the country. M'lou taught occupational therapy in the psychiatric units and worked to educate nurses who worked with psychiatric patients.

"They were afraid of the patients," she said. "They did not understand what was happening." It was during their time in Africa that the Vietnam War began, and although they were not part of the protests in this country, their son went to Vietnam for two years as a conscientious objector. He taught English at Hue, on the dividing line between North and South Vietnam.

"We didn't advise him on what to do, but he knew our story," said M'lou. "We were proud he made that decision."

Pacifism is difficult for many Westerners to understand, according to the Swifts. Many people may object to war and killing, but only to a degree. When it comes to retaliation or homeland security, the pacifism can take on exceptions. That is what is different about the Swifts activities. They believe altercation can be remedied by peaceful actions.

"We both admire Gandhi," said M'lou.

"When you think of this small man of 95 pounds freeing his country from the British Empire through non-violence, that was something that appealed, something to be admired," adds Charlie.

To that end, Charlie and M'lou joined with a group of other concerned locals in September of 2002 and organized what would become the Southwest Peace and Justice Coalition. The coalition is dedicated to educating the public and promoting acts of peaceful demonstration including the Friday afternoon vigils. The group has a website with links to articles and information, both liberal and conservative, to assist people in gaining information. Meanwhile, the Swifts will continue their Friday vigils with the other members of the coalition, in the hopes that people will realize the unnecessary violence that is war.

"It reflects poorly on our civilization that we are still killing one another to settle our differences," says Charlie glancing up at a passing car. He smiles and waves.