The Sexist » Andrew Beaujon

Meet an Anti-Human-Trafficking Activist: Eric Proffitt

Andrew Beaujon — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 20:44:10 +0000

This Saturday at 9 a.m., Eric Proffitt is going to go for a run. The Canadian-American singer-songwriter will drape himself with 10 pounds of chains, climb the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and then set off on a 15-day sprint to New York, his chains lapping his sides. Then he'll fly to London and run to Hull. Why is he doing this, you ask?

At a Starbucks in Chevy Chase, D.C., Proffitt and his wife, Rebecca, corral their five daughters into some window seats and get them noncaffeinated frappuccinos. The plan to run 500 miles, they explain, dates back to February of last year, when Eric performed at a United Nations conference about human trafficking. He'd never given much thought to human trafficking before. "We were horrified," he says. "I wondered, if it was my kids, what would I not do to rescue them?"

"It kind of ignited a fire," says Rebecca. They decided they had to do something to publicize the issue. So Eric's gonna run in chains. "They're painful," he says. "I don't recommend them." But he says they're an "easy symbol" for the problem.

Eric says he hopes his run will be a "tipping point." They want to raise a dollar for every victim of human trafficking—27 million, he says.

I ask about the safety of all this. "Aren't you worried you'll break something?" I ask. Proffitt's been working with a running trainer. "He's not a runner," says Rebecca. "He's a singer." (He's remade the Proclaimers' "500 Miles" with running-in-chains-appropriate lyrics; you can buy a copy here.) She and the kids will be following him in a van.

Eric's got special running socks, plus padding for his legs. The chains beat against him while he runs. "In a bizarre way it sets a rhythm," he says. "I try to run with the chains rather than fighting them."

Meet a Pro-Life Protester: Carolyn Zolbe

Andrew Beaujon — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:27:17 +0000

Carolyn Zolbe has been interviewed by City Paper before. "I was in a bright red coat," she says. Is that your trademark? I ask. "That's my winter coat!" she says, laughing.

Zolbe, 74, is out in front of Planned Parenthood on 16th Street NW. Her usual schedule is Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday from 2:30 p.m.-4 p.m. Today she's here to back up Dick Retta.

She holds a sign that says "SMILE YOUR MOM CHOSE LIFE" on one side and "ABORTION STOPS A BEATING HEART" on the other. Another sign has a photo of a group of women who regret their abortions. "We all regret things we've done," says Zolbe. Sticking out of her purse is a laminated card with the music and words to "Salve Regina."

Zolbe, a former Arlington County Public Schools teacher, started coming to the Planned Parenthood in D.C. in 2007, after that year's 40 Days for Life campaign. She met Retta, who was a crozier in a procession from St. Matthews down to the Planned Parenthood building. She was reading the pope's Jesus of Nazareth then and came down every day after her reading time.

"I don't say I protest," she says. "I say I pray at Planned Parenthood."

She asks my mother's name. It's Janet. "I believe in truth and joy," Zolbe tells me. "I see joy on your face." Well, we were talking about my mom.

Meet a Pro-Life Protester: Dick Retta

Andrew Beaujon — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 16:07:28 +0000

Dick Retta's been out in front of the Planned Parenthood on 16th Street NW since 8:30 this morning. He's here every Wednesday and Saturday. "That's when they do the abortions," he says. Today's pretty quiet—when I rode up, Retta was the only person outside the building. "I think they're doing a training today," he says. The training is purportedly about providing health care for women, but's its really teaching women how to murder their children, he says.

Retta says abortion is a billion-dollar industry, which is why there's no political appetite to regulate the clinics. "These could be filthy, dirty, we have no idea," he says. Some clinics are "horrible, dirty, roach-infested places."

Retta, who lives in Rockville, has been what pro-life advocates call a sidewalk counselor for 10 years (I found this video featuring him on a Canadian pro-life site). He became an activist when he "began to realize what abortion is."

"You get inspired little by little," he says. "I'm not picketing or protesting." I'm offering women alternatives."