ACTIVISTS PROMOTE PARADE OF CAUSES WITH HOLIDAY DISPLAYS OF PATRIOTISM

This Independence Day held special meaning for 1,000 homeless children from the Capitol City Inn, a city-run temporary shelter in Northeast Washington: A barbecue and a block party for them and their parents were cause enough for celebration.

"It feels so great to be out," said Denise Seymour, reclining in a folding chair outside the Committee for Creative Non-Violence homeless shelter at 2nd and E Streets NW. Seymour and her six children live in a single room at Capitol City.

"For me and my kids, it's a chance to escape -- a chance to get out and enjoy yourself instead of being cooped up in a room all day," she said. "As long as they have it out here, I'm sitting right here. I dread going back to that place."

Seymour and her children were guests of the activist CCNV, whose block party for the homeless yesterday was only one of several adaptations of the July 4th holiday to contemporary concerns.

Many Washington area residents, activists, community leaders and local politicians used the occasion to give voice to their concerns rather than leave them behind -- to take a holiday from work but not from worry.

Patriotism mingled with activism as parades, parties and rallies spotlighted causes from aid for the homeless to fighting commercial growth, from a congressional race in Montgomery County to a downtown demonstration for easing marijuana laws, from the war on drugs to the war on allergies.

"America's won lots of wars. We're going to win this one," said Beverly Campbell, one of the organizers of the antidrug rally in Pershing Park on Pennsylvania Avenue NW.

For six years, a coalition of local churches, community leaders and city government has sponsored the July 4th rally, but organizers said yesterday their voices are just beginning to be heard.

Some of those voices provided a striking contrast: the cheerful melodies of eight children from a Falls Church family swaying through "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing," and, minutes later, the defiant chorus of a local rap group, wearing white T-shirts emblazoned with "Knock Out Crack Cocaine" and belting out "We Shall Overcome."

The more than 100 civic and church groups supporting this year's rally had a mixed message for Fourth of July revelers: Drugs have eroded the family values that once defined the United States, they said, but families are fighting back.

"The only way drugs are going to be ameliorated is from the grass roots," said Campbell, a spokeswoman for the East Coast chapter of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "It's going to have to start with small groups like this one all across the nation, and grow and expand until it becomes a part of the national conscience."

Across the street from the White House in Lafayette Park, a group of 50 to 75 people took a very different view of the holiday's meaning as they rallied for the legalization of marijuana.

John Stitler (J.S.) Vipond, a member of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, came from Hollidaysburg, Pa., to take part in the day of speechmaking and lounging under park trees.

"These people right here show 'responsible use' more so than the out-of-control flag-waver," said Vipond. Marijuana "can be abused, but so can food," he said.

Health concerns of a different nature motivated the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America to conduct an "allergy cruise" up the Potomac last night, a fund raiser that attracted 400 couples.

"People don't think they're serious, but allergies can incapacitate you," said U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, the guest of honor. Asthma, he said, "is not a game. It's a serious business."

David Branson, president of the nonprofit foundation, said 5,000 Americans die from asthma every year because they do not know how to control it. He hoped that the cruise, and a new nationwide education campaign, will change that.

Earlier in the day in Takoma Park, marching bands and children on skateboards traded off with political activists of several stripes in the city's 99th annual July 4th parade.

Marchers included foes of a new commercial development in Silver Spring, proponents of affordable housing, activists on behalf of Takoma Park's companion city in El Salvador, defenders of the gypsy moth and many volunteers on the two sides of the congressional race in Maryland's 8th District.

Bob Aberman, a volunteer for Del. Peter Franchot (D-Montgomery), who is challenging Republican Rep. Constance Morella, said this is his second Independence Day spent politicking.

"The Fourth of July is all about politics. It's about change, and we're exercising the rights that the Revolution was fought for," Aberman said. "I don't believe, 'My country right or wrong.' I believe, 'My country right, or make it right.' "

Barbara Beelar, whose house on Maple Street provided a view of the parade, showed similar pride in the parade's political nature. Beelar's latest local cause is the Citizen Referendum on Over-Development, aimed at stopping the Silver Spring development.

"If anybody eats here, they sign the petition," said Beelar, who had sweetened the deal with an array of cold drinks and fresh fruit. "This is Takoma Park. That's what we do in Takoma Park. We're activists," she said.

The homeless families who gathered for an all-you-can-eat barbecue, a live band and a day to relax downtown had more immediate reasons for taking part in the festivities.

"In a shelter, the Fourth of July is another hot day," said Alonzo Fields, a CCNV staff member. "There's no independence from poverty, and poor people don't really have the wherewithal to celebrate on the holiday.

"This makes it different," Fields said, looking out a window at the hot dogs and warm bodies enjoying the day. "This is kind of a big family."

There was a small demonstration opposite the White House, where 12 men, most identified as Iranians, marched to condemn the U.S. naval attack of an Iranian airbus.

"We are here to express our displeasure of what America did to civilians," said Ali Parsa of Washington, one of the organizers of the afternoon protest in Lafayette Park.

"I find it implausible that a Navy ship of that magnitude and sophistication can make that kind of mistake," said Parsa, who is Iranian.Staff writer Rene M. Lynch contributed to this report.

Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.