Open Borders: A Personal Story of Love, Loss, and Anti-War Activism

It is 1983, and the anti-war movement Target Seattle is preparing for a trip to Tashkent, Seattle’s Sister City in Uzbekistan. Betsy Bell’s husband, Don, is the chair of the executive committee of Target Seattle, and co-leader of the trip. Travelling with three thousand copies of a peace petition, as well as her seventeen-year-old daughter and thirty others, Betsy sees first-hand the risks of travelling as an American to the USSR. She also sees the heart-warming stories of people-to-people connections across political boundaries.

Upon returning to the US, Betsy pushes to find her own voice in a world where a wife’s goals are subservient to her husband’s. As tensions between the US and USSR are only increasing, Betsy travels to Washington, DC. She speaks to elected officials and the United Nations in favor of open borders, even as conflicting aspirations and careers become a point of contention in her marriage. With honesty and poise, Betsy chronicles a history of a time when ordinary citizens were transformed into agents of peace.

Open Borders includes four essays from Dr. Roscius N. Doan ¸ Craig Justice, Anne Stadler, and Richard Carter about the reach and influence of Target Seattle during the tumultuous 1980s.