From Draft NOtices, April — June 2009
– Ernie McCray
When it comes to freedom fighters, I’ve met a few.
I once shook hands with Martin Luther King long before he gave birth to his wonderful dream.
I twice sang to Rosa Parks and basked in her beautiful and warm smile, so thankful that she once sat down so I could stand up tall.
I remember sipping wine with Pete Seeger and kicking back while he sang and waxed eloquently about civil and human rights and his efforts to get the world to “study war no more.”
Needless to say these were thrilling moments in my life, but no more so than the moments I’ve spent, over the last year, with a number of freedom fighting students from Lincoln and Mission Bay High, two San Diego City Schools.These kids, more than one hundred strong, most of them Latinos along with a smattering of African Americans, didn’t set out to change their world. No, they were just trying to make their grades and get their homework in on time and get ahead in the lunch line. Then one day, like Mr. Magoo’s eyes popping open, they suddenly came to realize that some of their peers who were looking for college preparatory courses were steered into JROTC (which is often a direct path into the military), based on the lie that the program has academic value. They also discovered that others of them were being enrolled in military science courses without their parents’ informed consent.
And they got wind of plans for weapons training on their campuses which they sensibly felt made a hypocrisy out of the school district’s “no excuses, no exceptions” zero-tolerance policy regarding weapons.
As they pondered what to do and who to turn to, a couple of brilliant, caring teachers came to their rescue with open arms. They were joined by parents and a few other educators and community activists like me. We became the Education Not Arms Coalition and set out on a quest that has been, figuratively speaking, reminiscent of the freedom struggles of yore.