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.
Committee Opposed to Militarism and the Draft (COMD)
From Draft NOtices, January—March 2009
— Rick Jahnkow
Many advocates of progressive social change in this country are asking important questions about possible directions to follow after the 2008 election. For the peace movement, this question is particularly challenging because, while there is good reason to celebrate the defeat of the Republican Party and the election of the first African American president, there is also a real danger that Obama’s victory will undercut anti-war protest if he doesn’t move quickly to end the Bush administration’s two wars.
Many liberals might feel overly confident about the degree of change that is coming and decide that the new administration deserves to be given breathing space. It would then become much harder to mobilize opposition if Obama made good on his promise to shift the emphasis on military action from Iraq to Afghanistan.
From Draft NOtices, January—March 2009
—– Kathy Gilberd
On July 19, 2005, Private First Class LaVena Johnson’s battered and partially burned body was found in a military contractor’s tent in Baled, Iraq. She had a gunshot wound to the head, a broken nose and loose teeth, bruises and abrasions all over her body. A corrosive chemical had been poured over her genital area.
The Army ruled her death a suicide. Its investigation found “massive self-inflicted trauma,” and concluded that she had shot herself through the mouth with a rifle, crawled from her own tent to the contractor’s, and set it on fire in an attempt to hide her self-mutilation and suicide. Ms. Johnson’s family believes that the evidence shows she was raped and murdered by a fellow soldier. Their belief is supported by photographs and autopsy information they forced the Army to release under the Freedom of Information Act. It is also consistent with statements from those who had talked with her before her death – including her company commander, who described her as “clearly happy.”
LaVena Johnson’s case points to a frightening pattern of rape and other violence against women in the military. In March 2008, the Department of Defense’s (DoD’s) Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR) office admitted that there had been 2,688 reported cases of sexual assault in the military in 2007. At the time of the report, only 600 of those had resulted in any punishment or administrative action for the attacker. Not long after these figures were released, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified before a congressional subcommittee that the majority of sexual assaults in the military went unreported. Their findings matched a DoD survey conducted in 2006, which also found that at least half of those assaulted did not inform the military of the attacks.
Ninth CIRCUIT COURT RULING: CONFRONTING MILITARISM BY USING EQUAL ACCESS TO HIGH SCHOOLS
When the military comes to your local high school, you have a legal right to give students an opposing view. This has been the position taken by federal district courts in Florida, Pennsylvania and Illinois and two federal appellate courts. The most broadly-worded decision came from a case that COMD took to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the 1980s. Here is the background:
