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Washington Peace Letter
Washington Peace Center
The Washington Peace Letter is published monthly for the social justice community of the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. Its purpose is to support local, national and international struggles against oppression. It seeks to present a radical analysis of current events, covering information not readily available in the corporate media.
The Peace Letter welcomes submissions of calendar announcements, articles, letters to the Editor, and artwork from the progressive community. Articles may be from 300-1200 words, but may be edited for space considerations. Preference is given to materials that cover actions or organizing campaigns in the D.C. metropolitan area.
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The Washington Peace Letter is a project of the Peace Talks Working Group of the Washington Peace Center. If you are interested in joining us, call!
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Youth Voices For Peace And Justice:
Reaching out to young people
for views and suggestions...
August/September 2004
Volume 40, Number 2
Hiroshima and Nagasaki, by Jamilla McCoy
Youth Violence Prevention Funding Cutbacks, by Juan Pinda
Youth-Made PSA Counters Youth Violence, by Nina Talley
The Return of the Draft?, by Scott Schwertscharf
Hiroshima and Nagasaki: A Youth's Perspective
By Jamila McCoy
Excerpts from a speech given in Hiroshima in August, 2003, by winner of the annual Hiroshima/Nagasaki essay:
While the acts of terror committed against people of color have been numerous and cruel, America's use of weapons of mass destruction against Japan stand out as especially treacherous act of violence.
Japan has rebuilt its infrastructure and its economy has recovered, but it and the rest of the world are forever scarred by the use of the atomic and hydrogen bombs against them.
The global community can look to Hiroshima and Nagasaki as examples of what happens when the doctrine "might makes right" is followed.
As we remember the immense tragedies of these massacres we should say, never again will there by another atomic holocaust.
It is our responsibility as members of the human race to be watchful of our leaders, to check their power, and to make sure they do not commit crimes against humanity to serve their own personal objectives. If we are to prevent our brothers and sisters from exploitation at the hands of a wealthy and corrupt few, we must take control of our media, our land, and our resources if we ever want to regain control of our lives.
Each and every one of us is our brother's keeper; to be a silent witness to injustice is tantamount to giving consent to that injustice. We cannot prevent another Hiroshima or Nagasaki by becoming mentally lazy or being lax in our activism. The spirit of the movement must stay strong after the marches and rallies are over for any true changes to be made in society.
Without education and self-determination we have no control of our situation.
Nagasaki and Hiroshima: Never Again!
Youth Violence Prevention Funding Cutbacks
By Juan Pinda
I think that cutting funding for youth programs will make more young go into gangs. They think that we are stupid; we know what is going on around us and if they do this they will further disconnect us from society, and by cutting the anti-gang fund there will be more gangs. They need to focus on Latin and African Americans because we have the most poverty in the District. For African Americans, 37.6% are in poverty and 25.6% of the Latin youth are in poverty. I think this is a part of youth violence and it seems that the federal government feels that the war on crime has been won and is now putting its resources elsewhere.
The place where Bush is going to put more money is into Iraq and forget about the kids that are killing each other in the streets. He is cutting $127 million and only putting $53 million for our people and kids – this is not enough, we need all the help we can get. More funding can change the future of these kids that are out there looking for problems all the time. These programs can help us know more about what is going to happen to us if we stay out of school and go in a gang.
I think that part of the problem is war because this money that we had for having a better future is going to Iraq but the future is here – we need the help of the government so that the kids have a better future and not there in Iraq so that we can have a good oil.
Gangs in D.C. are making the District of Columbia look bad in the eyes of the other states because it is the capital of the world and has a big gang problem. This problem is going to grow with time because with the attention that the president is putting on Iraq and especially if he is going to continue cutting the fund that we have for these programs that were helping us to get out of gangs.
Now this is going to make more people go into gangs because they will see that the government doesn’t care about us. All of the care that we have is among us and that is why some people don’t know what to do and they go into a gang because some parents don’t know how to talk to their kids or don’t know what to do in a situation like this.
This is a problem that everyone needs to help to get out of the streets of DC because if we are untied we can win this war, but if we go in separate ways we will fail.
[Juan Pinda is a student at Cesar Chavez Charter School. He had a fellowship at the Washington Peace Center during the month of June, 2004.]
Youth-Made PSA Counters Youth Violence
By Nina Talley
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The quasi-deep, animated voice plays back over the computer speaker: “Youth can do something about youth and gang violence, get invikved and participate in programs..”
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“That’s not my voice! Man I don’t even sound like that!” José, one of the four Cesar Chavez High School students in the recording studio shouted with surprise, causing laughter from the other students, the WPFW technician, Selena, and myself. “It’s you alright,” replied Angela, another student from Chavez. We all nodded in agreement. “I didn’t know I sounded like that,” José muttered to himself, voice trailing as Selena decided who would be speaking into the microphone next.
That moment represented the climax of a semester’s worth of work for me as an intern with the Washington Peace Center. Over the course of three months I helped coordinate the Community Action Project, partnered with four students from Cesar Chavez High School, to learn more about public policy related to youth and gang violence in DC.
Throughout that time we met with four different organizations: Critical Resistance, Co/Motion, Justice for DC Youth and the Youth Leadership Support Network. We not only learned about what these organizations were doing, but also how they fit into the national movement to decrease youth violence.
The participating students created a survey to gain insight into what students in the District thought about youth and gang violence. Once we received about fifty responses back we tallied up those numbers into percentages and used that information alongside local and national statistics in a Public Service Announcement that we recorded with the help of WPFW Pacifica, 89.3 FM.
Supporting the implementation and coordination of these efforts was an amazing experience for me. It exposed me to an area of work that I find myself engaged by and talented at. But the most rewarding aspect of this project was by far the relationship I developed with the students. In getting to know each of them I find that I have learned so much more than public policy as it relates to youth violence.
I now realize that young people have an insight on every subject that concerns them, and many that do not; yet so many times those from older generations ignore them. It seems ironic that the discussion of an issue as important as youth violence overlooks the voice of those it affects most. In order to effectively combat youth violence and other problems relating to the youth of America, we must listen to the younger population.
Giving them a voice involves them in the process, and this cannot hurt any more in the long run than the current practice of keeping them out does.
I give many thanks to the Peace Center for their support and dedication in providing the space and resources for the students to create this project, and for providing me with a professional environment in which to learn, be involved and challenge my perceptions of public policy in this country. So to all that were involved, thank you, you made a difference in at least one life.
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Nina Talley interned with the Washington Peace Center from January to May of this year, working with students from the Cesar Chavez Charter School.To obtain an audio copy of the student’s PSA, call the Peace Center office at 202.234.2000.
The Return of the Draft?
By Scott Schwertscharf
We have heard stories from our parents about their experiences during the Vietnam era draft. We have watched political debates about who served and who didn’t; who got drafted and who draft-dodged. But in the end, I do not think many of my peers have seriously contemplated the possibility of being drafted into the military themselves.
At age 18, we registered with the Selective Service System. Some of us may have been proud to have reached the age of responsibility for serving the country. Some of us may have felt some defiance, but we sent in the card anyway under the threat of losing student loans. Some of us wondered what we would do if we had been in our parents’ situation, or if the draft were to be reinstated tomorrow. Most of us didn’t give it a second thought.
Now it is necessary for members of my generation (people under 25) to take a look within ourselves and take some time to consider the possibility of a draft and the consequences of this outcome.
It would seem that the draft presents people with a simple scenario: you get drafted, you go to war. But in reality, there is nothing simple about it.
One might start by questioning the government’s handling of the military in foreign affairs and whether our actions in Iraq are justified. This is not to say that I believe that every individual should be able to pick and choose, without any consequences for their actions, when they will accept a draft and when they won’t. However, it is still important for one to understand the causes and justifications of the conflict and to develop a personal position.
Although it is not presented as a choice, anyone who is drafted must decide whether or not they will comply with the command to go to war. There are many paths available to people who are not willing to fight. One approach would be to apply for conscientious objector status. However, the Selective Service System states that conscientious objector status will not be conferred based on “politics, expediency, or self-interest.”
Some questions naturally arise. What about somebody who conscientiously objects to militarism, the use of false and distorted intelligence to take a country to war, and the profiteering of defense contractors and weapons manufacturers? What about somebody who would support UN intervention in Iraq, but not a unilateral US invasion? It seems that conscientious objector status is a narrowly defined category and not everyone who objects to the current conflict would be covered.
The conclusion that I have come to is that this war not justifiable. I am opposed to the fact that the United States is a country that has troops all over the world, and unilaterally employs them for its purposes. The United States has invaded a country that it had no right to invade. Our elected leaders have distorted intelligence to justify their actions. Thousands of people are dying and the only benefactor is the extraordinarily influential defense industry.
If there were to be a draft right now, it would be because the United States is involved militarily in places where it should not be. It would mean that Americans who oppose the war and current American foreign policy would be forced to fight and die in a situation that could have and should have been avoided. I am wholeheartedly against the current administration’s foreign policy, and I cannot imagine killing another human being or risking my life for what I believe is a morally unjustifiable cause.
What this comes down to is that I will never carry a gun in Iraq. I will never kill a soldier or civilian in Iraq. I will not fight for the Bush Administration.
This decision carries with it enormous consequences. I wouldn’t be able to finish my education at Cornell University. I would have to face the fact that I might not even be able to live in the country I was born in, that my family lives in, and that has molded the meaning and direction of my life.
These are things that I would give up for my beliefs. But there is something else that would weigh even heavier on my mind. If I were to avoid a draft there would be another kid my age that would have to take my place; another kid that would have to risk his life for a cause that he might oppose just as adamantly. I can’t justify this in my mind.
I don’t want my brother, my friends, or anybody to have to make these decisions that I have been contemplating. Despite official assurances that the draft will not be needed to support our struggling troops, I think it is important for people to think about the possibility, and the consequences that it would entail. I think every citizen should know where he or she stands on the issue. And anybody who feels the way I do about the war in Iraq had better start worrying and doing everything in their power to make sure that the possibility of a draft does not become a reality.
Scott Schwertscharf is a student at Cornell University concerned about the effects of a draft on his generation. He interned briefly this summer at the Washington Peace Center.
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