{"id":78,"date":"2005-10-28T16:52:04","date_gmt":"2005-10-28T20:52:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.traprockpeace.org\/counter_recruitment\/?p=40"},"modified":"2005-10-28T16:52:04","modified_gmt":"2005-10-28T20:52:04","slug":"in-support-of-kent-state-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/blog\/2005\/10\/28\/in-support-of-kent-state-students\/","title":{"rendered":"In Support of Kent State Students"},"content":{"rendered":"

UPDATE: We have created a SPECIAL BLOG for Kent State Students – all new statements of support are being posted at the HANDS OFF DAVE blog.<\/a>
\n.
\n.
\n.
\n.
\n.
\n.
\nTO: Carol Cartwright, William Ross, Greg Jarvie, Kent State University<\/p>\n

Dear all,<\/p>\n

I am prompted to write this protest letter on behalf of Dave Airhart, a
\nstudent and Iraq War veteran that climbed the Army’s rock wall at your
\ninfamous university and draped a sign that read, “Kent State 4 Peace” over
\nthe wall for all to see. Since when is peaceful protest not allowed in this
\ncountry?<\/p>\n

But there is an even more important reason for demanding that Dave be given
\nall his rights back and that all punishment against him be rescinded
\nimmediately. The rock wall is a horrible advertising scam designed to fool
\nstudents about the reality of war, the reality of military “life,” if you
\nare lucky enough to live through it whole and with all your faculties.<\/p>\n

War isn’t climbing rock walls and joking with friends and David knows this.
\nWar isn’t “expanding your horizons” or “learning useful skills”. War is
\nabout killing the enemy. That means that war is based on who the government
\ndeems the enemy at any given moment in time. And who makes these decisions?
\nDo we vote on war? No, those who rule decide upon war.<\/p>\n

So, our elected officials make the decision about war. Both Republicans and
\nDemocrats alike voted on the war; the budget; the expansion of military
\nspending; the increase in the military’s advertising budget for recruitment
\nand the entrenchment of the military in our school system at every level;
\nPatriot Act; increased internal surveillance of civilians; more jails; more
\npolice, etc. At the same time all social nets and services; schools;
\nhospitals; the entire social and service infrastructure is in shambles. But
\nthe oil barons corporate kingpins are swimming in money. Their children
\ndon’t join the military! They join the jet set.<\/p>\n

And then, we find out beyond any reasonable doubt, that all the reasons for
\nthe war in the first place were nothing but a bunch of lies\u2014-to militarily
\noccupy the oil-rich region for American business interests, having nothing
\nto do with anything but making that financial arrangement by force\u2014-using
\nour tax money to carry out one of the biggest crimes of our century.<\/p>\n

And you expect people to be silent about educators allowing the
\nmilitary\u2014-this sick monster\u2014-to come onto our schools and campuses and set
\nup a rock wall and pretend that war is fun; to lie, pressure, humiliate,
\nshame and coerce young people to sacrifice their lives for lies; to consume
\nand mangle more of our kids to make the pockets of the wealthy elite bulge
\neven more? To condemn those that do survive to suffer the images of war that
\ndart in and out of consciousness continually for the rest of their lives?
\nJust whose side are you on?<\/p>\n

The buck stops here!<\/p>\n

Get the military out of Kent State University. If you can’t do it now you
\ncan at least demand it now! You can encourage students like Dave. He should
\nbe speaking to all the students at Kent State. He has valuable and real
\nexperience. The military is no place for the inquisitive mind which all
\neducators are supposed to be nurturing. You need to get your bearings back.<\/p>\n

You need to stand on the side of these brave students. You need to support
\nthem not punish them. You need to convince young people that joining the
\nmilitary is not a good choice when an entire government has lied about all
\nthe reasons for going to war in the first place. This war will be a shame
\nand disgrace for centuries to come, if the human race makes it. Our young
\npeople need to study how to end wars and create a humane world.<\/p>\n

As educators your job is to stand on their side against the military
\nrecruiters; to encourage students to think twice and three times about
\njoining the military. Your job is to see that they are not fooled by the fun
\nof climbing a rock wall. It’s not as much fun when you are carrying your
\nbuddy’s bloody torso on your back under gunfire. Your job is to encourage
\nthem to read about the war; to seek out veterans to speak to; to do thorough
\nresearch on how the government lied and used the mass media to perpetrate
\nthe lies. This is the reality of our world today as much as we detest it.
\nSchool is no place for the military\u2014-no place to recruit our children to die
\nfor the enrichment of the wealthy elite who rules this country.<\/p>\n

It is up you to stand on their side. Go out and protest with the students
\nagainst the military. Let the military know they are not welcome at Kent
\nState even if you can’t ban them now! And drop all the charges and reinstate
\nDave Airhart immediately. Get the military out of Kent State!<\/p>\n

Sincerely,<\/p>\n

Bonnie Weinstein, Bay Area United Against War
\nwww.bauaw.org
\ngiobon@sbcglobal.net<\/p>\n

####<\/p>\n

Carol Cartwright- University President: 330.672.2210
\n\t\tcarol.cartwright@kent.edu<\/p>\n

Greg Jarvie- Dean of Undergraduate Students: 330.672.9494
\n gjarvie@kent.edu<\/p>\n

William Ross- Executive Director of the Undergraduate Student Senate:
\n330.672.3207
\n wross@kent.edu<\/p>\n

KSAWC is a member of the national student grassroots organization,
\n Campus Antiwar Network (CAN)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

UPDATE: We have created a SPECIAL BLOG for Kent State Students – all new statements of support are being posted at the HANDS OFF DAVE blog. . . . . . . TO: Carol Cartwright, William Ross, Greg Jarvie, Kent State University Dear all, I am prompted to write this protest letter on behalf of… Continue reading In Support of Kent State Students<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/grassrootspeace.org\/campus_antiwar_network\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}