More Observations then Answers

A fellow vet responded to my post on the 4th of July titled Land of the Greed and Home of the Brave. His questions deserved answers that I wish I had. I have few answers but a lot of observations. Here’s the questions and my answer to the vet:


Most effectively well put, Terry. How can VFP with VVAW, and the other peace and justice organizations we are allied with, in our rotten, spoiled, apathetic society addicted to consumerism in the third millennium, more effectively manifest a mass movement on the par with what Gandhi did against British Colonialism in the 30s and what MLK did against Southern Racist Hegemony in the 60s????

T,
I think your question and the examples given are a mirror for the peace and justice groups to look into for answers. Its clear communities of color have not embraced the traditional peace movement to provide the solidarity and diversity Dr. King and Gandhi were able to bring together.
While the mostly white and relatively secure members of the peace and justice groups constantly bemoan the lack of diversity; the oppressed, the communities of color and the poor constantly struggle to survive each day.
The master plan of the fascists and racists has been to keep the communities of ethnic minorities separated from each other and from the white progressive and liberal groups. Increasing poverty and distrust has been effective in achieving their goal.
The days of freedom marches have long ago passed and the gains have been eroded. Distrust between races has increased. For a brief fifteen minutes the “other America” of Katrina’s world was noticed by the attention deficit Americans before they turned back to the newest episode of Survivor and The American Idol.
The city high school of my day provided an adequate education for the neighborhood. Many of my classmates went to college. Many earned scholarships. Most students lacked much wealth. The class was a melting pot of many cultures. Today more than half the freshmen entering the high school fail to graduate four years later.
When the city of Denver dropped the residency requirement of essential employees like police, firemen, nurses and EMT’s there was a white flight to gated communities and the paleness of suburbia.
Suburban high schools have benefited with increased funding while the urban high schools are left to deteriorate. Classes are overcrowded. Textbooks are outdated. Buildings lack maintenance and upgrading. Teachers are disgruntled.
The kids left behind are not stupid. They clearly see the plantation masters of Washington D.C. and the state capitols have abandoned them. They also see football camps, swimming camps and basketball camps they’re not invited to attend unless they have extraordinary skills or the money to pay. They see state of the art computer labs not provided to them.
The parents of the kids see the jobless rate in their communities in double digits. They see the jobs they can get lacking healthcare benefits and a living wage. They look around at the emergency rooms they have to use to see other poor individuals and families. Many are people of color. They see who goes into the jails and prisons of our nation.
2500 dead Americans and approximately 250,000 dead Iraqis don’t attract the attention of Americans like the price of gas does. Rapes, torture and secretive prisons don’t attract the attention college tuitions or grocery bills do.
Like most humans, it seems, Americans look for someone to blame. A scapegoat is needed. The “illegals” fit the bill for most Americans. Illegals cost America billions in welfare, free medical care and lost jobs they say. Violent and criminal illegals cross over into America killing and robbing its people they say. Illegals won’t even learn the English language they say.
Wal-Mart, Halliburton, Kellogg, Brown & Root, GM, United Airlines, Enron, Tyco and Quest are examples of the American capitalist way, however. They provide work for millions of true Americans. They’re an asset to our nation.
I always remember a Black Studies professor I had at University of Colorado telling his class the true welfare queens of America are large American corporations. They lobby constantly for tax cuts and then demand more. They lobby for less restrictions on environmental concerns, pensions and labor and then demand more.
The cost of “corporate welfare” to America far outstrips all the cheating that occurs in social programs. And looking at the Medicaid fraud, the greatest offenders are medical professionals and suppliers not poor recipients of the program.
The damage to health and lives by corrupt companies far outstrip any crime by illegals in lost pensions, lost savings, and toxic effects of work places and cover up of health hazards.
Do Americans ever see that truth? Americans prefer to be critical, to bitch and moan and to scapegoat weaker people. They seldom do critical thinking that would allow them to see the real truth.
500 billion dollars spent in a nation without weapons of mass destruction but with the world’s second largest oil reserves doesn’t seem to set off alarm in most Americans. They’re told the money is for freedom and to keep terrorists from the American shores. They believe what they’re told by a media dominated by the friends of the powerful elite.
While the Bush people are bound and determined to ensure the gutting of most social programs they would never consider television as a luxury in this country. Television has become not only the vast wasteland but the great narcotic of the American people.
The Clear Channels of American media have also become the propaganda tool of the power mongers. Mainstream media promotes fear that keeps Americans in a constant state of anxiety or panic. Fear and more fear make for a panicked citizenry wanting mother government to protect them.
Since September 11, 2001 the slick propagandists have evoked the memories of towers toppling to the streets below at every opportunity. Like Israeli actions in Palestine it’s risky to question or challenge their lies and distortions about 9-11.
Looking back over the past four plus years since 9-11 there’s a clear pattern of the American government creating crisis after crisis whenever the Bush Administration’s immoral actions or deceptions come to light. And American media willingly takes the focus away from Bush to the new “crisis” d’jour. Fooled once, fooled twice and fooled a third time one would think the media might become skeptical. It doesn’t take a cynic to think the manipulation is agreed to by the corporate media.
I often shake my head in wonder seeing panicked parents rushing to schools to assure the safety of their children whenever media reports a crime nearby. The “Columbine syndrome” of parental panic is what I think of when I see these scenes.
I marvel I managed to survive the bike accidents and falls of my childhood when I see today’s children wearing helmets, knee and elbow pads and all sorts of protective gear to ride a bike or roller skate. I have to think the fear of parents must carry over into the lives of their children.
Sure I know the rationale for all the protective gear. I’m a medical professional. But, seriously, doesn’t it seem parents in America have become frightfully overprotective?
And yet, when it comes to sending children to wars, parents seem to miss the boat. They surely can’t stop their children from enlisting but couldn’t they scrutinize the wars the children are sent to fight a little more?
I hear from parents and family members of soldiers and Marines all the time who feel the war is wrong or being carried out without regard to the safety of their children. Often they seem paralyzed with the fear and worry to the point they won’t challenge their own government’s actions directly.
Why do they rush to the schools at the drop of the hat to see if their child is safe but fail to speak out directly when their child is at the greatest risk of their lives? Why do they make sure protective gear is worn to ride a bike but allow the government to send their children out into a combat zone without the proper body armor or armored vehicles?
I can’t understand why the parents of this nation allow the slaughter of their children in senseless war after senseless war without demanding an end to it. They say they want to “support” their kids but waving flags and believing the words of lying politicians hardly supports the troops.
I’ve heard from several troops who have been to Iraq or Afghanistan and know it was immoral and illegal. They say they don’t want to return for another deployment but think it necessary to “honor” their contract. Or they want to be “good” soldiers or Marines.
Others say they want to have the benefits offered by the military and will take the risk of a possible redeployment. The risk of dying or severe wounds seems to be worth the money for college or the cattle call care of the VA.
Like the “good German”, American youth are just doing their duty. Like faithful soldiers of fascists the doubting soldiers and Marines are just doing their job. Like sheep led to a cliff, American troops follow each other over the edge despite knowing the truth.
Yes, my words are harsh. I’ve lost my patience for the moral ambivalence of Americans when innocent Iraqi and Afghani children continue to be killed. Life is a series of choices that will either strengthen us or destroy us. Going to an immoral and illegal war is one of life’s most serious choices.
I don’t make such harsh remarks without some personal experience. In 1969 I returned from Vietnam as a decorated combat veteran of the Marines. My performance and proficiency ratings were excellent. A little over a year later I was given an Undesirable Discharge.
One month after I arrived at Camp Lejeune, N.C. to begin my new duty as an infantry trainer I became darkly and severely depressed. I couldn’t get my mind around the atrocities and immorality of the war I had taken part in fighting. I knew I had to leave Camp Lejeune or I would die.
I spent six weeks in Correctional Custody. I spent a month in Great Lakes Naval Station’s brig. The cell block at Great Lakes was tear-gassed by the Marine guards when a group of Vietnam veterans locked staff out of the cell block area following abusive actions of the staff.
I was handcuffed and hobbled with a dozen other AWOL Vietnam vets and taken across a tarmac at the National Airport in Washington, D.C. for a flight back to North Carolina. I was jailed in Denver City Jail for over a week following my arrest by six FBI agents pointing weapons at me and my father.
I was finally given the Undesirable Discharge as a plea bargain when the Marines discovered I had retained an ACLU lawyer from Oceanside, California to defend me against charges of desertion.
After I finally left the Corps my mother told me the year following Vietnam was as bad as Vietnam. She was right. Being told I was unworthy of being called an American and being threatened with many years of prison was difficult. But another thing my mom said was just as true. She said she’d never seen me more at peace and happy as when I finally decided not to cooperate with the Marine Corps in carrying out the war.
I don’t have the answers but only the observations of what I find in this nation. I think solidarity with the Americans of Katrina would be an excellent place to start.
I think becoming helpful and aligning ourselves with humans who migrate for better lives would be another excellent place we could gain.
I think including parents of troops from communities of color would be a good idea. As much as I love the things Cindy Sheehan has done, she doesn’t speak for these communities.
I think remembrance of Iraqi families destroyed is necessary on an ongoing basis. The face of the children of Iraq seems to be missing from much of our concerns for peace.
I think the time has come when concerned Americans go to D.C. and demand to be heard. But their voices will never be heard unless there is a coalition like the one Dr. King was able to forge. And when the rainbow faces of all Americans march into the nation’s capitol to confront the pale faces in the corridors of power, the elite will tremble.
Isolated voices from isolated communities will continue to be isolated from change. Solidarity and unity of communities will refuse to accept anything less than change from the tyrants.
Just the thoughts of an angry ex-Marine….emphasis on the ex.
Peace and solidarity,

Wm. Terry Leichner, RN
Combat vet of Vietnam – USMC
VVAW member - Denver