By Philip Locker, Dylan Simpson, and Marianne Mork
June 21, 2007
“What do we want? Recruiters out! When do we want it? Now!” chanted over 70 antiwar protestors as we marched into to the Seattle School Board meeting Wednesday night. The spirited protest, called by Youth Against War and Racism (YAWR), demanded the school board finally take real action against military recruitment in our schools. As the local TV news King 5 said, it was “intended to be political high theatre, and it certainly was effective.” Another reporter commented: “it was the most dramatic anti-military recruitment rally to date.”
YAWR is calling for military recruiters to be banned from Seattle public schools. But to stay within the legal paramaters of the “No Child Left Behind” law, we are demanding that all recruiting be done at a district-wide recruitment fair once a semester. This would create equity between the access to students that the military, college, and job recruiters have. Currently, military recruiters have a massive budget and a huge advantage over college and job recruiters. A district-wide recruitment fair would also stop military recruiters from carrying out their predatory tactics within our schools and disproportionate targeting of schools that are predominantly made up of poor and minority students.
Links to Mainstream Media Coverage
KOMO 4 Video coverage: http://www.komotv.com/news/8105247.html (click WATCH THE STORY below the picture)
King 5 Video coverage: http://www.king5.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=153224
Seattle Times: http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003756523_assignment21m.html
