On Tuesday, June 9th, members of various groups, including CodePink Women for Peace NYC, Peace Action New York State, Brooklyn For Peace, and the Granny Peace Brigade gathered on the steps of City Hall in downtown Manhattan to voice their opposition to the Dept. of Education budget which will include $2.4 million for Junior Reserve Officer’s Training Corps or JRTOC. Councilmember Robert Jackson, Dist. #7, NYC, called this press conference. He is the Chair of the Education Committee as well as on the NYC funding committee and stands with members of the peace and justice community on this issue.
The statement by Elaine Brower, of MFSO-NY, is below. This letter was also hand delivered to Councilmember Jackson, as well as all the City Council members, and directly to the Mayor’s assistant.
June 9, 2009
Dear Councilmembers & Mr. Mayor:
I am the mother of a Marine Corps. Reservist who has served 3 tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan. My son was also a victim of the JRTOC program.
I stand here today to beg you to stop funding the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps with tax money that amounts to over 2.4 million dollars. This money must be spent on educating our youth, not militarizing them further. Government military recruiters have full access to our children, more than we would have ever dreamed, and that which we strongly oppose through the “No Child Left Behind” Act. Why give more of our money to a military institution, when we are in dire need of funds for real education and social programs.
The Governor, the Mayor and the New York City Council, have made cutbacks in children’s day care which impacts women who must find places to care for their child while they work to support a family; the city government is threatening layoffs, specifically in the field of education where talks of excessing our bright young teachers of promise are quietly being conducted; and also making cutbacks in our city services and in programs that feed and house the homeless.
And yet, funding is still being considered for a frivolous, and dangerous program such as JRTOC in our high schools when these same schools may not have the necessary updated textbooks or computers for our children to use for learning.
Why is this? Why is it that social service programs which are meant to enhance the lives of families, are the first to go and militarization is the first to stay. Beware of this process, we condemn other countries for training young children for war, but yet we do it here ourselves. How can you justify that?
JRTOC is just that, the indoctrination of a child. Taking a child and placing them in a program that does not tolerate dissent, that only speaks in one voice of nationalism, my country right or wrong, and would not allow another viewpoint. Our children will then only learn this, and will always fear speaking truth to power, or disagreeing with the constant clamor for war. The more we feed our kids into this program, the more we become an objectionable society.
I speak from experience. My son was part of the JROTC program, and all he did was wear his uniform when told, raise and lower the flag when told. They helped him pass the ASVAB, the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery so then they could escort him to the nearest recruiting station, which they did.
When he was having trouble in school, they did not help him. I had to constantly run to his aid and dig him out of any hole he had put himself in as a young boy. There was absolutely no support from the Naval JRTOC program that he was a part of. In fact, they would chastise him to the point of belittlement, making him feel inferior and unable to do anything on his own. This only led to more problems for him, and for me to fix.
Trust me when I tell you this program is only there to capture and detain our most precious commodity, our children, to be militarized and surpress their freedom of speech and individuality.
I urge, no I demand, that the funding be allocated to programs for educators to help and teach our children in their quest for knowledge and growth, and not fund those who hide under the uniform that represents the destruction of that very same element we so espouse to emulate.
If an adult decides to join the military, that is his or her decision, on their own made with all the tools that educators and parents could have given to them through their formative years. When the military gets into the business of public institutions, such as our school system, it clearly has conflicts of interest. We all stand here today representing thousands and thousands of voices who say NO TO JRTOC!
Sincerely,
Elaine Brower
Military Families Speak Out