Students Protest War, Briefly Disrupt School, Get Ten Days Suspension ~ Annapolis Capital Punishment
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Saturday, April 19, 2008

Students Protest War, Briefly Disrupt School, Get Ten Days Suspension

I suppose the odds are not too high that as soon as you graduate high school, you might get sent to Iraq where you can supposedly defend freedom. That's because we don't have a draft, which if we did, we might not have a war, or we might see it differently. Furthering that argument, if we were forced to pay for it NOW, we might not be having it either. But closer to home at Annapolis HS, we learn that three students who briefly sat down in a hallway to protest the war, got cuffed by police and sentenced to ten days of suspension.

Okay, let's put this into perspective. More US soldiers have died in Iraq than there are students that go to Annapolis HS. We have been fighting in Iraq for longer than it takes someone to graduate high school. We let students go to high school, then we ship them off to Iraq to kill and be killed. Our schools suffer from lack of funding, our economy is teetering, the dollar is weakening, people are losing their homes, our international prestige is sliding away, gas prices are soaring, many AHS students live in housing projects where they hear gunshots--and get shot and even murdered.....and we have to lock up a few students for sitting in a school hallway.

Contrast this to the Vietnam era when we had a draft and for most purposes, had to pay for the war. The young people went nuts, and their protests eventually brought about an end to the war. And our country seems to have collective amnesia about every lesson we should have learned from that folly.

So, after all these years in Iraq, trillions squandered and many thousands dead,we seem to forget all the lies foisted upon us by Bush and Cheney Incorporated. Instead, we take a few students who sat down peacefully and suspend them for ten days. Perhaps, yes perhaps, if cooler heads prevail, we'll get a massive student protest going and maybe we'll shut the whole school down for ten days. That might make a point. As the parent of an Annapolis HS student, I'm all for it. It might make the lessons my son is learning about US government and history all the more meaningful. And if he gets suspended for ten days, we'll go visit all the war memorials in Washington, stroll among the gardens of stones at Arlington, visit our Senators and Congressman to protest. He might learn more than he does in school.

Read about in The Capital at: www.hometownannapolis.com/cgi-bin/read/2008/04_19-25/TOP

6 Comments:

John said...

It will be very interesting the hear how the school district and the police deal with a much larger, much more organized protest coming up this week. The Day of Silence to show the support of the gay and lesbian community.

http://www.dayofsilence.org/

My son is at SRHS and has said there are a bunch of people planning on participating. Note to cops--pack extra plastic handcuffs!

Paul Foer said...

Thanks John...oh I do so relish these times of national peril.....I am encouraging my son and his friends to protest this ten-day suspension. How ridiculous. After five years of this national/global nightmare some committed and intelligent young people sit down in a hallway for ten minutes--and get slapped!
This would be known legally as a "chilling effect" on free speech.

Anonymous said...

It is funny, a tale of two cities. Key School likely would have sanctioned this and held a press conference and garnered front page coverage of students defending their constitutional rights.

Annapolis High does it and they are miscreants hell bent on disrupting the school and subsequently arrested and suspended.

Back in high school, I was suspended twice--once for booze and girls, and another time for girls and booze. Both times it was 5 days! My how times have changed!

Paul Foer said...

...and the times they are a changing.....come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don't criticize what you can't understand, your sons and your daughter are beyond your command.....thanks to Dylan...

Anonymous said...

As the aunt of one of these boys, I can tell you that not only was he suspended, but also he spent 12 hours locked in a jail cell. He was then cuffed, arms and legs, with several young men picked up on a warrant sweep through Robinwood and taken before the Court commissioner. Ironically, most of those young men probably dropped out of Annapolis High at some point because not enough resources are devoted to helping them/their community. But as long as free speech is squashed and an anti-war protest is stopped DEAD...

Paul Foer said...

Dear Anonymous: Thanks for your note although in fairness to all, I wish you would identify yourself. Stand up and be counted, as did your nephew. I'd like to write a longer feature about this. Will you help?

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