Letter to the Editor: Veterans Day Demonstration
To the Manhattan College community,
As members of Just Peace, we are writing not to apologize for our demonstration on Veterans Day, but to make clear our intentions to those who misunderstood our message. We recognize that we made a serious mistake by not publishing a statement in advance, and we hope to rectify our miscommunication here. We invite you not only to listen to our statement now, but also to engage us in a productive conversation.
First and foremost, we would like it to be well and widely known that we do support our troops. We have never, despite accusations and rumors, said that we do not. By representing each fallen soldier of today’s war with a cross on the quadrangle, we were hoping to remind our community with a powerful visual that Veterans Day is a day to remember those who have served in the military, and especially those who have fallen. As a group, we decided that it would also be an appropriate time to ask the government and each other as citizens to reconsider putting more of our loved ones in danger. With all of our hearts, our intention was to show respect to our veterans and troops by asking that we protect them, and future members of our armed forces as we reflected on those who we have lost.
Just Peace has placed crosses in the quadrangle before, on the Sunday following Thanksgiving in Fall of 2006, without this much response. We realize that this is because choice of date. Veterans Day was originally named Armistice Day for “the eleventh day of the eleventh month” marking the end of World War I. It is a day that since symbolizes the day of the truce and the end of hostilities; it is a day to hope for peace and to remember those who died.
Our message is well stated in Alana Powell’s speech, which not everyone was able to hear. Also, Mary Kate Boylan’s article about the event in the last issue featured important quotes.
We recognize that many young men and women enter the military under socio-economic pressure, and that many return from war into environments without proper support and resources. In fact, Just Peace and others gathered to watch the documentary When I Came Home later that afternoon. The film gave us insight to the lives of homeless veterans in America who have returned from the Vietnam and Iraq wars, and suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. We invited the entire college community then, and we extend another invitation to watch it with us again now. Please contact us at just_peace@manhattan.edu if you are interested in a second showing and discussion.
Unlike wars before, we live our lives uninterrupted until a loved one, a classmate or a friend of a friend leaves for war, or worse, is lost. It is our responsibility as students and residents of this free country to be active participants of our communities. Our peers are fighting, and we as their peers need to fight for them like we, Just Peace, did on Veterans Day.
Thank you to all who have voiced their opinion, and thank you for those who have listened to both sides of this issue. We hope that you do not hesitate to continue this conversation with us. Just Peace meets in Cornerstone every Wednesday at 4pm.
Just Peace
