[Vision2020] Mumia Abu-Jamal: 'Harder and Harder to Recruit'

[Timothy Rigsby]

Here is an interesting writing from the perspective of a man on death row on military
recruitment in America.  I particularly like how Mumia ties NCLB in with military
recruiting.

Copy and Pasted without permission from some googled website.  Originally emailed to
me via the Mumia email list that I subscribe too.

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Mumia Abu-Jamal: 'Harder and Harder to Recruit'       
by Mumia Abu-Jamal 
Mumia.org 
[Col. Writ. 5/5/05] 
Copyright '05 by Mumia Abu-Jamal 
Across the nation, from city to country, from urban to rural areas, the U.S. 
Imperial Army is finding it harder and harder to meet their recruitment targets. 

While the corporate media likes to call it 'a volunteer army', in truth, many 
young people opt for the Army out of sheer economic necessity. They also often do 
so because they've been promised the moon by Army recruiters, who tell them 
things like: "We'll give you up to $70,000 for college!" -- or-- "You won't have to 
go to Iraq!" 

Like high-pressure salesmen, recruiters must get the old John Henry on a contract, 
and the rest, as they say, is history. 

In 2004, the National Guard fell short of its quota by 13 percent. The Reserve is 
down 10 percent, and the Army fell behind some 27 percent in February. 

Parents are quietly steering their children away from an increasingly unpopular 
war, where their children may be killed or maimed. There is also the undeniable 
factor of the raging Iraqi resistance. 

People know, now by the millions, that the U.S. isn't in Iraq to 'bring freedom', 
as King George so blithely states. 

While largely ignored by the corporate press, demonstrations are happening all 
across the country, in high schools, and on college campuses, against 
military recruitment. 

It's also true that much of this recruiting is among young people of color; Black 
and Latino, working class kids; those with the least economic prospects, are 
targeted with promises of money for college and vocational training. The promise 
of four years for a livelihood seems quite attractive. 

But, in fact, many young people will be bound for eight years -- not four -- if 
the administration declares such a necessity. Many of the people who lost 
their eyesight, their limbs, their very lives in Iraq were actually past their 
due dates. 

Remember the No Child Left Behind Act of 2002? A little-known section of the 
law required *all* public high schools to deliver personal contact data on juniors 
and seniors to military recruitment officers. 

It kinda gives a whole new meaning to 'No Child Left Behind' -- doesn't it? 

Interestingly, the nation's private schools, where the economic elite are 
educated, are not subject to that law. 

Hundreds of students at San Francisco State University of California-Santa 
Cruz marched against Army, Navy and Marine recruiters, kicking them out of 
their annual job fair. 

The protests that opened this war may have dissipated when it came to later 
mass demonstrations. But that obviously doesn't mean that people are not 
deeply opposed to this mad adventure in Iraq. 

Even the corporate media's polls show a majority of respondents feel Iraq 
simply wasn't worth it. That number will only grow. 

In times of war, governments try to advance their most noxious brand of 
repression; yet people always find ways to resist. 

That resistance must grow until it gives voice to a true, solid anti-imperialism, 
that washes away the corporate political elites that use ruinous wars for 
private profits. 

This war isn't a war against terrorism; it's a war for Halliburton; for Bechtel; 
for Lockheed-Martin, and the oil giants. 

It's not a war for freedom, but for *un*freedom; for more government control, and 
less freedom for every American. 

It seems that this simple truth is getting through. 

[Check out Mumia's latest: *WE WANT FREEDOM: A Life in the Black Panther Party*, 
from South End Press (http://www.southendpress.org); Ph. #1-800-533-8478.] 
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Tim Rigsby
Contributor to the Mumia Abu Jamal Legal Defense fund and reader of numerous 
Mumia publications.