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WEAR YOUR CONVICTIONS ON YOUR SLEEVE STORIES |
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Alex Newport Beach, CA well on the day of the protest i wore an armband made out of an old sock with "no war" written on it. im in a class with a bunch of people who are pro- war and while we had some down time in the class one of the girls came up to me, hit me in the arm and said "why are you against the war?" and hit me again. i tried to explain to her that killing is wrong and that geography shouldnt define whether or not a person lives or dies, other such things, and with each comment she hits me again and again. finally i said to her "now wait.. you see how easy it is to use violence to deal with your problems?... see how easy it is to just keep using agression to solve your problems?... while im trying to sit and rationalize with you, you just keep hitting away... now what are you accomplishing?". she looks at me confused for a minute then stuttering trying to come up with something to say she screams out "fuck you!" and hits me. i found that interesting... we did another protest, a walkout this time at our school a few weeks ago. we stayed out for 3 hours in the middle of campus. we had security guards and the administration there to make sure we didnt do anything, they even got 2 cops to come and circle around us. the aftermath was quite interesting. we were blasted in the school newpaper and in our local paper as "a bunch of misguided kids who just wanted to ditch class" and who "dont really care about the issue at hand, rather about how much school they can miss". not only that but we also recieved a 4 hour saturday school which wouldnt bother me so much were it not for 2 things. 1.) what we did (ditching class) was only grounds for a 2 hour detention and 2.) there was another circle consisting of pro war supporters who were there the exact same amount of time we were, who were antagonizing us, causing disruptions (at one point they carried a "pro war" banner into our circle, but me and a friend made quick work of ripping it up), and were generally just assholes about the whole situation. now what bothers me is that they did not get a saturday school, they did not get 2 hours of detention, not even 1. they were not punished in any way. now ive heard of biased administration but this is insane. im trying to get the ACLU in on it but theres only so much they can do for me before this saturday. much love, Alex, Newport Beach, CA |