United Nations Day 2008:
SF Faith Leaders Call Local JROTC Prop V a Violation of UN Spirit
WHEN: Thursday, October 23, 2008, 11:30 a.m.
WHERE: Federal Building, Corner of Larkin and Golden Gate Streets, San Francisco
Speakers:
Rev. Dorsey Blake, Church for the Fellowship of All Peoples
Rev. Peter Olandt, S.F. Unitarian Universalist)
Rev. Karen Oliveto, Glide United Methodist Church
Rev. Deborah Lee, PANA Institute
Rev. Schuler Rhodes, Temple United Methodist Church
Alan Lessik, AFSC)
Father Louis Vitale, Franciscan and JROTC/ROTC graduate
In honor of observing UN Day (October 24th), faith leaders from San Francisco gather to encourage voters to vote NO on Proposition V. The UN Optional Protocol on the Involvement of Children in Armed Conflict prohibits military recruitment of young people under the age of 17. This protocol was ratified by the US Senate. In San Francisco, the US military through the JROTC program in San Francisco high schools targets youth as young as 13 to join, in what former Defense Secretary Cohen called, “one of the best recruiting devices we could have.”
“S.F. taxpayers pour over $1 million dollars each year into a military recruitment program,” says AFSC’s Stephen McNeil, “one that targets children as young as 14 years of age.” The ACLU issued a May 2008 report, titled Soldiers of Misfortune – stating that JROTC “demonstrably serves to increase the number of student recruits.”
Father Louis Vitale notes “as one who went from JROTC (high school) to AFROTC (college) to USAF to U.S. nuclear weapons training, while “guarding the U.S. from enemy attack” and seeing the U.S. develop into an empire that threatens the life of this planet and even the Space frontiers... “I am convinced we must reverse this futile and dangerous direction. My military training started very early. We must reverse this process and become true nonviolent peacemakers from our earliest years. Peace studies and activities, not training for war, should reflect our schools and the life of our youth in the city of Saint Francis, who went from warrior to peacemaker.”