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A letter of introduction from Jeff McKenzie. |
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11/26/2002 Hi, I want to introduce myself to those of you interested in Military Families Speak Out. My name is Jeff McKenzie and I in Gasport, NY. I am 48 years-old and I have a son, Jeremy and a daughter-in-law, Nicole, both are serving in the U.S. military. Jeremy is a Captain in the Army and is a command pilot for his medical evacuation unit. Nicole was enlisted in Army but is now in the Guard in a medical unit. Our views are not the same on all the issues but we respect each others opinion. The idea for Military Families Speak Out, came out of a chance meeting with Charley Richardson and Nancy Lessin on Oct. 26th at a large antiwar/ peace march/ rally in Wash. DC. I had gone down with over 200 people from Rochester, NY in spite of not being able to stand straight after having injured my back while moving a piece of furniture. I spotted Charley and Nancy’s sign telling about their son Joe who was in the Marines. I walked up to them and walked away with a letter Charley had written about Joe and stuck it in my pocket. I got to thinking when I got home I should write to them and ask if they would be interested in starting a group of military families against war and the rest is history now (you can read their response on the listserv if you didn’t receive it in our initial email). In 1994 and 95, I served as Deputy Commander of Cadets, for Civil Air Patrol in Lockport, NY. During that time I was recognized as Senior of the Year. Also during that time Jeremy was recognized as Cadet of the Year, not only for his squadron but all of NY State. Five other cadets in my squadron went on to serve in the military; four are presently officers and one is presently enlisted. In August 2001, I was attending SUNY Brockport as a Junior and I lived in the dorm with non-traditional , international and several ROTC students. On September 11th, I watched in horror the events unfolding on the television. Jeremy telephoned me from Bosnia where he had arrived the beginning of September for a 6 month mission. He said ‘dad, if Nicole gets called up can you watch our dogs’ (a 6 year-old German Shepard mix and a puppy that was a Husky mix). I spent the next week deciding what to do and then making arrangements to drop out of school if need be, I planned on living on his base to take care of the dogs. Around the 3rd week of September I attended my first Amnesty International meeting at campus. The discussion at the meeting quite naturally focused on terrorism and Afghanistan. The vice- president of the college club made a statement that shocked the 5 of us in attendance, she said, ”the Afghani’s are dumb, ignorant people and we should kill them all”. Needless to say this is not the opinion of Amnesty International and it also led to this person being asked to step down. This meeting changed my course and made me closely examine what was happening in America and around the world. My roommate who was also at that meeting, another activist I had heard of but had never met until after that night and myself, on September 28th became the founding members of Brockport Students Against War. The next week we increased membership to seven people. Today there are around 70 people signed onto the listserv. My decision to become involved in the antiwar/ peace movement did not just come out of emotion, quite the contrary. I saw all the flag waving, the sudden surge of patriotism and all the God Bless America signs; to me that was emotionalism and Bush and the media were hyping it up. I instead chose to search out real answers. I read not just the U.S. news but news from various sources, using the Internet I tapped into information from all over the world. I also drew on my three years of following the Anabaptist faith (Amish/ Mennonites and Hutterites) back in the late 80’s, they taught pacifism based on the teachings of Christ. I looked at cause and effect, rather than just looking for revenge. Since that time, I have traveled to demonstrations and rallies in NYC, Wash. DC, Kent State and Philadelphia. I decided to educate myself about the issues further by attending the Student Environmental Action Coalition (www.seac.org ) Summer Training Institute in Knoxville, TN. On the final day of SEAC STI, we participated in activities outside the gates of the Oak Ridge Y-12 Nuclear Weapons Plant where I learned a lot about the U.S. future plans for weapons of mass destruction (WMD), check out: www.stopthebombs.org . I was also arrested for the first time for taking part in non-violent actions outside the gates. I had decided to drop out of my senior year of college to become more involved in the issues important to me. So I immediately left TN for Los Alamos, NM where I joined the Family Spirit Walk for Mother Earth, check out: www.shundahai.org . A walk calling for the abolition of the nuclear cycle and to support the indigenous people whose lands have been taken over by the U.S. government. Around twenty-five of us walked over 800 miles through 4 states, from Aug. 9th until Oct.11th. We arrived at the Nevada Test Site, where we were joined by many others for conferences and non-violent actions until Oct. 15th. I joined another walk in Atlanta, GA on Nov. 9th. On the 11th, we traveled back to take part in the largest march/ rally Atlanta had seen in 30 years, this was an antiwar/ peace rally. Fourteen of us, walked 140 miles to Ft. Benning, GA to take part in the School of Americas protest , check out: www.soaw.org . Well I think you should have some idea of who I am now and why I decided to see if others would be interested in starting a group. My personal vision is to see us encompass individuals from around the world that have relatives serving in the military. I also hope military members will join us and that we will find ways of giving them and their spouses support. It is also important to involve the efforts of people that support what we are doing even though they may not be military families. While the war in Iraq is in the forefront right now, I hope this organization will take on other related issues, to give it longevity and to make others aware war on Iraq is not the only significant issue that affects those in the military and the larger society outside. I believe as we grow and we develop a structure, people involved will decide on a permanent name for the organization, I chose Military Families Speak Out because it will make others take notice of us and allows us the flexibility to speak out on more than one issue over a long period of time. So please join us, TODAY. We need to speak out against the widening of the war in Iraq (let’s be honest the bombing has never stopped and our sanctions having taken an even heavier toll than war). As I write this, I know of military personnel being deployed around the Gulf. I have reason to believe a massive war is not far off and will put hundred of thousands of military personnel and probably millions of civilians at risk. The snowball effect of an all out war is unpredictable. Let’s start looking at people in this world as human beings and dispel this us versus them mentality. We need to end the cycle of violence and start focusing on peaceful solutions. The time to act is now.
Love, peace and solidarity, |
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