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by Emily Winkler-Morey, W A M M
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I have been thrust into this crazy world with a bizarre and wonderful set of tools and privileges. It’s a strange way to live, being the child of activists. Here I am just trying to finish the endless load of homework due tomorrow, or go hang out with my friends, and somewhere inside me is this constant knowledge of the teenagers like me who are dying from radiation poisoning from weapons my government created, suffering in hospitals that cannot get the proper medicine because of sanctions imposed in the name of my security, or working for slave wages under the corporations that hold up my country’s economy. It can be exhausting, but it can also be liberating.
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Image © CircleVision.org |
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Emily and her mom Anne at a demonstration in April 2004 in front of Senator Norm Coleman's office in St. Paul. |
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I am blessed with the encouragement to look beyond the lies, to have faith in every little act of resistance and peace. I know antiwar chants the way I know the blood in my veins. My earliest memories include lying on the floor in the WAMM office, drawing pictures with crayons during political organizing meetings, and sitting on my dad’s shoulders looking out over the crowd, fist and voice raised, at a Take Back the Night demonstration. I was brought up with this built-in community that has taught me lessons I will never forget – big lessons about fighting for what you believe in, speaking out, and how, when it comes to fighting for justice, it is never too late and you are never too insignificant.
They have taught me smaller lessons too, about how to lick envelopes, endure long meetings about nitty-gritty political tactics, and deal with the police. I remember, when I was about five, some old (to me) activist giving me a very serious look and telling me, “If you ever go to prison, ask for tea. The coffee in jail is terrible.” A friend recently turned to me after our Vietnam-era history class and said something to the effect that “if Watergate happened in this country today, no one would care.” My first response was that, of course, Watergate has been happening every day. A rigged election, a totally bogus justification for a war that has killed thousands of soldiers and many thousands more of innocent civilians, the legalization of using race, politics, and other “suspicions” to detain people as if they had no rights; the list goes on and on.
It is a great irony that students are constantly bombarded with the slogan that they must adhere to “high standards” or the “deficit” of money for schools and access to higher education will cause them to be left behind. At the same time, they are expected to have such low standards of their government, to believe that there really isn’t enough quality education to go around, that scandals about lies and torture in government are just part of the process of making us safer. I know that a lot of people do care, but their message has been so thoroughly censored by the media that they haven’t reached everyone they ought to reach.
Despite everything, the people who see what is happening and care about it are out there. They are everywhere. They are licking envelopes and going to meetings and trying to start pirate radio stations. They are applying for colleges and falling in love. They are trying to figure out how they can possibly afford to feed, house, and educate their children. They are serving time in prison. Growing up with the guidance and knowledge of such people and feeling a part of a bigger movement has been the best tool I could possibly take with me as I make my way into the world.
Emily Winkler-Morey has been a W A M M member all her life. She is 17, and a junior at South High school in Minneapolis. |
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Word UP
Americans cannot escape a certain responsibility for what is done in our name around the world. In a democracy, even one as corrupted as ours, ultimate authority rests with the people. We empower the government with our votes, finance it with our taxes, bolster it with our silent acquiescence. If we are passive in the face of America’s official actions overseas, we in effect endorse them.
—Mark Hertzgaard
In Germany they came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the trade-unionists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade-unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me and by that time no one was left to speak up.
— attributed to Rev. Martin Niemoller
Those who have the privilege to know, have the duty to act.
—Albert Einstein
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© 2007 Women Against Military Madness. All rights reserved.
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Complete May 2007 Index - click here
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