Contact: Rhoda Gilman, 651-224-6383
The Green Party today declared its support for students of Central High School and other members of Youth Against War and Racism (YAWR) in their demand that military recruiters receive no preferred treatment at St. Paul public high schools. While recognizing that the federal No Child Left Behind Act makes it almost mandatory for schools to admit military recruiters, the students ask that the military, like college and job recruiters, be restricted to the school's Career Resource Center.
They also feel that Central High School is unfairly targeted by the military because of its large minority enrollment, and they ask that they be given a week's advance notice before recruiters arrive. This would allow them time for preparing information to counter what they believe are false promises about career advancement and education that are held out to low-income and minority students. Their petition will be presented to the school board at its meeting on December 19.
"In a community that places value on nonviolence in both interpersonal and international relations," says Richard Broderick, "military recruitment and programs such as Junior ROTC have no place." Broderick is a well-known poet and writer and a former Green Party candidate for the school board. Both his children have attended St. Paul public schools.
Rhoda Gilman, another St. Paul Green, whose daughters attended Central High School, points out that the Green Party, in cooperation with many local peace groups, has for years asked that the JROTC program be ended. "It glorifies war and violence in the minds of young people, and it is a drain on St. Paul taxpayers," she says. In its Vision for the City of St. Paul, released two years ago, the Green Party advocated that the schools replace JROTC with a positive program of instruction in conflict resolution and peaceful solutions to interpersonal and social problems.
The Green Party of St. Paul and the 4th Congressional District is founded on the principles of ecological wisdom, social and economic justice, nonviolence, and grassroots democracy.
