|
Opt Out "check in" meeting
Philadelphia Did you know that Bush’s “No Child Left Behind Act” requires schools to give students’ home phone numbers & addresses to the military? You have the right to Opt Out – refuse to have the school release that info. Opt Out check-in Wed. June 22, 6pm On May 23, building on a growing grassroots movement, a Community Dialogue of students, parents, veterans, military families and others – Black, white, Latino, and Asian – launched a Philadelphia area campaign to “OPT the military OUT of our schools and communities.” The first “check-in” meeting will be held on Wed June 22 where we will get reports and have discussion on the growing Opt Out movement, what is happening in Black and Brown communities and in suburban neighborhoods, a public information campaign, actions and other activities to broaden that movement. Included in the discussion will be building for the opening of school in the Fall, when high schools will be sending students’ home phone numbers and addresses to military recruiters - unless we do something about it. We will have the opportunity to hear about what is happening with military refusniks in other parts of the world from Selma James, international coordinator of the Global Women’s Strike from London England, who will be in Philly and planning on coming to the meeting. All who are interested in or have been working on this campaign are welcome. Opt Out check-in Wednesday, June 22, 6-7:30pm Global Women’s Strike www.globalwomenstrike.net
Payday, www.refusingtokill.net * * * * * * * Be part of a growing national movement to Opt Out! Schools are for learning, not a military hunting ground! FACT: Military recruiters offer $30,000 or more to sign up, while on average only $7,000 is spent on education per student in public schools. FACT: Military recruiters have been caught lying to young people to get them to enlist, making unrealistic promises and coaching students to cheat on exams and drug tests. FACT: Five times the $ is spent to keep a young person in prison than to educate them. One in four Black youth are in prison, jail or under the jurisdiction of the courts. In low-income communities the options often are prison or the military. The US has the world’s largest prison population. FACT: 50% of women soldiers in Iraq reported rape by fellow soldiers; 80% reported sexual harassment. A torturer at Abu Ghraib was a former PA prison guard. FACT: $160 million or more is spent on war in Iraq each day. Meanwhile schools are under-funded, welfare is cut, we are told there is not enough $ for social security, there is no national healthcare plan, women lack pay equity & most families barely make it on wages that don’t keep up with inflation, and they don’t earn a living wage. FACT: 85% of the parents in Montclair NJ schools have opted out and so can you! Congress is proposing that those who die in combat are worth $100,000, but what are we worth alive? Mothers did not raise our children to be cannon fodder! * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * ____Yes I would like to be part of a campaign to “Opt Out”. Please send more information to: Name: Tel/fax Address: School/Org (if any): Are you a, Student, Parent, Teacher, Veteran, Other? Please email to philly@crossroadswomen.ne or fax to 215-848-1130 |