On Friday, November 16th, more than a 1,000 students in Washington State walked out of school to protest predatory military recruiters.

Since the beginning of the Iraq War, the Pentagon has been assigning ever greater numbers of recruiters to dupe young people into signing up for this bloody, costly and illegal quagmire. In Olympia, 300-400 students walked out in protest, as did 700 young people in Seattle. In the marginalized, bedroom community of Tukwila, 200 students walked out of one high school to protest the recruiters that daily stalk their lunchrooms. Student made signs, marched to an I-5 overpass, and subsequently to the Tukwila City Hall for a civic and peaceful assembly. Now the principal and school district superintendent have begun a witch-hunt, not against students…yet, but against at least six of their teachers. These teachers have stood up for their students, some of the most disenfranchised in the state, both inside and outside the classroom. Who will standup for these six Tukwila teachers?

One teacher was put on administrative leave on Monday, November 19th. At least five more were delivered “memos” notifying them that the Tukwila school district was “investigating reports of possible misconduct relating to you in connection with the student walk-out.” These teachers were further notified that they were not to discuss “this matter with any District students or staff” or they could be fired. Several of these teachers were completely unconnected with the walkout, but having been previously been marked out as individuals that speak their minds, are being lumped into the teacher hunt.

There is only way to deal with a political witch-hunt, and that is for people to take it and break it head-on.

With a “No Child Left Behind” of 2001 provision forcing principals to give up the private contact information of young people to military recruiters, students and teachers have the natural right to protest.

With a bloody and illegal war, where the soldiers that die and are maimed are disproportionately minorities and victims of the “poverty draft,” students and teachers of Tukwila have the natural right to protest.

With more than a trillion dollars and the lives of more than a million Iraqis having been utterly wasted on a failed war, with schools in marginalized areas falling apart, we should all be protesting with the slogan: “Money for Schools—Not For War!"

With 70% of the American people polling against the war, and a Democratic Congress still making excuses why it can’t cut off funding to bring the troops home, we must support the young people who speak out against their future being bombed away.

And we MUST support their teachers whose only misconduct was making their lesson plans truly relevant to the lives of their students.

How can we give thanks to those on the REAL frontlines of freedom in America? Stay TUNED on how to manifest your solidarity.

--Tukwila Teachers Solidarity Committee
wandertom (at) yahoo.com