Support Youth Against War and Racism in St. Paul

Police repression and unjust arrests in the Twin Cities related to the Republican National Convention have caused concern among nonviolent organizers.

Youth Against War and Racism (YAWR), a partner organization of FOR, has asked us to mobilize our members and networks to support the rights of youth to resist militarism in their schools and in our country through a nonviolent student walk-out on the last day of the RNC.

On Tuesday 9/2, some households in the St. Paul school district received a pre-recorded phone call warning parents that the streets would be unsafe for their children on Thursday, and to please urge their children not to attend the student strike.

YAWR has called on our support for these solidarity actions:

1. Please contact community leaders to demand respect for students’ rights to peacefully assemble and march:

• St. Paul School District: call (651) 767-8100 or e-mail community.relations@spps.org
  MESSAGE: Stay out of students political choices, and respect student’s rights’ to assemble and march. (NOTE: Please see clarification below.)
• St. Paul Mayor Christopher Coleman: call (651) 266-8510 or visit https://mn-stpaul.civicplus.com/forms.asp?FID=69
  MESSAGE: Demand respectful behavior from St. Paul and Ramsey County law enforcement towards striking students and all nonviolent RNC protesters.

2. If you are in the area:

• Attend Thursday’s Student Strike at the state capitol at 12:30! (11:30 for Peace Marshall training.) Whether you are a student or an ally, please come out on Thursday to show your support for youth resistance to militarism and war.

If you can’t attend, please support youth resistance to militarism by making a contribution to sustain FOR’s work with the Not Your Soldier project.

Youth Against War and Racism is a growing national network of youth activists and student groups. YAWR is organized around the following Points of Unity:

• End the occupation of Iraq — Bring the troops home now;
• Money for jobs and education, not war;
• Military recruiters out of our schools; and
• Say no to racism, homophobia, and attacks on our civil liberties.

YAWR is supported by FOR, War Resisters League, and the Ruckus Society through the Not Your Soldier project, which provides training and organizing resources for youth-lead resistance to the poverty draft. More at www.yawr.org and www.notyoursoldier.org.

If you have questions please call or write us at 651-210-4465 or shauen@forusa.org.

In peace,

Maryrose Dolezal and Shauen Pearce
Co-directors of Youth and Militarism
Fellowship of Reconciliation

Clarification (9/4/08):

On Wednesday, September 3rd, FOR sent a message to our members asking them to take action to support Youth Against War and Racism’s student strike during the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, MN.

Specifically, we asked members to call the St. Paul School District to voice support for the student strike. This was in response to information from St. Paul parents that on Tuesday 9/2, some households in the St. Paul school district received a pre-recorded phone call warning parents that the streets would be unsafe for their children on Thursday, and to please urge their children not to attend the student strike.

This is accurate information. However, we regret to have implied, though our action request for members to call the St. Paul School District, that the phone messages came from the district. We received a respectful letter from the St. Paul School District clarifying that these calls were made by individual schools. The St. Paul School District’s public relation’s coordinator states: "The district is recommending that high schools contact their families to inform them of one thing: That leaving school in the middle of the day is an unexcused absence unless students have a note from their parent or guardian. The district is not making any recommendation that students attend or don’t attend the protest or rally. We respect the civil rights of our students and their right to organize."

We appreciate the St. Paul School District’s communication with us to clarify this point, and wanted to pass it on to our membership and friends.