Op-ed: Whole Vietnam War story still left untold By Debbie Liebers Fayetteville
Oh my, what a lot of ugly baloney has been spread about the possibility of including something about anti-Vietnam War dissent and protests in the November Vietnam veterans homecoming. The original idea, about including the story of dissent in those years, was a good one. I was here in Fayetteville in those years and joined many peace protests. All of us who protested were American patriots who wanted to save our country from a terrible mistake. In those days, most of the other protesters were soldiers, including many who were just back from Vietnam. Their national group, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, is still going strong, almost 40 years later. They weren't strangers or enemies - they were our brothers, our uncles and cousins, our boyfriends, our people. That's right. In Fayetteville, the main antiwar protest energy came from soldiers who had seen firsthand what an awful war Vietnam was. The same thing happened at a lot of bases around the country. Here, there were marches. They started "Bragg Briefs," a GI underground paper, and Haymarket Square, a GI coffeehouse. A group of officers signed an ad in this paper against the war. Some soldiers even tried to organize a GI union - right here in Fayetteville. Yes, there was plenty of antiwar action here in those days, coming from the troops themselves. It's a part of the story that needs to be told and considered, and it hasn't been. All this trash talk about the Quaker House should just stop. It was anti-war soldiers asking for help that got Quaker House started, not the other way around. Quaker House has served soldiers and welcomed them home from wars ever since, in its own peace-loving way. Getting the facts And what a pack of lies has been spread about the mayor. Let's tell the truth for once: he never suggested showing movies by that Hollywood actress whose name you can't even mention safely. And he never asked people to make antiwar demonstrations part of the November events. The Quaker House wasn't planning any protests, either. God help us, nobody invited Westboro Baptist Church. That's just slimy. People - get your facts straight. That awful group is not nor has it ever been a part of the peace movement. Those were Fox News lies, spread all over the nation, and if they had any shame, they'd apologize to the mayor, Chuck Fager and all of us. All the mayor wanted to do was have a fuller story told about Fayetteville and Vietnam. A good idea. But evidently that can't be done yet. What a shame. Unfair judgment Part of the shame of it is that once all the reflex slogans have been shouted, there's a lot we could agree on: Did Vietnam veterans get messed over by our society during and after the war? We all know they did - Agent Orange, PTSD, homelessness, suicides, you name it. And yes, some of the protesters back then did some stupid, even hateful things. I'm sorry for that, and they've learned better. Have you seen the signs at our recent peace vigils? They say "Yes to the troops, no to the wars." And we mean it. Lots of us meant it during Vietnam, too. Don't judge all of us by the obnoxious things a few did. That Hollywood actress doesn't speak for us. And let's face it: American society at large still has a bad conscience about the Vietnam War, from the White House and Congress on down. It's the veterans who have had to bear the brunt of that. It's not right; it's not fair. Vietnam is what it is (was) and you cannot change history. It's not finished. Evidently, the mayor hoped the homecoming could take a small step toward healing some of that. The Quaker House was willing to go along. Really now, was that such a crime? Good grief, to read Fox and the blogs, you would think it was pure treason. But the truth is out there, of proud Americans serving our country by protesting a bad war - in Fayetteville, next to Fort Bragg. And lots of them were soldiers. I wonder if I'll live to see that story told, and any real healing in Fayetteville, my hometown. That's something that would make us truly an All-American city. And by the way - I am what a patriotic American looks like. Debbie Liebers, a community activist, lives in Fayetteville. -- http://www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/02/14/1070202?sac=Opin Via InstaFetch -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Sixties-L" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/sixties-l?hl=en.
