BSMU Statement on War and Strike

BSMU Statement on War and Strike

The members of the BSMU make a statement expressing their feelings and reservations on the Vietnam War on the grounds that a significant portion of American troops are made up of black and Latino men, who are being oppressed and exploited by a country where they are already mistreated. Makes the point that President Nixon has done much to "deny Black and Hispanic Americans anything substantial in the United States". The members of the BSMU call for an end to the war against their "third world brothers and sisters" and for all of the students of Middlebury to join in the nationwide student strike.

Volume 67, Number 18

BSMU Members

The Campus

04/27/1972

BSMU Members

"On the battlefronts of Vietnam, 16-20% of Americans involved in fighting are Black and Hispanic...This policy which of America which allows her to oppress and exploit our brothers while they stand on their native soil, and then allow her to induct them into her war machine to do battle on the front lines and enforce her imperialist doctrines, reeks heavily of intentional genocide."

"As far as Black Americans are concerned, regardless of how despicable our condition or our character, we were allowed to fight this country's battles... We have been used, though sometimes reluctantly for fear of our disruptive potential, in every war this country has fought, from the War of Independence to the war in Indochina. It is time this fragrant abuse of our persons ceases."