Brooklyn College SDS (Photo: SDS Brooklyn)
Brooklyn, USA – October 30, 2006. For those of yall who weren’t there.. shame on you! At around 1:30 six of us ran into a set of four recruiters in front of Brooklyn College’s local print shop on the ‘junction’ in front of the BC gates (where midwood students, BC students, go to eat and hang out) 1:30 is ‘club hours’ at BC and all the students came pouring out. Luke and I set up a table next to the recruiters with a big sign that said ‘i’m with stupid’ and had an arrow pointing toward them. We were both dressed in military fatigues and were handing out informational pamphlets while spouting mockeries at the recruiters. The rest of us were flyering the massive bc/midwood high-school crowd, engaging students one-on-one when they would stop to chat. Two seperate groups of BC students, none of whom I have personally met before, actually boldly confronted the recruiters directly and completely spontaneously… without even talking to us first. They got in their faces and asked questions like “Why don’t you tell people about the killing and dying?” or “How the hell do you sleep at night?” It was pretty inspiring. One recruiter’s response: “Well not ALL the jobs involve killing or dying! Do you see ME out there doing any of that?” Someone shouted back, “No, your just tricking others into doing it!”
Students and Faculty working together… (Photo: SDS Brooklyn)
The recruiters had no choice but to retreat to their headquarters on Nostrand ave., a block away, and we followed, this time with some more numbers and our SDS comrade Colin who stopped by. We handed out hundreds of flyers to people entering/exiting the bus and train, walking down the street, coming out of school, hanging on the block. Most took a flyer, some stopped to thank us, and others prodded us about questions regarding our organization, the military, and strategy for stopping recruiters. Luke, Eugene, and Colin focused on the recruiting station with the table, our pamphlet supply, and our great signs. Javy was running around soapboxing to the youth and other folks (i remember seeing a crowd of Junior High students bumrushing us for opt-out forms yellin “hell no i aint joining the army!”) Lisa Lincold and Prof. Vitali wisely made sure we didn’t block traffic and transgress any laws giving eager police a reason to be annoying. Prof. Arnow and Farber came in around 245-3 and got straight to business. I was running all over enjoying myself, handing out flyers, and chatting it up with people. We met like a dozen BC students who were completely psyched about what we were doing and excited about helping out next week. I personally met many older folks and parents (especially women) who stopped to talk and thank us sincerely for the work. One amongst a few memorable moments for me was when i asked a pair of HS students to take a flyer regarding getting recruiters out of our neighborhood. one of them just stared at me like i had two heads and wouldnt receive the leaflet I waved at him… after a few awkward moments his buddy said “take that, man… these guys are out here for us!” He then proceeded to talk to me about why recruiters were still bothering him after submitting an opt-out form and I went over the process with him, encouraging his actions and promising to help him and his buddy out personally if things didnt work out. We probably passed out 1500 flyers and all our opt-out forms… and guess what? The recruiters we chased into their HQ were forced to lock the doors shortly after they arrived and close down the shop (possibly until we left… tho the streets were dead by then). Great job done by all. Next tuesday we’ll be at it again, next thursday we’ll be showing a movie and having elections to get some resources for us. After that the skys the limit! STOP EMPIRE NOW
Leafletting in Brooklyn (Photo: SDS Brooklyn)
