Los Angeles News
East Los Angeles Recruiting Station is Shut Down
March 19, 2007
Chanting "Books not bombs," scores of students gathered near Roosevelt High School before marching to the East Los Angeles Armed Forces Recruiting Station, which ended up shutting down for the rest of the day.
The high school students were protesting the tendency of military recruiters to target youth, often minorities, who come from poorer schools and neighborhoods—as well as the injustice of the Iraq War. They were joined by people from AFSC and other groups such as Los Angeles Catholic Worker, Latinos Against the War, and Latinos for Peace—some of whom had been prepared to risk arrest by blocking entrance to the recruiting station, until it closed of its own accord.
This video is also available on YouTube at www.youtube.com/afsclosangeles.
"I'm tired of all the Army recruiting trying to come to our schools and trying to promise us things that don't even come true—telling us that we need to go to the Army to go to college. No we don't!" said Roosevelt High School student Nelson Hernandez as he addressed the crowd in front of the recruiting station.
Also present was Fernando Suarez del Solar, whose son Jesus Alberto Suarez del Solar was one of the first Latinos to be killed in the Iraq War.
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| The East Los Angeles Armed Forces Recruiting Station, inside the Plaza del Sol shopping center in Boyle Heights, closed due to the protest that day. Photo: Benjamin Parke |
"You don't need to kill the people for freedom—you need only education, tolerance, and justice," Suarez said before calling on students to "close the door" to military recruiters at their schools.
Besides the action in Boyle Heights, the AFSC helped organize student demonstrations in several other locations that day, including UCLA, Long Beach, and USC.
The events marked the fourth anniversary of the Iraq War, which began March 20, 2003. An AFSC/Quaker contingent also took part in the March 17 Hollywood March Against the War, where AFSC Los Angeles Area Director Steven Gibson spoke at the rally.
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| Speaking at the Hollywood March Against the War rally, AFSC Los Angeles Area Program Director Steven Gibson invites marchers to join in counter-recruitment efforts that the AFSC is organizing. Photo: Benjamin Parke |
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