ByTAHA JO ,E
I am an African American man
who enlisted in the U.S. Marine
Corps when I was 17. Last year I
filed for a Conscientious Objector
discharge from the military. I want to
draw the clearest possible picture of
the reasons why I took that action
and what it has been like for me. I
especially want to reach young
·African Americans who might be
thinking about joining the military.
Last winter, I spoke at high
schools, churches, universities and
rallies in the, San Francisco Bay Area
about my moral oppo ition to war. I
found that most people do not know
the correct meaning of Conscien­
tious Objection. A Conscientious
Objector (C.O.) is a person who
rejects war as a means of solving
differences between nations. This
can be based on religious, moral,
ethical, political or any other beliefs
that would prevent a person from
killing another, The individual may
adopt these beliefs years after sign­
ing the Enlistment Agreement when
entering the service,
When people apply for a C.p:
discharge, they are confronted with
a review process influenced by a
society in which violence is institu­
tionalized and, in the case of Black
applicants, has a racist attitude. One
discovers that the military has a nar­
row idea of what constitutes a Con­
sclentlous Objector. There is a
biased perception that a C.O. is white
and well-to-do, educated and intel­
lectual, a complete pacifist with a
strong background in a religious
. group or particular body of moral
thought, and is gentle, sensitive and
naive.
The key to winning C.O. status is
in how well an individual can ex­
press him or herself. People whose
education was impaired by budget
cuts and high COllege tuitions may
find their lack of writing or speaking
skills an impassable obstade to
gering a C.O. discharge. The burden
of proof that one is sincere and that
one's views are deeply held is on the
applicant. '
WHEN I DISCOVERED that I
would have to ",,\\!rite an essay ex­
plaining my beliefs about war, I was
afraid. I knew my writing skills were
not up to the challenge of writing an
essay about my views opposing war.
Friends came to my aid with the
grammar, but only I could express
Tahan was physically threatened by a
superior officer about going to the media.
By LEONARD McNEIL
For an entire year 22-year-old Cpl.
Tahan Jones has been awaiting
court-martial for his refusal to pa . cipate in
the Persian Gulf massacre. His principled
stand is based on his conviction that war is
immoral, a tremendous waste of resources
and a crime against humanity. For refusing
to take part in the ecological disaster, the
killing of hundreds of thousands, and the
displacement of millions, Tahan faces a
. maximum sentence of seven year
imprisonment.
He is one of the 2500 servieepeople who
applied for conscientious Objector status
during Operation Desert Storm, the war to
prop up an oil-rich feudal monarchy. Ta1laJ1
is not the only African-American who has
been singled out for selective prosecution.
Daniel Gillis, Jean Claude Rainey, Eric
Hayes, Colin Bootman and Marcus
Blackwell and others have already served'
time for their corageous public stands
against the organized and indiscriminate
violence of war.
Tahan is not unlike other non-white,
poor and working-class youth who only get
involved in U.S. foreign policy in its
implementation as cannon fodder. The
125,000 African-American troops AFfER THEU.S. MarineComs has
deployed to the Persian Gulf were sent to -,.
"liberate" a privileged class when their- already denied his right to a speedy trial
people have been historically denied Tahan will Court-martialed on June 15th by
economic ju tice, ocial equality and a military "justice" system that is twice as
political power. likely to jail African-Americans as whites.
Ironically, ome of the servicepeople who
Tahan's situation is typical of the . rejected the violence of war have received
African-American experience in this more stringent sentences than GIs who were
country which is permeated by inStitutional convicted of manslaughtsr and armed
violence as part of our subjugation. This robbery II Those who have been
hi torical violence is evidenced by court-martialed for their oppostion to war
obscenities of injustice: the brutality of have been sentenced to prison terms of six
chattel slavery, . lynchings, the monthstotwoandabalfyears.
di proportionate number of Like ma h enl! t In the arm d
ny woe
African-Americans on death row, carnage forces, Tahan is a victim of economic
in the workplace, the violence of tobacco
and alcohol abuse, unemployment, hunger conscription, the misleading military
and homelessness, toxic waste in our recruitment ds that entice underprivileged
communities, the African-American infant youth with the benefit of militarY life by
mortality rate, lack of quality health care exploiting their lack of opportunity and
and the violence that the Rodney Kings recruiters having access to the nation's
have been subjected to" When he initially public high schools using almo t $3 billion
of taxpayers' money. More
applied for conscientious objector tatus, African-American youth will be
Tahan 'Jones is awaiting court
martial at Camp Lejeune,
North Carolina. A Marine reservist, .Jones
, has been one of the most outspoken
opponents of the Persian Gulf War. The
Marine Corps has charged him with '
desertion. He faces a possible s en
• •
years In pttson.
how my feelings toward war are why
I cannot kill another human being.
My c.o. statement reflected rage
toward our government and the
society in which I live.
Political beliefs can also be an
obstacle. The Uniform' Code of
Military Justice states that political
discontert can be in a claim, as long
as it is not the only reason for object­
ing to war. Yet, a C.O. application
can be denied on the grounds that he
is motivated bY,"political beliefs" or
opposition to certain wars, called
selective objection.
The hierarchy in the military af­
fect the decisions. The overwhelm­
ing majority of officers in all
branches of the military are white
men of middle- and upper-Class
backgrounds. An African-American
enlisted person seeking a C.O. dis­
charge is tryingto express beliefs to
an individual who does not share his
class or race perspective. In the case
of women C.O.s, they do not share a
female perspective. The applicant is
a subordinate to the investigating of­
ficer assigned to study, the applica­
tion so he or she must try to express
beliefs without offending this supe­
rior officer.
I was assigned Captain Swanson,
Another step in the C.O. proce
is an interview with the "morale of­
ficer," a military chaplain who
upholds military values. The
chaplain plays a large role in deter­
mining the applicant's sincerity of
beUef. I am from a Muslim family;
there are few Muslim Chaplains. For­
tunately, I was assigned an African­
American chaplain who: although of
a different faith, was able to relate to
my experience. He stated that my
beliefs are sincerely held.
There is so much misunderstand
ing of Black people and what
pacifism can mean for a Black per­
son. When living in a society in
which aggression is treated as the
best way to solve problems and
money is more important than
human life, the African American
has a problem. A low value is put on
the Black person's life, making him
or her a target for violence. So how
can we find the pacifist ways to
resolve differences?
What is more, white Americans
do not understand us. The NAACP
surveyed white Americans during
the Persian Gulf War. People of
color made up 40 percent of the
frontline troops. Yet, 55 percent of
the white Americans surveyed
believed that African Americans
Hispanics are more violent, not
brave, less patriotic and less intet;
ligent than white Americans. Thi
obviously has a big impact on th
persons of color eeking a C.O. dis­
charge.
THE AVERAGE C.O. faces
misguided and sometimes hostil
public. He or she also confronts
hostile chain-of-command, part of
monolithic organization that has his­
torically violated human and civi
rights whenever it believes that will
help "get the job done."
The c.o. of color faces, in addi
tion, a narrow and biased definitioft
of who is Sincerely a C.O. Con-.
fronted with racism, sexism and cui · .
tural ignorance, the obstacles befo :
an African-American applicant fOl­
C.O. is a jagged ravine with hu�
sharks waiting at the bottom. •
•
•
Wh
a white man, as my investigating of­
ficer. He asked typical questions,
customized for an African
American, like: Would you fight in
tbe Civil War to free the slaves?
What kinds of conflicts would you
fight in, if it occurred in Africa?
Swanson's report was based on
racial stereotypes, attacking people
and organizations with which I have
worked. He stated that I am "a
Marine of marginal intelligence."
There is an inherent Stereotype that
Black people are not intelligent
enough to be C.O.s. In his summary
of my investigative hearing, Swan­
son wrote, "After observing Cpl.
Jones throughout the investigation, I
believe that he is incapable of ar­
ticulating any discerning thoughts or
perceptions concerning such subjec­
tive matters as conscientious objec­
tion to war."
CAPT. SWANSON was very
prejudiced against people and or­
ganizations that helped me during
the C.O. process. He referred to
Vietnam veterans as "disgruntled
vets," and the American Friends
Sevice Committee, a Quaker-based
pacifist organization, as an "off-cen-
ter" group. -
•
I
------efu ing 0 Kill a Criminal At; ?!1
neighborhoods are not behind pars.
Tahan Jones represents the best of the
African-American struggle for freedom,
justice and equality. If there is any honor in
the Persian Gulf war at all, it rests with the
young men and women who refused to take
part in it Tahan should not be imprisoned
for exercising freedom of speech and
consctence, Refusing to kill another human
being is not a crime. Tahan Jones and the
other African-American war resisters have
followed the path of Malcolm X, W.E.B.
DuBois, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.,
Muhammed Ali and Angela Davis, who all
opposed ar in the best, interest of peace
and justice and the African-American
people a whole. What is more patriotic
than to challenge the hypocrisy of a foreign
policy based on selective morality?
Leo1UlTdMcNeil is tMcoordiNuoro/tlu!
AmericQII Frkltds ervic« Committu's
youth and militqrism program iii OakUlnd,
CA.
economically marginalized by
disproportionate and chronic
unemployment cutbacks in financial aid
and minority scholarship , dead-end jobs,
disinvestment, the loss of manufacturing
jobs, the financial crisis of our educational
systsm and the diversion of funds to the
Pentagon.
The fact that there are more
African-American male incarcerated in
our nation's prisons than attend college
bears this out. A compelling argument can
be made that thi country would rather jail
African-American youth and send them to
wars rather than train or educa1C them.
Indeed, there is a perv ive and systematic
undermining of the foundations of ocial
existence of large numbers of
African-Americans.
The plight of Tahan Jones underscores
the injustice of the criminal "justice"
system. Those responsible for the savings
and loans scandals have not SCIVed time;
those responsible for the HUD scandals
have not gone to jail and those who are to
blame for crack cocaine ravaging our