WATCH the special tonight, on PBS (details below)
"The Camden 28" recalls the August 22, 1971 incident (almost 10 years into the Viet Nam war) in which four Catholic priests, a Lutheran minister and 23 others were arrested for breaking into the Camden, N.J., draft-board office, where they shredded and burned draft records.
Everyone was fed up with the Viet Nam war. The FBI (under Nixon) had assisted in the break in (so they could ‘nail’ the protesters and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law). Who had gone too far? (The US/entry to VN? The Camden 28? FBI?) A mother who had a son who was arrested for the break-in, and another son (Bob Good) who was killed in VN ...WANTED something to BELIEVE in, about her son’s death. We were NOT in VN for "Democracy", "Freedom", "Security"...as we were led to believe. Kids were "kidnapped" [drafted], and taken 10,000 miles away from home.
What was to be believed? The "truth" of Mrs. Good? Or the "truth" of Nixon (& the war)?
See trailer here.
During the trial...
The Camden activists asked the jury to "nullify the laws" against breaking and entering and to acquit them as a means of saying that the country had had enough of the "illegal and immoral" war in Vietnam.
After months of deliberations, the Camden 28 were acquitted on all counts for the raid. Judge Fisher said he learned a lot. And the court room sang "Amazing Grace", at the acquittal. Those same defendants marched in 2002, protesting the Bushco diversion to Iraq.
"So as time went on I began to see ... [that] if we middle-class Americans would just stop looking at you young people and the way you look, and would see you and hear you and what you had to say, that you really were a group of beautiful people that had your right to your own conscience."
Many say we are experiencing the resurgence of the 60’s senseless WAR machine. Opposition to the present iteration of Neocon warmongers is tepid (though growing) compared to the protests in the Viet Nam era ... maybe because the MIC (MilitaryIndustrialComplex) has learned that they have to make the cost of war muted to the civilians back home. "Go BUY things!" ... "WE are the TAX reducers!"
But, as WE are very aware ...the cost today is relegated to the troops (and their families) who are sent to fight the war for profit. And the cost tomorrow, will be born on our children and grand-children ...who will pay the debt for the transfer of (foreign loan) dollars, from our debt-sheet... to the ‘bottom-line’ of Corporate profit statements.
Only WE can stop the madness...
Democracy. We have seen thy face before.
I highly recommend watching the POV (Point of View) special.
"POV" Sunday, October 14, 10:30pm (click on "TV schedules" at the top, to view your local scheduling. (Or you might find more specific programming details for your local area at this site. Check 10:30pm... )
Check for rebroadcasts (this site was sketchy, on rebroadcasts)
More videos and testimonies
Upcoming theatre screenings
Camden 28 website