Veteran, MLK marcher protests PATRIOT Act
VFP member believes no agenda could justify horrors he's witnessed
Brantley Hargrove
Staff Writer
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Against the backdrop of Monday's Martin Luther King Jr. March, one man seemed particulary out of place in the predominantly black crowd.
An obtrusive white man, dressed from head to toe in camouflage, bore a sign reading "HITLER AND STALIN WOULD ENVY THE PATRIOT ACT." But his and King's messages are one and the same: the protection of civil rights. "MLK was about civil rights for everyone," said David Honish, member of Veterans for Peace, a nonprofit humanitarian organization.
Honish, a staunch critic of the PATRIOT Act, sees it as an attempt to "repress dissent" among the American people.
"I am more concerned about being threatened by the United States government than any Islamic extremist group," Honish said.
The PATRIOT Act isn't the first ideological demon Honish has battled. As a medic in a San Francisco Army hospital, Honish saw countless men and boys pouring in, many of them hopelessly maimed. In his mind, no political agenda could justify the horrors he witnessed.
Today he expresses the same sentiment.
"I feel such a sense of waste when I see young soldiers die for a politician's profit," Honish said of the soldiers dying in Iraq.
Honnish was not only a medic for the National Guard, he was also a nuclear, biological and chemical warfare specialist. Ironically, throughout the '70s and '80s, Honish was an anti-nuclear-warfare activist, knowing well the horrors that could be wrought by these weapons.
Now, Honish and his organization are waging a battle against a new enemy: the PATRIOT Act.
"The oath veterans have taken is to support and defend the Constitution," Honish said.
And with the advent of the PATRIOT Act, Honish fears for the sanctity of the Constitution.
Honish has been a member of Veterans for Peace since its inception in 1985.
The organization was in Iraq after the Gulf War, repairing its dilapidated water distribution infrastructure, which was destroyed again recently. Members have taken efforts to ban landmines and have sent delegations to determine the harmful effects of defoliants used to destroy coca fields. VFP members include veterans of the Gulf War, Vietnam War, Korean War and WWII, as veterans of peacetime.
By protesting at NT, Honish hopes to raise public awareness of civil rights and the money he claims is being wasted in the "War on Terror."
"Every time they raise the national security threat level you're paying some sherriff's overtime," Honish said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 2 of 2
anonymous877
anonymous877
posted 1/20/04 @ 11:04 PM CST
Journalism 101 review session for the benefit of Mr. Brantley Hargrove, who was apparently sleeping in class when the difference between reporting facts & the editorial opinion page was covered?
"Obtrusive white man?" Webster's defines obtrusive as "forward in manner or conduct," or "undesirably noticeable or showy. (Continued…)
anonymous877
anonymous877
posted 1/24/04 @ 6:11 AM CST
Just two more bones to pick with Brantley before I leave him alone.
"One man seemed particularly out of place?" I think we have covered the difference between reporting facts vs. (Continued…)
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