Teen ‘Badass’ Leads Recruiter Protest
Seven Days
By Mike Ives [12.05.07] - 434 reads
WILLISTON — At 5 feet tall, 15-year-old Jaz Whitney doesn’t look like a threat to the omnipotent U.S. war machine. But when it comes to military matters, appearances can be deceiving.
Last Friday, November 30, Whitney and a pack of other young rabblerousers took to the streets — or rather, the parking lot of Williston’s Maple Tree Place shopping center — in protest of U.S. military recruitment policy. Vocal opponents of the Iraq war, they’re concerned about a section of the 2001 federal No Child Left Behind Act that forces schools to release student contact info at the request of military recruiters. Though a 2006 Vermont law requires school administrators to inform kids about their right to “opt out” of recruitment, Whitney and others have a beef with the “opt-out” process.
At 2:30 p.m., Whitney convened with fellow Mount Mansfield Union High School classmates and event organizers Phoebe Pritchett and Emily Coon in the shadow of Best Buy. Their plan? To storm an adjacent military “career center.” “A lot of students are opposed to the war,” reflected Coon, 17, a Jericho native who sported a rainbow-colored scarf. “But they don’t have access to the government, so they can’t vote.”
“And if you can’t vote,” added Pritchett, smiling from the folds of a white parka, “you have to organize.”
The military has certainly benefited from organization. In fiscal year 2007, Army recruiters signed up over 80,000 new, active-duty soldiers — a number that doesn’t include recruits for other branches of the armed services. There are five Army recruitment stations in Vermont. The state’s taxpayers have spent $663 million, so far, on the Iraq war. An Army spokesperson in Albany, New York, says that the six Army recruiters from the Williston office regularly visit 22 area high schools.
Matt Howard visits nine of them, but for a different reason. In November, the 26-year-old Iraq vet started working full-time for the American Friends Service Committee as a “youth empowerment and military education” — a.k.a., counter-recruitment — coordinator in area high schools. His hiring appears to reflect a growing concern over military presence in local schools.
Howard, a former Marine who served two tours in Iraq, has made local headlines for his activism as president of the Burlington chapter of Iraq Veterans Against the War. Just before 3 p.m. Friday, he motored his blue coupe, plastered with antiwar bumper stickers, into the Best Buy lot.
“Organizations that wage war based on lies and deceptions will lie and deceive you,” said Howard. “And this war is based on systematic lies coming from the top level of presidential administration . . . to the bottom of the recruitment process.” Since 2003, 3883 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq, 19 of them from Vermont.
After a brief planning meeting outside Best Buy, Howard supplied protestors with antiwar paraphernalia. Chanting “Out of our schools, out of Iraq!” a multi-aged delegation walked a hundred yards to the recruitment center — only to find it closed.
(Three days later, a sergeant at the center would neither confirm nor deny that the facility had been closed in anticipation of the demonstration. “Schedules brought us other places,” said the official, who refused to provide his name for this story. “Do not quote me in your paper!” he warned.)
Undeterred by the locked doors, Friday’s protestors found a replacement target: a nearby Army National Guard recruiting office, which sits across the parking lot from the recruitment center. They walked right in and, once inside, an activist recited names of Iraqi civilian casualties — likely more than 650,000 between 2003 and 2006, according to Johns Hopkins University researchers — through a loudspeaker. At around 4 p.m., Williston police closed the office. Thirteen civilly disobedient protesters chose to remain inside.
Confused by the sudden closing, Pritchett and Coon were locked out, but Jaz Whitney stayed indoors. A few minutes earlier she had said, “I’m really excited to get the voice out there that high school students can make a difference. It’s good to know that we can do things that matter.” A button on her shirt read, “Well-behaved children rarely make history.”
Outside, Pritchett, Coon and others cheered in solidarity. Behind them stood Coon’s 55-year-old dad John, a Colchester High School teacher and union activist. “I led a strike a few years ago for health benefits,” he recalled. “And fortunately — or unfortunately — Emily has taken after me a little bit.”
At Colchester High, Coon continued, “recruiters come in all the time and give out basketballs, dog-tags, pencils — little things to lure people. It ends up luring only those kids who think they have an alternative to their college tuition by joining the military, and that’s sad.” According to an analyst at the National Priorities Project, there were 68,438 new Army recruits in 2006; typically, they came from areas of the country with a median family income of $44,065.
As the younger Coon rallied outside the National Guard office, other protestors voiced concern that the premature office closing had chilled their right to free speech. “We want to make sure that everyone is able to voice their opinion,” Williston Police Chief James Dimmick explained on Monday, likening the event to a “public disturbance.” But “Maple Tree Place is private property . . . and while it’s open to traffic, the ability to voice your First Amendment rights comes with limitations.”
On Friday, four consecutive National Guardsmen refused to speak with a reporter. Army Lieutenant Jeffrey Hastings, however, was willing to talk. “I just came here to join the Guard,” explained Hastings, 25, who returned from Iraq last month and is transitioning to the Guard as part of an 8-year service obligation. “I’m on vacation now, so I don’t really have much to say about this,” he added. “Free speech? Cool.”
Afterwards, event organizers reported seeing Williston Police Detective Michael Lavoie kick Burlington resident Jonathan Leavitt, one of the 13 activists camped inside the office. Chief Dimmick of Williston PD confirmed the incident, but would not verify the identity of the officer, saying the matter is currently under internal investigation. Dimmick downplayed any malicious intent, however. He points out, too, that no formal complaints have yet been filed.
By late Friday afternoon, the National Guard office was packed with as many as 11 reps from the Guard, State Police and Williston Police Department, as well as Chittenden County State’s Attorney T.J. Donovan. Meanwhile, a crowd of more than 50 protestors, reporters and supportive parents gathered outside. Through the windows, they could see protestors being handcuffed and dragged away, one by one, toward another part of the building — the garage, as it turned out.
The last protestor left sitting was Jaz Whitney. “I love you Jaz, whooo!” shouted one blond teenage supporter, her nose pressed to the glass.
“JAZ! JAZ! JAZ!” exclaimed the others.
“You think she’s gonna get arrested, too?” asked a female classmate.
“Is that her dad?” a friend wondered aloud. Whitney’s father, Steve Mojica, was entering the office to consult with the authorities. Protestors quieted down.
“Don’t let him convince you, Jaz!” someone yelled.
The question soon became, would Jaz agree to leave on her own power, or refuse to get up? After consulting with his daughter, Mojica shrugged. Two law-enforcement officials then began to drag Jaz away.
“Omigod, do they have handcuffs?” cried the first onlooker.
“Is she a sophomore?” asked a male friend.
“She’s a badass, that’s what she is,” replied the girl.
All 13 protestors were cited for trespassing, according to Williston police. Whitney and two other minors, aged 16 and 17, were released immediately. Ten others were arrested and driven to the Chittenden County Sheriff’s Department in South Burlington for processing.
What did Whitney have to say about the experience afterwards? “It was nerve-wracking,” she recalled, speaking with Seven Days by phone Sunday evening from her Jericho home. “But I wasn’t going to back down from what I believed in. This is the time to let a voice be heard.
“And this,” she added proudly, “was the best way to do it.”
No More Recruits: Vermont Protesters Shut Down Recruitment Center
The group waved signs saying, “Out of our Schools, out of Iraq,” and “Recruiters Lie, Kids Die.” Matt Howard, a member of Iraqi Veterans Against the War, carried a large photograph of dead Iraqi soldiers. The group stood together as they approached the recruiting center only to find it locked, and the office closed.
Some activists were predicting that the doors would be locked due to a leak about the action earlier in the week. Organizers prepared for this possible outcome by drawing attention to the event; sending out press reports, and a mass call to action. One of the main goals, to shut down the office for the day, was achieved before the protect began.
After demonstrating their accomplishment through chanting, hanging banners, interviews, and plastering the windows of the recruiting office with signs, protesters decided to march across the yard to the Army National Guard Office.
About 25-30 activists ran inside the office and continued to chant, hang up banners, and attempted to confront recruiters and question their involvement in the war. Recruiters ran towards the back of the office and locked themselves out of reach. For a period of time, protesters were able to interact between the inside and outside groups until Williston Police officers arrived at the scene, requesting people to leave. Fifteen stayed, while 50 to 60 chanted outside of the large plate glass windows. Before long 15 were sitting in solidarity. While protesters were not welcomed into the offices, by the sentiments of the protesters, the recruiters were even less wanted in high schools.
Even though the group occupied the office, a recruit was able to enter for an appointment. At this point the group of protesters moved towards a private office in which the recruit was taken to keep other recruits from coming it.
At the time when the protesters moved towards the private office, Williston Police Officer Lavoie, and another officer, physically threw protester Johnny Leavitt, and then proceeded to kick Mr. Leavitt in the upper thigh. The violent interaction was not provoked by Mr, Leavitt; neither did this violence go unnoticed by the rest of the group. Johnny and the rest of the group responded by verbally calling out and accusing officer Lavioe of unnecessary actions.
While still on the ground, looking up at Officer Lavoie, Mr Leavitt, stated, “We have a constitutional right to be here. This is a non-violent protest. Vermont has a long history of peaceful demonstrations, and you kick me. What gives you the right to do that?” Johnny and the group continued to ask questions for another five minutes. Officer Lavoie, in turn stood there silent offering no response.
Williston Police Officer Lavoie refused to give his badge number upon being asked for it from Johnny Leavitt and other protesters.
There was attempted interaction by the occupiers towards both possible-recruits and recruiters. Limited dialog was due to recruiters hiding and/or avoiding conversation on the issues that the protesters were trying to bring up.
At one point, Matt Howard. An IVAW member asked a recruiter, “Have you been in Iraq, or do you just send kids there? I don't see a combat patch on your uniform.” The officer did not reply to his questioning.
One of the recruitment occupiers, Justin Dragos, asked, “If anyone in a uniform could tell me why we are in Iraq, I'll leave right now.” No one replied.
The idea behind the campaign came out of the students at MMU High School in Jericho, Vermont, who object to military recruiters in their school and the requirement, out of the No Child Left Behind Act, that high schools are mandated to hand over student contact information to the recruiters.
Out of the thirteen protesters who opted to stay inside the recruiting office, four were high school students.
I asked one protester, why they choose to use direct action instead of writing to their senator or representatives, and she replied, “The role of American activists is to be in solidarity with Iraqis who don't have the same access to power or the rights to change their environment. We need to keep this fresh in our minds as we the struggles in Iraq and the United States."
Thirteen protesters were taken to the Chittenden County Sheriff's office, where they were to be processed and cited for trespassing Friday evening.
Even though this demonstration ended up closing two recruiting offices, many of the demonstrators let it be known that this was the beginning of a sustained campaign called, “Out of Our Schools, Out of Iraq.” This sentiment was affirmed by many of the different demonstrators there; with some expressing hopes of an even broader movement coalescing, encompassing these issues as well as others.
Written By: Joshua L, Sara M, Justin D, and Amy B.
Click Here to View Photographs of Demonstration
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