Aimee muses about “retooling” for the long haul and the importance of people who work for change.
Download this episode (right click and save)
- Excerpt of Aimee Allison’s chapter in the book Ten Excellent Reasons Not to Join the Army (New Press, 2006)
I desperately wanted out of my small-minded hometown of Antioch, California, and the military recruiter on my high school campus promised me an escape hatch. The family that my white mother and African American father created was based on the belief that the hard work and democratic values of 1960s activists made equality my birthright.
But my day-to-day experience was full of evidence that racism was alive and well. High school classmates would chant the n-word when our team played its biggest rival the next town over. Slurs against gay people were so accepted that teachers used them without thought. And after winning a local Junior Miss competition, a first for a black contestant, I was excluded from the local news and town parade. When I brought my Ivy League college acceptance letter into the career center, a counselor suggested that I got in because of my race. So I rushed to sign up for the Army Reserves, in part because it was the only place I knew of that promised I wouldn’t be judged or limited by my race or gender.
An activist’s guide to combating military recruitment.