It is no secret that there has always been reliance upon people of color and poor youth to fill the ranks of the soldiers. Historically, it was the soldiers of color that have been on the front line of battle. This dates back to the Buffalo Soldiers and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade to present day Latino youth serving in Iraq. It is hard to forget the image of Lieutenant Waters Bey’s father, the first casualty of the latest war on Iraq, saying on national television, "George Bush, you took my only son!" And though his African American family was quickly replaced with that of the more acceptable 'patriotic' white family, we are reminded that there are human costs for those of us here in the US.

Enticed by the promise of free college, many of our youth are seeing the military as an alternative and sometimes the only possibility to receive a college education. Little do they know that they are signing on for more than just a college education. Unlike other things that could be hazardous to your health, there is no FDC warning label, no Parental Advisory Label saying “Buyer Beware!”

Currently, 10% of the 132,000 US soldiers stationed in Iraq are of Latin American origin, which is disproportionate with the numbers actually serving in the military. Even more disturbing is the number of casualties. CNN's web site lists Latinos as accounting for over 20% of the casualties in Iraq. These numbers are a far cry from their number of casualties in other wars such as during the Korean War (2.4%), Vietnam War (0.6%), and the 1991 Persian Gulf War (4.1%). The Iraq casualties are already disproportionate to the number of Latinos serving during those wars.

These facts lead to the question of why people of color are so disproportionately represented in the military. Carlos Montes, a member of Latinos Against the War addresses the push to recruit Latinos into the military as racism. "There is racism as a natural oppression. Instead of recruiting Latinos for war, why don't they target them for college recruitment? Why don't they target them for high-tech jobs? Or why don't they target them for admission into the Ivy League Schools? I've never heard of any campaign organized by governmental agencies to recruit Hispanics other than for the military," Montes asserts.

And the Latino community is but one population. If one were to look at all soldiers and compare their family income prior to serving in the military, one would see that it is the poor being sent to kill other poor people to protect the extravagant "American Dream".

We cannot oppose this war without looking at what it does to our own communities. While we were bombing Iraq, more jobs were lost, more families were kicked off welfare and more people of color were victims of police brutality.

We must start at home. Educate our communities about what war does to our families here and families just like ours in these countries that we are fighting in. Most importantly we must speak out as a community. We must resist the militarization of our youth!

For more information or other resources please see, Latinos against the War (www.latinoscontralaguerra.org) and Youth and Non-Military Opportunities Project (Project YANO - www.projectyano.org).

If you’re interested in this topic please come to the Anti-War Committee Military Recruitment Forum in July! See our calendar for more information!