tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post8059249270971450566..comments2024-03-24T11:30:08.199-07:00Comments on Can you believe?: April 4, 1968Johan Maurerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13771067774042071617noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-44286948245028520512012-04-10T23:16:44.296-07:002012-04-10T23:16:44.296-07:00I'd like to add a few things that might make t...I'd like to add a few things that might make things more clear.<br />First, I grew up as a Friend. My<br />parents were both pacifists during World War II, and married as the war was ending. They joined Friends immediately. Many in our meeting worked for civil rights. So pacifism and civil rights were part of me.<br />Second, I was sentenced in Chicago.<br />Third, We inmates watched Chicago burn on TV.<br />In thoae days, I was not afraid of the future. I am more afraid of it now. Why? JeremyJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7217199.post-90185572734585847612012-04-10T23:06:06.663-07:002012-04-10T23:06:06.663-07:00on April 4, 1968, at the age of 22, I was imprison...on April 4, 1968, at the age of 22, I was imprisoned for refusal to perform alternative service at Marion, Ill. I began serving the four-year sentence on Jan.22, 1968. This prison (at Marion) was and still is a maximum-security institution, built to replace Alcatraz. However, Marion had a "camp"---two dormitories where minimum-security inmates, including conscientious objectors, were held.<br />There were three other CO's in Marion: a selective objector from Indianapolis, an Amish man from Ohio, and a Puerto Rican selective objector from Chicago. (There were also about a dozen Jehovah's Witnesses, who kept to themselves, and some moonshiners and businessmen who had cheated the government.) We camp inmates were in absolutely no danger from the rest, even as we watched Chicago's West Side burn.<br /> I can remember thinking that even prison was not turning out to be a strong witness against war.<br />(I learned later that in some other prisons, some CO's were having a terrible time.) When I was released on parole in 1969, I realized that the anti-war movement had already, for all practical purposes, destroyed the draft. But the Vietnam war ground on and on.<br /> Peace, Jeremy MottJeremy Mottnoreply@blogger.com