Soldiers standing up for peace
"Now we can send mankind to the moon
And we can reach to the bottom of the sea
That’s why it really kind of baffles me
That we cannot end wars and bring peace
…. That’s why I am
I’m calling on the whole wide world
Come on people would you help me
Let’s scream and shout cause we want peace”
Rap Singer/Songwriter Emmanuel Jal from his song We Want Peace
America has been at war since the class of 2013 was in elementary school. But just like your parents and most the citizens of our country, most of you will never know what it means to be on the front lines or caught in the crossfire between armed soldiers. We’re fortunate in that regard. But does that mean we should support America’s wars in other lands without ever thinking about the havoc it wreaks on the soldiers who serve or the innocent civilians just like you and your family?
Emmanuel Jal wasn’t as lucky as you. At a time
when he should have been in elementary school, he became a soldier
fighting for the Sudan People's Liberation Army in that country’s second civil
war. For five years he saw war’s “brutality, its futility, its stupidity“, in
the words spoken by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of the
allied forces in World War II and America’s 34th president. That’s why
Jal is asking the “whole wide world” to stand up and scream for peace.
To begin to know war we need to listen to people
like Jal and Eisenhower. There are also musicians who tell stories on
behalf of the combat soldiers they knew. In 1983 the Australian folk group
Redgum recorded a song titled I was only 19.
Songwriter John Schumann writes that it was based on details “provided by my
mate and brother-in-law .... who was brave and trusting enough to
share his story with me." Do you hear the horror that this soldier brought home from the Vietnam war in these lines from I was only 19?
“And can you tell me, doctor, why I still can't get to sleep?
And night time's just a jungle dark and a barking M.16?
And what's this rash that comes and goes, can you tell me what it means?
God help me, I was only nineteen.”
Do you understand the emotional distress that
Juneau resident Bubba Cook expresses here:
“Just a naïve boy from Austin
I thought that war was just a game
After my first day out in Baghdad
I could only hang my head in shame
Saw a little girl stranded in the street
A bullet took her down before I could reach my feet.
…… Just bring me home.”
Cook served in the U.S. Navy during the first
Gulf War. He wrote his song “Bring Me Home” while he was an active member of
the Juneau chapter of Veterans for Peace. It was recorded in the kitchen at the
home of Juneau singer songwriter Pat Henry, one of 15 songs protesting the war
in Iraq that were performed by Juneau musicians for the VFP produced CD in 2006
titled “Wounded Dove."
There are hundreds of songs written from a
passionate desire to end war and build a more just and peaceful world. Listen
to any of the selections below, or a song of your choosing, and compose an
essay that describes the story you believe the songwriter is trying to
convey. How does it affect your personal views about war? Does it help
you appreciate why Emmanuel Jal is asking you to stand up and scream for
peace?
