Day Two - on a roll.

My hetero-lifemate Audrey Anna Miller has started her very own blog to document what she is doing in Albany, and I am gloriously excited. I think the only issue will be whether or not she actually remembers to update it.

Today was Martin Luther King Jr's birthday, and the day we honour him here in the United States, and two things happened. First, we held a celebration on my campus where a number of people gathered to serve in his honour, and second, the Social and Environmental Justice Club on my campus crossed a line. It was an interesting experience.

You see, we learned late last week that the Southwest Washington Regional SWAT Team would be training in one of the buildings on our campus - today. Apparently this was some kind of problem. The professors, staff and graduate students whose offices occupy this particular building were asked not to be present today because of the training, and apparently this caused an uproar. The idea was for the Southwest Washington Regional SWAT to use today to be prepared in case of any Virginia Tech-type events on our campus, and some of the students and staff on campus found today to be an inappropriate day because of Martin Luther King's "commitment to nonviolent social change." (In case you missed it - this training had nothing to do with social change.)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but shouldn't students and staff on campus be happy that the Southwest Washington Regional SWAT wants to be prepared in case of an emergency? Our campus is small - ten buildings in total, all within what could be considered a three block radius (if we were in the city). It's not like we are on the Pullman campus, where if a shooting were to happen on the West side of campus and you were on the East side, you would be pretty safe - THERE IS ONLY ONE SIDE TO OUR CAMPUS. Bullets go far, thanks for noticing, and I would prefer that the Southwest Washington Regional SWAT be able to navigate our campus and our buildings properly in the event of an emergency.

All of this aside, I respect your right to hold a "Work-In" in the building that you were asked to stay out of today. Do what you want, that's fine. If you don't like it - okay. Here's what I'm not okay with, though - the Social & Environmental Justice Club walking in to our Martin Luther King Jr Event and making this ridiculous non-issue in to an issue. Because here is the thing, everyone. Who was more disruptive to us honouring Dr. King - the SWAT team that most people in the room didn't know or care about, or those of you wandering around handing out slips of paper marked "For Distribution: WSUV Students and Faculty Occupy Building to Protest MLK Day SWAT Training?" IN CASE YOU MISSED IT: I'm pretty sure it is the latter.

Here is what was written on the handout:

We the student and faculty members of the Center for Social and Environmental Justice and Social and Environmental Justice Club on the campus of Washington State University Vancouver are now meeting in our building of work and learning. We are here today as a direct response to the police, sherrif and SWAT training that has been scheduled to occur in our building concurrent with the campus' prescheduled Martin Luther King Day events happening elsewhere on campus. Campus police have "requested" that we vacate the building in order to accomodate this training, ostensibly designed to prepare law enforcement to respond to a Virginia Tech type tragedy. We feel that this training is in direct opposition to the strategies and philosophy of Martin Luther King. We know that if he were here with us today Martin Luther King would challenge the claim that this type of militaristic civil drill is an effective avenue for addressing acts of violence. A far more pragmatic and effective response - and certainly more consonant with MLK's commitment to nonviolent social change would be to invest in a fully funded community mental health care system and to challenge the progressive militarism of civil society in the United States. One of our colleagues with us today is alum of Virginia Tech and completely opposes this training. Our intention is to remain throughout the day in the building to teach, study and reflect on the revolutionary message of peace, justice, and nonviolent avenues for effecting social change.

ARE you serious. First of all, the SWAT team had no plans to disrupt our event, and were just trying to be prepared. Second, if you want to "invest in a fully funded community mental health care system and to challenge the progressive militarism of civil society in the United States" that is fantastic - do that too. But that isn't going to happen tomorrow, and until we are able to get there, let's have our SWAT team ready in case of an emergency, shall we?

Sigh. Let's move to a brighter note. I met a boy today. His name is Dillon, and he is four. He likes coloring, though he prefers markers to crayons, and likes cutting construction paper in to tiny pieces that I have to pick up when he is gone. He lives at the Share House with his two sisters and his parents, and he is precocious. Loved hanging with him.

I suppose I should really get on that homework. I do have class tomorrow.