People of Conscience are Getting Ready

66 Friends of many ages, including 12 at Brooklyn Meeting and 54 online, participated in Monday evening’s People of Conscience, Get Ready! workshop on conscientious objection, brought to us by New York Yearly Meeting. Curt Torell, from Quaker House in North Carolina, spoke to us from his decades of experience counseling conscientious objectors and veterans suffering from PTSD and moral injury. 

Since 1940, the US has required male — and for the US, that means those assigned male at birth — residents to register with the Selective Service once they turn 18. “Registering with Selective Service” is a euphemistic way to say “joining the list of people who can be forced to fight if a military draft takes place.” Curt noted that a draft is technically already in effect, as the first phase of a draft is registration; the second phase is conscription. A new law that takes effect this December makes this registration automatic.

People aren’t able to declare conscientious objection (CO) status when they register. Instead, they are supposed to declare their CO status if and when they are selected in a future military draft. To prepare for this possibility, young Friends should begin to gather evidence to demonstrate the length and depth of their opposition to war. Friends pointed out that this evidence would also be helpful for those of any age participating in war tax resistance, as they may have to defend their actions and beliefs in federal court. 

The workshop was intense and interactive. Those of us at Brooklyn Meeting did a military chant and march around our meeting room and role-played a draft board meeting, which were watched and appreciated by the online participants. We were given workbooks and spent time articulating our beliefs and writing them down, preparation for writing our own CO letter. We learned that sincerity of belief was the most important aspect to convey in our letter.

There is much more to learn. We have many experienced CO counselors in our Quaker community that we can draw on for help and inspiration. One of them, Nadine Hoover, is facilitating an intergenerational Powell House conference assisted by Brooklyn Friends Yana Landowne and Beth Kelly on June 5-7: Resistance and Resilience: People of Conscience, Get Ready! Teens and young adults are particularly encouraged to attend, but the weekend is for everyone, as conscientious objection and resistance are for all ages. 

Thank you to Beth Kelly and Yana Landowne for facilitating the workshop at Brooklyn Meeting, and thank you to Curt Torell, whose Conscientious Objection: Is This for You? Resource Guide (2nd Edition) may be helpful for Friends considering CO status.