Editorial: Terri Johnson steps up and stands up

In an editorial ("Editorial: The disgusting silence on war resisters") two Sundays ago, we noted of those silent on the topic of war resisters, those ruining independent media: " Crawling around on your knees must be very difficult, none of you are toddlers, and it's past time you learned how to stand."

At 18-years, Terri Johnson is much younger than many working in independent media, print division. (Much, much younger.) But she's not crawling.

She's standing and she's speaking.

A lot of people her age are, actually.

But this isn't an editorial about how wrong the press got it on students (though they did get it wrong). This is an editorial about someone who refuses to crawl. This is about a woman who stands.



Who is she? jarnocan (North Carolina World Can't Wait) reports, "Terri Johnson of Greensboro was like a lot of other young people with limited options after high school who are set upon by US Army recruiters. She believed the promises of the recruiters who told her that the Army was nothing more than a good shot at a college education and a prosperous future. She discovered, as do many others who sign up, that not only wa she signing her life away, but the lives of people targeted by the illegal and immoral war on Iraq as well. So she did the right thing. She refused to fight."

She refused to fight and she refused to be silent. How impressive is that?

Pretty damn impressive. As Kat noted, not only does Johnson have the usual strike against her when it comes to being covered by independent media (she's a war resister), she's also African-American and a woman and 'leading' independent media is all about the Whitness of it all. In fact, it's so White that, to cover Don Imus, they didn't even think to offer up a person of color -- which, when you think about it, isn't all that different than how The New York Times handled it.

That says a lot. And nothing to be proud of. But, whether independent media likes it or not, a movement is going on and their silence may slow it down but it will not stop it.

Terri Johnson, part of a movement and not afraid to stand up and speak out. We'll close with her words:

I'm not anti-war one hundred percent because some wars are worth fighting for. But this war is not worth fighting for. I really don't look at myself as a hero. I was just doing it for me because [the war] wasn't for me. There were a lot of my buddies who didn't want to drop out like me, but they didn't have have the courage to make the decision I did.