University of Virginia Library

Commentary

Victim Reflections

By DREW GARDNER

The National Emergency
Moratorium, second
anniversary of the Kent State
killings, was a day of curious
reflections for me.

I — listened to talk of
uselessness, ineffectiveness, and
frustration. My question is who
are the victims?: the Viet Cong
prisoners in Tiger cages, or the
American GI addicts; The
South Vietnamese citizens, or
the draftable 1A American
youths; citizens of the Nixon
society, or those of the Thieu
regime. Who are the prisoners
of this war?

Yesterday, the
Charlottesville Guerrilla
Theater attempted to rally
conscious support for the
Moratorium and its aims.
Supporters gathered at Cabell
Hall and marched to Maury
Hall, the Naval ROTC building.
There they encountered a
group of Naval ROTC students.

Who there, I ask, are the
victims? Are they the "mislead
uninformed" demonstrators, or
the draft-avoiding ROTC
people, who sat in defense of
the building, defending
something they were but a
mere bewildered cog in,
something few people really
understand.

Isn't it a paradox? These
people on both fronts were
setting the tone and direction
of their lives, carving out their
places. Yet which of the two
fronts were cornered into their
posture? Whose choice was
being made, and by whom?

Drama is an enlightener of
transient effect. Later,
marching downtown with the
Moratorium group I, for one,
was grossly affronted with the
frightful ignominy of this
"story."

Citizens looked, laughed,
jeered, swore - projecting
contempt, indifference,
support, confusion, ignorance,
and fear. I was approached by
a town youth who courteously
warned me that I'd "better be
careful, carrying that sign," I
"might get shot. There are
police all around, you know."

The scene's message was
too painfully clear - This is
how people do live, and do
think, and do fear. This is our
"healthy" fear of law,
government and God.

Who then was acting?
Where, I ask, was the dramatic
message coming from? One
group was expressing a desire
for the war's end. Was the
other projecting the reasons
for, and the fear-imposed
apathy towards the killing?

In an election year, with
hopes alive for McGovern,
Nixon, and Wallace, the circle
completes itself. Some live in
fear, some fear the powerful
living, and some fear for the dying.

Time is wasted in
innumerable ways. Maybe
demonstrations are a waste of
time then. But I can't help but
sympathize with those
frustrated to the point of
exhaustion, and I can't help
but support those frustrated to
the point of contempt, just as I
must pity those at the point of
self-imposed imprisonment.

Who are the victims? Where
lies the tragedy of this drama?