LIBERTY AND JUSTICE

He - high school senior
I - part-time substitute teacher, seminary student
The time - 1969
The situation - open class discussion: "After Graduation, What Then?"

I'd learned by now they preferred,
insisted upon, "black," not "Negro," not "colored."
When he stood up at the back,
everyone, even the girls in the front row,
stopped talking.

    Here's what. I graduate.
    My number comes up.
    They ship my ass over there,
    gimme a gun so I can kill people
    who never done nuthin' to me.
    They be tryin' to kill me too.
    Ain't right. Ain't right. And not
    a damn thing I can do about it.

He -     high school senior in Chicago
I -     Native of Lancaster County,
    home to Mennonites, Amish, Brethren, Quakers
    who believe and teach their children
    not to take up arms,
    to turn the other cheek,
    whose draft board will readily
    grant them 1-O status,
    "conscientious objector."

He -    has no such option
I -    have, have taken it, and ask:
    so tell me again -- exactly how is this
    liberty and justice for all?