Freethought & Rationalism Archive

Koyaanisqatsi · 02-26-2003, 02:49 AM

I don't know if the rest of you out there have heard of her, but you should. She's a college senior at Manhattanville College, apparently in Purchaseville, NY (bumf*ck nowhere USA) who has been protesting the war on Iraq by turning her back on the flag during the national anthem in her division basketball playoffs.

Her "favorite quote(s)" from her bio: "If you don't stand for something, you will fall for anything."__"It will be a great day when our schools get all the money they need and the military has to hold a bake sale to buy a bomber."

Here's her partially marginallized story and here's a quote from her official statement (from the same source):

Quote:

Toni Smith: "For some time now, the inequalities that are embedded into the American system have bothered me. As they are becoming progressively worse and it is clear that the government's priorities are not on bettering the quality of life for all of its people, but rather on expanding its own power, I cannot, in good conscience, salute the flag," Smith said in a statement released Thursday.

...

When Manhattanville played at the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy on Feb. 11, more than 300 flag-waving midshipmen greeted Smith with chants of "USA" and "Leave our country."

I saw her on the local news here last night (not the national, interestingly enough, and I've been awake all night listening in the background to our national agenda creating news, while I posted other replies elsewhere).

She was simply standing in line with her teammates as the national anthem played, only she had her back to the flag and her head bowed. It was, to say the least, one of the bravest things I've ever witnessed, on par with the person who stood in front of the tank in Tiannemen Square (I dare say, knowing full well that I'm laying easy chum for the excitable redirections of others and, admitting pre-emptively, on a drastically less "imminent danger" scale).

She has done it at every game long before any local newscaster sniffed out a story, which means she's been doing it at a profoundly local level, against the jeers of smalltown USA firends, peer group and alumni members for weeks now, with absolutely no ulterior motives at all (beyond the obvious).

I say "Yee" Toni Smith (bangs his desk, ala founding fathers' tradition of honorable salute).

GaryP · 02-26-2003, 03:14 AM

It's brave of the college president complimenting the young lady also.

I heard a talk show host from Cincinnati raging about this story last Sunday. Of course, he thought it was great that hundreds of people would "stand up for America" while tormenting a young person who is exercising her rights.

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02-26-2003, 03:14 AM	#2
GaryP Veteran Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Lancaster, OH Posts: 1,792	It's brave of the college president complimenting the young lady also. I heard a talk show host from Cincinnati raging about this story last Sunday. Of course, he thought it was great that hundreds of people would "stand up for America" while tormenting a young person who is exercising her rights.

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