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National Coordinator Notes

By Barry Romo

First many thanks to the people on the West Coast, VVAW, VFP, MFSO and IVAW from Seattle, the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego whose generosity and hard work made our trip possible. Our whirlwind tour down the coast covered 5 cities and hundreds of miles. With lively debate, great music and late night sessions we managed to hammer out some details of our future work. At one event where 5 VVAW people spoke, Jan Ruhman pointed out to the crowd that we had 4 different positions and that that was the great thing about VVAW that you could have different opinions and still remain together. This happens when you have programs for change and not just fights over intellectual purity.

One thing for sure, everyone is glad to see Bush gone and Obama, a man about whom one person said "It is a pleasure to have a president that can put four sentences together in to a paragraph," in. I have been involved with civil rights, justice and peace for almost 40 years and it is such a treat having this person in office. In the Bay Area one of our long time members, Chukia Lawton, a community organizer for 50 years and widow of Gary Lawton, thought Obama's victory was a culmination of their work. Unfortunately a number of friends just can't seem to be happy. It's like they don't know a good thing when they see it. I admit all of them are white but for god's sake be happy. Maybe we are lucky here in Chicago. One of our great friends and reformers Mayor Harold Washington, allowed us a preview of what progressive politics in power could be.

Wars "end" but the casualties continue. VVAW could not forget this with friends dying before their time from Agent Orange and PTSD. We haven't forgotten that the real victims were the Vietnamese, Cambodians and Laotians. Buried bombs and mines still cripple some but even more hideous; children are still being born with birth defects because of defoliation after more than 40 years. VVAW along with other vets groups was able to sue. The Vietnamese were never given this right and the US military has never shared scientific information that could help. We must do more than picket or demonstrate. We have to get legislation to allow basic compensation for this deliberate chemical poisoning. We are working with some congresspersons on this issue.

This will be harder than our PTSD and Agent Orange struggles. It means justice. We owe a blood debt to the Vietnamese people and we have to offer more than sympathy or anger. In the 70's VVAW and no other veterans group, in conjunction with a decent President got PTSD recognized as a service connected disability and got vets outreach centers established to help deal with it. Almost a 100 VVAW people went to work at the vet's centers; people like Jack McCloskey in Haight-Ashbury and Dave Curry in Alabama. We have to revive that spirit.

In Iraq, we should demand that our legislators help remove the only laws leftover from the Saddam Hussein regime. One of our good friends Aaron Hughes just returned from a US labor trip to Iraq where he met with regional trade unionists. They told him that unions were banned in Iraq: not allowed to organize or negotiate. It seems to me that VVAW can play an important role. We have to do more than just protest but must really organize and apply pressure for the repeal of these anti-labor laws.

Finally I think that VVAW in every area has to help IVAW at this critical juncture. I don't mean just telling stories about the good old days or giving speeches. But by helping them raise funds, setting up speaking gigs, passsing out literature, etc. Go to ivaw.org to find out more.

Barry Romo is one of eight VVAW national coordinators.

Editorial Collective: Barry Romo, Charlie Branson, Jeff Machota, Joe Miller, Ellie Shunas, and Bill Branson.

Thanks to Jeff Danziger and Billy Curmano for their cartoons. Thanks to Aaron Davis, Horace Coleman, Ward Reilly, Bob Gronko, Carol Trainer, Bill Branson, Hans Buwalda, Brooke Anderson, Steve Crandall, Aaron Hughes, Willie Hager, Bud Korotzer, Sandy Fulton, Suki Wachtendonk, Annie Bailey, Zoltan Grossman, Richie Manson and others for contributing photos.