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Apr 21st, 2005 - 21:10:55
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Voices of Peace
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| Sean Rice and Gabe Triplett, Roseburg High Peace Activists |
On September 11, 2002, Gabe Triplett, age18, and Sean Rice, age17, began holding peace demonstrations during their lunch breaks at Roseburg High School. These were the first demonstrations to be held in Roseburg against this country's move towards war against an ever-widening array of target nations and their people. You can join them every Wednesday, rain or shine, at 10:30a.m. They also started, on October 19, 2002, a monthly vigil at the courthouse that takes place on the third Saturday of every month. I interviewed Sean and Gabe at a bookstore-café near the High School, on Wednesdsay, March 5th. - Lokiko Hall
LH: What happened that made you decide that you could no longer stand aside and just be students?
Sean: For me, September 11th changed my whole outlook on the world and politics. Before that I really honestly didn't care that much. But after that I started reading more about it, actually seeing what was going on.
LH: When did you start doing your demonstrations?
Gabe: September 11, 2002. For me, and I think for Sean, too, after September 11, 2001, when the buildings were attacked, the first thing that came into my mind was, "Oh no! We're going to strike back!" Then all this patriotism happened. This false, perverse sense of patriotism, so I was really scared to speak out on it even though I wanted to. Because people were so hostile to people who did speak out against war. But when September 11, 2002, came around it seemed that the patriotism was reaching another peak. So me and Sean and another kid were going to go to the courthouse on September 11th to protest there. However we thought that wouldn't be a good idea because it probably wouldn't be peaceful - tensions would get high. So we went out in front of the high school. I just got fed up with being silenced by this false sense of patriotism that a lot of people had or were scared into having.
LH: Was it also because Bush expanded his war rhetoric to go beyond the September 11th terrorists to include -
Sean: the "Axis of Evil."
LH: Nations that had not even breached national boundaries or committed any acts of aggression against us?
Sean: Yeah, this scared me.
LH: You thought it wouldn't be peaceful at the courthouse?
Gabe: I knew that WE could be peaceful. But I thought that since it was such a day of mourning that people would lose the message of us saying that we're against war and think that we were saying that we're against them. And we didn't want to do that.
LH: How did it go at the high school that day?
Sean: Things got pretty hostile for a while. People were flipping us off. The administration told us we couldn't be on the corner because it was a traffic violation. So we went into the quad. And people were trying to start fights with us. Calling us names. It got really bad.
Gabe: Multiple times the administration tried to expel us for being out there. The first day was really bad. People didn't know what was happening. Roseburg is a very small, conservative town. The only time people stood on the street with signs was when they were striking. So they didn't know what was going on. So we had the school police officer and then another person come over and tell us we had to get off the sidewalk because we were obstructing traffic by being on the sidewalk. So it was surprising when we went to the quad. People were getting in our faces, they were, like, THIS close to hitting us -- and the administration just stood there and watched it all.
LH: So they tried to expel you for creating a disturbance?" | "I was impressed by the courage of these young men in standing up for their principles. And pleased to see our youth continue in a more than 200-year-long tradition of protesting inappropriate government actions." -- Daniel Robertson, attorney working in Roseburg |
Gabe: Well, the first day they didn't know what to say. So they said we were obstructing traffic. After that they said we were interrupting the educational process. That was their grounds. But once we contacted Jim Arneson with the ACLU and he called the school and went to an ACLU meeting and kind of got the backing of the ACLU, then the school said, "Yeah, you're right. We can't do that." They knew it was against the rules.
LH: Is the ACLU following your cause?
Gabe: He [Arneson] went to a meeting up in Seattle and they said that not officially - they'd have to vote on it or whatever - but unofficially they were ready to support us. On the street. Not inside the school. Because it gets more grey inside the school. It was the school that told us they'd rather have us inside the school than out on the corner because the didn't want people to see us. What was happening was people were calling in to the school who were mad saying, "Why are you allowing those kids to do this? They should be in school studying." But it was at lunchtime. So they wanted us inside the school. But when we were inside they wanted to kick us out.
LH: But then it was discovered that the sidewalk is a "public space."
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| Gabe Triplett: "History. Theology. I like studying great people like Martin Luther King. Gandhi. Saint Francis. Thomas Merton. I don't have any real interests in school. Oh, acting. I like acting." |
Gabe: Yeah. That had to be defined after a whole process. We're surely getting an education about how things work.
LH: After lunch those first days, when you had to go back to school, did your classmates give you much trouble?
Sean: At first it was people just telling me that they disagree. But it really wasn't so bad unless we were actually out there.
LH: So no one ever actually tried to hit either of you?
Gabe: We've had fists right up to our faces. People saying, "I'm going to hit you." But no one wants to beat on a pacifist because they're not going to fight back. So everyone would be going, "Why are you hitting that guy?" But it did become the center of attention at Roseburg High for a while. It was good, but it was weird how this thing took over the school. In government classes and history classes, before they'd start class everyday, they'd open up a discussion about the protest. We were doing it every day at lunch at first. It was amazing to me that a simple protest could do that.
LH: You two were friends before?
Sean: All four years.
LH: Because you look like you're different philosophies here.
Gabe: Quite different. But that's cool because we've both come to this understanding.
LH: Sean, are you a rasta?
Sean: No. (laughs)
LH: You just like the dread hair?
Sean: Yes.
Gabe: I'm very outspoken and Sean's very … shy.
Sean: Extremely shy.
LH: This must have been hard for you.
 |
| Sean Rice: "Things got pretty hostile for a while. People were flipping us off. The administration told us we couldn't be on the corner because it was a traffic violation. So we went into the quad. And people were trying to start fights with us. Calling us names. It got really bad." |
Sean: It was kind of almost like a release for me. I was tired of sitting in class and when they would talk about the war I would just keep my thoughts to myself. But after going out and protesting I felt like I could open up a little more.
LH: You're a little less shy now?
Sean: I don't really talk much unless they say something about politics. Then I'll jump in.
LH: So what happened to the third guy?
Gabe: He dropped out the first day. He said that he didn't feel it was going to accomplish anything, that he wanted to express himself in other ways. He was very into drama and stuff. Which was cool. But I like to tease him a little bit because he said it wasn't going to accomplish anything, but now you look at the numbers, how it's grown, and the peace vigils, and it's done a lot.
LH: You've been active on the Internet as well, I understand.
Gabe: Yeah, the Virtual March. The Washington Post did a story on it. Over a million people called in to the White House that day. That was pretty cool. So I'm with MoveOn.org and some groups up in Portland.
LH: It takes up a lot of your time?
Gabe: It takes a LOT of time. At first I was trying to give it all the time I had. But you just can't do that. So it's probably now an hour or two a day.
LH: And you're Catholic? You want to go into the seminary?
Gabe: I did for a while. Now I want to go to the University of San Diego and study theology. Sean used to be Catholic ... (laughs)
Sean: I was never really Catholic. It was just a bad experience altogether.
Gabe: So we joke around about that. You had your first Holy Communion, right Sean?
Sean: Yeah. But I didn't really choose …
LH: You've been baptized?
Sean: (very quietly) Yeah.
Gabe: He's a Catholic! Born and raised!
Sean: I was DEFINITELY not raised a Catholic. I'm an atheist.
LH: You don't believe there is any sort of Spirit motivating the Universe?
Sean: There is no God.
Gabe: We make a funny couple: He's tall, skinny, blonde hair. I'm short, stocky, dark hair. He's atheist; I'm a Catholic. He's shy; I'm loud. Not a couple in that way… but oftentimes we have to play it that way. Because people drive by yelling "Faggots!" And we'll just, like, throw our arms around each other and say, "Yeah, that's what we are."
LH: Really? You play it up? Now that seems like a guaranteed way to get beat up in Roseburg.
Gabe: I don't want be a homophobe.
LH: What are your other interests?
Gabe: History. Theology. I like studying great people like Martin Luther King. Gandhi. Saint Francis. Thomas Merton. I don't have any real interests in school. Oh, acting. I like acting.
LH: And you, Sean?
Sean: I like history. Everything else [in school] kinda bores me. I watch the history channel, too. It's pretty much all I watch. It's pretty good when it's not glorifying war. But even that can sometimes be interesting to watch.
Gabe: In school they measure history in terms of who fought who and who killed who. There's more to history than fighting wars.
LH: What does your family think of what you're doing?
Sean: They disagree with me. But not so bad anymore. Me and my mom used to get in a lot of arguments. They have pretty good senses of humor about it, though. They're not really conservative, but they're not liberal. They're for the war.
Gabe: At first my parents weren't for what I was doing at all. Because the school called them up and told them they were going to expel me and Sean. And my parents said, "Well, that's not worth it." But they started standing behind me. My dad comes out every week to the demonstration.
LH: Have you gotten much support from your church?
Gabe: My pastor spoke at the peace vigil at the courthouse. Out on the corner we have two sisters that come, not nuns, but sisters. And we have people from the Unitarian church. Then there's two nuns from Mexico who will be there next week. They came up to help the Hispanic community here. But I just talked to them today and they are really excited about coming out and talking to the kids and holding up signs. Even though they only speak about three words of English. Today the Catholic Church is meeting with George Bush with a cardinal that is friends with the Bush family. The Pope just came out and said the official church position is that it would be immoral to go to war with Iraq. Which is really cool because for so long the Church wasn't saying a word about the whole thing. Which was really pissing me off with the Church.
LH: Are you having much of an effect on your congregation?
Gabe: They're mostly against the war. But they don't go out and do a lot. Which I'm trying to change.
LH: How many people do you get every week?
Gabe: Between eight and 15 people every Wednesday. We've had as many as 35 out there once.
LH: Do you get many other students?
Gabe: At first there was more.
Sean: One time there was 10 students out there.
Gabe: And the one day we had 35, I think we had 17 students. That's the thing. If you get people out, then more people will come. But it's hard to get people out there. Because it's their lunch time, they're hungry, they want to spend time with their friends and such.
LH: Do you get in a lot of arguments or discussions with people?
Gabe: At first there was a lot of intense arguments. For a while it was everyday. Because we used to do it everyday for -- what was it?
Sean: About a month and a half.
Gabe: And we had trash thrown at us and whatnot. But now people have mellowed out because I think the closer we get to war the more people are starting to come to agree with the anti-war message. Where you out there when the guy mooned us?
LH: Yes. … Do you have any plans for further demonstrations?
Gabe: If it's announced that we are going to war with Iraq, I hope -- I've been gathering up kids -- I hope that if it's announced in school that we are going to war that people will walk out. And as much as people that are part of the anti-war movement don't like it, I do think that burning a flag would be very appropriate it we went to war with Iraq. Because if that flag stands for anything, if we go to war with Iraq over oil then the flag wouldn't stand for anything anymore. So it's not to burn the flag because I'm anti-American but because it will be that the flag doesn't mean anything anymore. People are questioning it now but it's seems that a majority of America doesn't even know or see that it's against U.N. law (charter) to go over there and overthrow Hussein or kill him when he hasn't attacked anybody.
LH: Do you have any sense of how many students feel the way you do even though they aren't out there? | "It's not just their courage. It's their perseverance. A lot of folks have a short attention span. They've persevered for a long time, peacefully and courteously, for many months." -- Sherry Redd, North Douglas County resident and business owner |
Gabe: I don't know about the students but it seems from people coming by at lunchtime that it's maybe 75% for us. They honk and wave or they flash peace signs. It used to seem like it was 75% the other way.
LH: You told me a story about the Armed Forces recruiters that Wednesday --
Gabe: Oh yeah. They come every Wednesday and they are not allowed to just stop and talk to the students. So what they do is they walk around until a student stops them. We actually got this - what was he? A Marine?
Sean: Yeah.
Gabe: A Marine recruiter to admit that the war was for oil. That we killed babies and other civilians. But what he said was, "Accidents happen." By the end of the conversation he was so tongue-tied and we were, like, "Do you actually believe what you're saying? Because if you do then you're against the war." And he said, "No! We got to stand behind our president!" But then I got him to admit the war was unjust because I said, "If we were killing people for money, would that be unjust?" And he said, "Yeah, if we're going to war for money, then that would be unjust." Then we got him to admit that war was about oil. About money. We are going to war for money.
LH: The one you told me before concerned prostitution.
Gabe: Oh … Oh yeah! (laughs) Okay. I was sitting in Economics class, and a young guy comes in. He says he's with the Air Force. And he's not really an actual recruiter, but since he's back on leave they're using him as a recruiter. He used to go to Roseburg a couple of years ago. So he comes in there, during class time, probably three-fourths of the whole class period. And, it was so absurd, because this guy was not giving the usual lines that the military will give, like: "We'll give you money for college, we'll do this for you, we'll do that for you." He was giving lines like: "Over in the eastern countries you can get, like, this many whores for a dollar." Or: "Because you're in the Air Force if you go to a country where marijuana or any other drug is legal, while you're in that country you could do that drug." Now, I'm not against marijuana by far but it was amazing to me that our class time was being taken up by this. They told us that it was interrupting the educational process to stand on the corner during lunchtime on public property to stand for peace. But this guy comes into our class promoting prostitution and drugs and that's not interrupting the educational process.
| "They told us that it was interrupting the educational process to stand on the corner during lunchtime on public property to stand for peace. But this guy comes into our class promoting prostitution and drugs and that's not interrupting the educational process." |
LH: The recruiters have always been there?
Gabe: They've always been. Especially since the "No Child Left Behind" Act, the federal government gives them all a right to come on school property no matter what the school or state says. The government says, "We don't want to leave any child behind, so we'll send our military in there." Oh, here's another funny story about a recruiter. Me and Sean and my dad went on the campus. There were some recruiters there. We were holding up our signs behind the recruiters; we weren't saying anything. We were being very peaceful, exercising our constitutional right of peaceful assembly, and the recruiter turns around and says, "You better get that sign away from me or I'm gonna hit you in the nose!" And I said, "I'm just exercising my constitutional rights, sir." And he said, "You better back on up and take that sign elsewhere or I'm gonna hit you in the nose!" And I said, "Physical violence isn't allowed on school property." And he just got raging angry. Then the administration walks up and tells my dad, "You are an adult, so you're not allowed on this campus. Get off." And told us we were creating a disturbance. So we went back out to the corner.
Sean: We've had many encounters with recruiters. I think they know who we are pretty well.
Gabe: At first when we were out there, the administration said that they feared for our safety. So they started standing out there every day. And if people [students] threw trash at us, they got them. If someone started cussing at us, they would get them. Well, I remember one time - tan shirt, so it must have been the Marines - came by, rolled down the window - these are the recruiters - leaned out the window and said "Fuck you!" And the two vice principals just smiled and watched. | "I'm really proud of him for standing up for his beliefs and fighting for his beliefs even when he was facing opposition from the school. But I never really feared for his safety. I knew he could take care of himself." -- Steve Triplett, Gabe's father (He mentioned that his son has a black belt in karate. But when I asked Gabe about this, he said that he would not use his karate skills to defend himself. "I'm not into self-defense. It gets the point across a lot better to get beat down. Even if you just deflect a punch, it sets things up so that they'll do something else.") |
LH: So what are your plans after high school?
Sean: I'll probably go to the community college. I was thinking about maybe becoming a teacher, a history teacher. Something like that.
LH: Gabe, weren't you thinking about going into the seminary just three weeks ago?
Gabe: Yeah, I was thinking about that a little bit. Since then - well, it has been for a long time -- but things got more serious with my girlfriend. So, if she's dies I'll probably go into the seminary, if she doesn't, I'll probably get married someday. (laughs)
LH: Have you read any Matthew Fox?
Gabe: No.
LH: He seems to be trying to unite Christian spirituality with an environmental ethic. I think you'd like him. Although he's not a Catholic, not a Dominican anymore. He got pink-slipped, as he calls it, by the Vatican.
Gabe: Another lady I like to listen to is Joan Chittister. She's actually a sister, she might be - she almost got shut down by the Vatican because she speaks out about women becoming priests. She is a very, very awesome feminist.
LH: So although you're a Catholic, you feel free to disagree with the Vatican line on things.
Gabe: Yeah. I think as a Catholic you have to stand up and disagree with the Vatican. It's important to be critical no matter what organization you belong to.
Copyright©2003 by Lokiko Hall
Visit Lokiko Hall's articles and stories:
A Forester Looks at the Healthy Forest Initiative
(Matthew Hall with Lokiko Hall)
Conversations with an Artist: Susan Applegate
The Lay Of King Henry
The Gypsy Boy
Look for her "Bummers & Gummers"-- a journal of down to earth country life--Highlights coming soon to West By Northwest.org as a new section and on NW area newstands.
© Copyright 2000-2004 by West By Northwest.org
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