by Cris Italia and Joseph Kellard
Brian Rottenberg, a student at OHS, sent a letter to Principal Dori Ciulla stating that the students were planning a walkout at noon two Thursdays ago. "Certainly I can't condone them walking out, but we certainly wanted it organized," Ciulla said. "We informed all the teachers that this might be happening."
Ciulla said that approximately 250 to 300 students participated in the rally. Some students, she said, were for the war and others against it. Because of the large number of students and the difference of opinions, Ciulla called the police just to monitor the crowd.
Before the rally, Ciulla called in the protest organizers to make sure that the event would unfold in an orderly way. "She told us she expected us to act responsibly and make sure it doesn't get out of hand," said Alex Tucciarone, a junior at the high school.
The rally was for the most part well organized and peaceful, but eventually tempers flared and strong differences of opinion were shouted out from group to group, Tucciarone said. "The anti-war kids gathered around the flag pole [at the front the school]. And once we felt the majority of people who were going to be coming were there, a few minutes after 12 noon, I basically opened up with a speech," Tucciarone said.
Through each anti-war speech, students who supported the war surrounded the protesters and began chanting and displaying signs that said "Go Bush." As students began filing back into the school, Tucciarone claimed, some began shouting racial slurs at the anti-war protesters.
Tucciarone also said that one student, who he said was too "extreme," had made up fliers that portrayed President Bush as Hitler. "The flier he had was a picture of George Bush superimposed at the Nuremberg rally," he said. "So instead of Hitler it was George Bush, so there were Nazi banners in the background. It definitely aroused anti-Semitic sentiment. But [the student] wasn't being anti-Semitic, he was trying to imply that Bush is acting in a way that Hitler acted. But it was offensive and it wasn't appropriate for a school."
Anti-war graffiti
In another incident just two days later, police reported that anti-war graffiti was found on the east and south walls of the school. One wall had "Bush" spray-painted on it with an "X" through it. The other wall displayed an upside-down peace sign and said, "No war, no blood for oil."
Ciulla claims there were no reports of graffiti found at the high school, and the superintendent of schools, Dr. Herb Brown, also said there were no reports of graffiti. "I was told of any incidents of anti-war graffiti, [and] nothing was told to me," he said.
Officer Robin Webb of the Fourth Precinct confirmed that the graffiti was reported to police by a security guard. She identified the guard as Ralph Fiore.
Students comment on the rally
"I would never participate in this kind of nonsense," Stephen Morse said. "But I watched it. But I don't think you should be giving up your educational time for this. I think probably two percent of the kids out there had legitimate feelings about this issue. I highly doubt that a lot of them read the newspaper or watch CNN on a regular basis. I think they were taking a radical stance just for the sake of being radical."
Classmate Jarred Flatow echoed Morse's feelings on the walkout, but for different reasons. "I don't know what purpose it served walking out of school after the war started," Flatow said. "To organize [a walkout] after the bombs start dropping, it just serves to divide the country. It was just really unorganized and a disgraceful display."
Students comment on the war
Rottenberg feels that the war in Iraq will only lead to more destruction. "I think that the war is going to cause more problems then solve them," Rottenberg said. "It will only create more anti-USA resentment. And if Saddam flees to North Korea, which is a likely possibility, that will start World War III, because North Korea will nuke Israel. It will cause more death and destruction than Saddam does in his own country."
"Generally, I support cooperation and working through the United Nations and multilateral organizations to achieve [a solution]," Morse said. "It's been successful for the past 50 years. But on the other hand, living here in New York and witnessing the events of Sept. 11, I just think there is some degree of risk being an American citizen during this time. We need to nip this in the bud, and appeasement just won't work."
Tucciarone, who has held debates and forums on the war, feels the United States is setting a bad example. "I think that the United States' going into Iraq, without being provoked and without having the approval either of the U.N. or the world population at large, I think we set a very dangerous example," he said. "I think it's going to lead to the exhaustion of diplomacy and lead to the initiation of conflicts in other areas of the world, like India/Pakistan and China/Taiwan."
