Where Are The Anti-War Voices?

PHILADELPHIA - MARCH 5: Student anti-war protesters and peace activists rally in front of City Hall, March 5, 2003, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Students nationwide rallied against the impending war in Iraq during a National Day of Student Action. (Photo by Don Murray/Getty Images)

Instead of using our taxpayer dollars to better society, like providing more resources in communities, improving health care, and reducing poverty. Our government has much more important things to fund. 

As I research war and the voices that vote against it. It gets harder for me to find the voices that fight to put an end to the violence America endures. Upon reading antiwar and America conservative, I began to form my opinion on why these voices may not be shown in mainstream media.

As an African American who has grown up in poverty. I have seen
firsthand the aftereffects of war in black communities, resources getting stripped from families, leaving generational poverty and higher death rates.

Illustration of the Civil War battle: September 1882

After the Civil War, the Union's victory ended legal slavery; however, freedom did not immediately bring equality, saftey or justice to black Americans.

Some Americans opposed the war because they wanted the fighting to stop, even if slavery remained. Others opposed slavery and believed that the country could not move forward without confronting it. These were fundamentally different positions. Wanting peace is not necessarily the same as wanting justice.

War challenges the way we think about anti-war voices. When people call for peace, whose peace are they defending? Is peace simply the absence of fighting, or does it also require addressing the conditions that allow people to be oppressed? For formerly enslaved Black Americans, a return to the way things were before the war, justice would not have served. It would have meant continued enslavement. This history reminds us that anti-war movements must consider not only the human cost of fighting, but also what happens to vulnerable people when a conflict ends. Ending a war and achieving justice are not the same.

The government spends approximately $1 trillion on war, and there are still over $35 million people suffering from poverty; 18.4 percent of those people are African American. My question is, why is there still a lack of resources affecting millions of American Citizens?  We can clearly see where the government's priorities are. My family and I have witnessed firsthand the effects of public housing, lack of wealth-building opportunities, and unequal access to resources that will cause a decline in our communities instead of allowing space for growth. Unequal resources have affected and will continue to affect many more generations to come if we don't take a stand.

The campaign started by Martin Luther King in 1968.
Mass poor people assembly June 20th, 2020.

The Civil War's effects still impact Americans today. Historical discrimination can still be seen in discussions about racial wealth inequality, housing, education, voting rights, and unequal treatment.

Legal freedom alone has never guaranteed equality.

So, my question still stands. Where are the anti- war voices? When protesting against war, consider the lives lost, the conflict, and the communities left to rebuild. We need to be willing to confront injustice that makes conflict possible. 

America, let's not repeat history. Let us learn from it. Let us invest in our communities, protect our people, and recognize that the strength of a nation is measured not only by its military power, but also by how it treats its most vulnerable citizens.

Peace is not just the absence of war. It is the presence of justice.