Rory Fanning
Rory Fanning sitting in solidarity with Colin Kaepernick at a Chicago Cubs baseball game, 2016, courtesy Rory Fanning.
Rory Fanning is a veteran, conscientious objector, and author of the book Worth Fighting For: An Army Ranger's Journey Out of the Military and Across America. He is also the co-author, with Craig Hodges, of the new book Long Shot: The Triumphs and Struggles of an NBA Freedom Fighter. He spoke with Sarah Jaffe about opposing Trump's military buildup, the roles that veterans and athletes can play in movements for change, and the long tradition of imperialism in the U.S.
Below are a few outtakes from the interview. Give it a listen!
Rory Fanning: I live in Chicago, and speak regularly at high schools here, which has become ground zero for military recruiting in the country. There are more kids signed up in Chicago JROTC and NJROTC than any other school district in the country, ten thousand kids: 50% Latino and 45% black.
You don’t see this kind of recruiting out in the suburbs. Recruiters go to the path of least resistance. They know kids in poverty-stricken areas have less options after graduation.
There are ten thousand recruiters stalking the hallways, working with a $700 million advertising budget each year, to say nothing of the movies and the video games. It is next to impossible to offer a counter-narrative.
There are ten thousand recruiters stalking the hallways, working with a $700 million advertising budget each year, to say nothing of the movies and the video games. It is next to impossible to offer a counter-narrative.
I just try to plant a few seeds. I don’t go in there and finger wag and say, “Don’t join the military.” I emphasize the importance of critical thinking. I communicate the fact that there is nothing worse than killing somebody for a cause that you don’t understand or taking someone’s life for a cause… It is almost maybe even better to lose your own life or get injured yourself as opposed to taking somebody’s life who is innocent.
I cite some statistics. There are 40,000 homeless US veterans, people who just can’t get their minds straight after seeing what they saw overseas, can’t get reintegrated into society because they have lost parts of themselves that can never be recovered. It is important to highlight some of that stuff.
Veterans are very sensitive to the fact that this largely is not a free country. There are more people in prison than any other country in the world per capita. The majority of those black and Latino.
When you sign up, allegedly, to fight for freedom and democracy and you see nothing of that kind being practiced here in the U.S., with the mass surveillance and the reach of agencies like the National Security Agency, etc., this is not what you put your life on the line for...
When I see someone like Colin Kaepernick refusing to put his hand over his heart and stand for the national anthem, I think people who have actually sacrificed for freedom and democracy really respond well to that in a lot of ways. People were saying that Colin Kaepernick was spoiled and he didn’t appreciate what he was given and he was a coward for not respecting the flag. I found his case to be the complete opposite of that because I realized by working with Craig Hodges, who was black-balled by the NBA for demanding the league do more to fight racism, economic inequality.
I saw Colin Kaepernick subject himself to the same fate, potentially. We are seeing NFL owners turn their back on Kaepernick now as he is out in the market trying to get acquired by a team. A lot of what is happening to Kaepernick now, happened to Craig Hodges. He lost, potentially, millions of dollars standing up for justice. But, he also recognized that he had a platform that could be heard...
I am a member of Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War exists. We're at a lull in the anti-war movement, despite the fact that we are engaged in wars in seven countries right now. I think gathering together with other like-minded veterans is really important to recognizing your leverage as a veteran to be heard in ways that maybe some people aren’t heard.
I know the anti-war movement is kind of still at a lull, but if we can connect the huge movements around the Women’s March, the Day Without Immigrants, and all that kind of stuff to anti-imperialist/anti-militarist actions, I think we would be better for it.
A lot of people say, “Having eight hundred military bases around the world is a deterrent. Having 7,700 nuclear weapons is a deterrent.” But, it can also be seen as provocation. Another country is only going to feel the need to amp up its own military as a result of the US amping up its. If there was a collective disarmament, there is a retraction of these bases that are just draining our budgets.
I am usually on Facebook more than I am on Twitter. They can do that or if they would like to invite me to their school, they can just reach out to be on either of those two things. I am constantly looking to talk to more high schools and colleges, wanting to give these kids the full story, because if it is already predatory, it is just going to be on steroids with this administration, the pressures of sending kids overseas to fight wars for billionaires.
Interviews for Resistance is a project of Sarah Jaffe, with assistance from Laura Feuillebois and support from the Nation Institute. It is also available as a podcast on iTunes. Not to be reprinted without permission.