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Drew Cameron in Iraq, 2003 |
By Drew Cameron
I am a veteran of the war in Iraq. I entered the military not because of effective advertisements or hero films, not even college money or idealized patriotism. No, I feel that I entered the military because our society needs soldiers and has always found ways to force or entice us into service. I ran guns in the war, I occupied and criminalized strangers and wondered in the summer of 2003 if the people in Iraq would be better off after all of our invasions. Returning from the war I found other veterans and artists and began to make paper from our old uniforms.
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My Lai, pulp print on Combat Paper, 2016 |
I believe that 50 years is a necessary span of time to reflect on the devastation of our previous wars, certainly while we are in the midst of several. We are the ones on watch when it occurs. What then of My Lai and Hugh Thompson’s story? As stories are told, they become ours if we are willing to listen. They are given to us and collectively we give the story more authenticity and voice. Hugh made the choice of a true warrior. He refused to bend to massive pressures and chose the lonely and terrifying path of action. To divert from the common allowable, and understandable, silence that most docile and complicit war fighters and citizens choose shines that honest light onto our deepest secrets. We are a war-making society that supports invading, occupying, and violently attacking sovereign nations. We recruit our youth into service of these efforts. In these times of great injustice and violence that persist, Hugh Thompson’s story asks of us not: What would you have done? I believe the legacy of Hugh Thompson and the My Lai story requires us to ask: What are you going to do?
My Lai runs Sep 27—30 at the BAM Harvey Theater, and great tickets are still available.
Drew Cameron is based in San Francisco. Learn more about his work at www.combatpaper.org.
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