From the Archives: April 23, 1971 

So you are against the war in Southeast Asia? So what? What good does it do anyone that you    and three other people know you  are against the war?

And what have you done to help stop the war? To stop pollution perhaps you have made the minimum commitment of recycling your  tin, aluminum, glass and newspaper. But what have you done to stop the war? Have you made even the minimum commitment?

There are very few things that you as an individual can do, but one thing especially is coming up tomorrow. Make the minimum commitment, at least: Participate in the April 24th Anti-War March in San Francisco. Mass marches against the war will be held in both San Francisco and Washington, D.C. The San Francisco march will begin at Embarcadero Plaza at California and Market Streets about 8:00 a.m. and wind up at the Polo Field in Golden Gate Park, where there will be a rally with speakers and entertainment.

President Nixon says that he is withdrawing the troops; but every moment that withdrawl is delayed, the slower, the more gradual it is, the more people die, the more destruction goes on, the longer we, as a nation, are war-oriented. And though they tell you that it’s winding down, that doesn’t mean that people aren’t still being killed.

And perhaps President Nixon will feel it necessary to make further incursions, crossing unwanted the borders of more countries. We have seen the “Vietnam War” grow into the “Southeast Asia Conflict” during the Nixon administration. Even if Americans are not fighting on the ground, do you want our involvement to continue longer so that perhaps we can spread our war throughout all  Asia?

It isn’t even your war; it was inherited from the French; and, perhaps, you might be lucky enough to get to fight and die for your country.

Participate in the march; it requires merely your presence. You don’t have to do anything except walk, and by walking you will be showing your concern and maybe help to stop the war sooner and possibly save a few lives.