Friday, April 30, 2010
Students tilted their heads in curiosity walking past the red and yellow covering the Stauffer-Flint lawn Thursday.
Flags covered the Stauffer-Flint lawn Thursday in a memorial to fallen American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The memorial was planned by KU’s Young Americans for Liberty to raise awareness about the costs of the ongoing conflict. Almost 6,500 Americans have died in the overseas fighting.
From in front of Wescoe, a group of girls thought the items were newly-planted flowers, but said they were depressed when they found out what the items really were: yellow and red flags holding the name, age and hometown of one of the growing number of fallen soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The memorial was an effort by KU’s Young Americans for Liberty, who teamed up with other state organizations such as the Manhattan Alliance for Peace and Justice to place the flags.
The groups promote an American foreign policy that doesn’t use military force to intervene with other nations.
“We should be an example to nations, but shouldn’t dictate how they should live,” said William Stewart-Starks, an 2009 graduate and Young Americans For Liberty member. “We thought the best way to get that across was this flag display, these are all deaths.”
The United States’ casualty count in Iraq and Afghanistan approaches 6,500, according to icasualties.org. This doesn’t include the estimated 850,000 Iraqi and Afghan civilian deaths.
“You hear a number on the news, but it’s different to see it,” said Tommy Kennedy, a sophomore from Kansas City, Kan., as he walked by.
Trent Stepanik, a junior from Overland Park who got back from his second tour of duty in Iraq last May, stopped to crouch near some of the flags.
“I was looking for a couple names,” he said. “It’s especially striking on a day with the wind like this, knowing each one of these represents someone’s brother, sister, daughter or son.”
The Young Americans for Liberty spoke of other costs of war, including the monetary, moral and philosophical drawbacks. They gave individuals a chance to sign a petition to end the war.
“We’re all about giving students a way to be active in issues, and this petition is just an outlet for people to express their discontent with the way things are going,” Stewart-Stark said.
Although Stepanik said some soldiers might take the display as a protest against them, he didn’t think that was the case.
“I think it’s awesome,” he said. “You’ve got to raise awareness, and it’s just so nice to see civilian students involved with young veterans and young soldiers.”
— Cory Bunting
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