Tuesday, January 9th, Choate students attended their first Special Program of 2007. Documentary film-maker Robbie Leppzer and professor of African American Studies at the University of Massachusetts Mr. John Bracey came to Choate to present Leppzer’s film recounting the stories of the unheard voices of the protest to the Iraq War.

This annual lecture was presented to Choate by the Spears Endowment for Spiritual and Ethical Education, established in the honor of William Spears, a former chair of the Choate Board of Trustees and committed supporter of spiritual and ethical education. The Spears Endowment sponsors Choate programs such as the Sesame Seed Grant Program, Mary Pashley’s community service program, the Walls of Life Contest, and more.

Reverend Marc Trister, Mr. James Davidson, and Mr. Joel Backon set up the presentation. Mr. Trister and Mr. Davidson visited Leppzer last June to discuss the prospect of his presentation at Choate.

Both men thought it would be good to have a presenter who is pro-peace in order to provide the student body another perspective on a very important issue. “It was really to introduce to the student body the pacifists’ argument. We teach a lot of courses in the history department that deal with war and warfare… and we thought it would be valuable for pacifists to talk, people who were so pro-peace, because we don’t see that a lot,” Trister explained. “The movie [The Peace Patriots] shows what non-violent protest is all about, and non-violent protest is a very important tradition in American history. The women’s movement, the Civil Rights Movement, anti-war movement, and labor unions, have all participated throughout American history. With non-violent protests, and I hoped that our students would see people your age who were involved, not only adults, but high school students.”

Mr. Leppzer attended the Winchester High School outside of Boston, one of the only public high schools in the nation with its own FM radio station. As a fifteen year-old he started a weekly alternative news magazine program. He would go into Boston and record at events where activists were working for peace and social justice.

His interest in film began in junior high school, and in college he made his first video documentary, “Seabrook 1977.” This aim chronicled protestors at a construction site of a nuclear power plant in Seabrook, New Hampshire. At the site, 1,414 protestors were arrested and held in National Guard Armories for two weeks.

Leppzer was Choate’s first “Educator in Residence” in a number of years, and visited classes on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of last week. Focusing on topics ranging from “Columbus” to “Japanese American Buddhists”, he showed ten of his films to World History, Current Issues, Peace Makers, and U.S. History Classes. He also stepped in with a digital video class, speaking about the techniques of making a film, how they are put together, and how they are edited. In addition, he presented one of his documentaries about Vietnam veterans to the fifth formers on Monday evening.

He was pleased with the curiosity and intellect of the students he saw: “In all the classes, there has been great discussion, and great interest on the part of the students. People were really engaged. I feel that my visit here has been very successful because it’s really stimulated the students to think and to talk and to be engaged with the issues in the world. And to me that’s a real success. As a filmmaker I try to get people to step outside of themselves, and consider the world… to take an interest in the world. So I feel that my visit here has been very successful.”

Over his thirty year career, Mr. Leppzer has directed over 20 independent film, video, and public radio documentaries. Major companies have broadcast his works about civil issues, and contemporary themes, nationally and globally, including CNN International, PBS, National Public Radio, and Free Speech Television.

When introducing Leppzer, Choate Sixth Former Kenia Arzu said, “One of the most striking qualities in Mr. Leppzer’s work is his ability to be the voice for the opinions that are silenced in mainstream media.”

Mr. Leppzer gave an introductory speech about his work, before showing his films. He feels his purpose in film-making is to document the lives of those whose opinions are not publicized and made widely known: “I really made it a calling of mine to make films about people who stick their necks out to take risks to work for social change, to work for a better world, to work for peace and social justice. My films are about the people who get left out of the mainstream media, voices that are not heard widely, but voices that need to be heard widely. Because their perspectives of working for social change from the grassroots are just so important for us all to hear, and need to be included in the debates about the most critical issues of our time.”

In the summer of 2002 when the plans for the Iraq War were first laid out, Mr. Leppzer watched as protests grew from thousands to millions of people across the United States and world. “It was growing at a larger and faster rate that the Vietnam War was in the sixties and yet it hardly received any coverage in the mainstream media,” he says, “So I felt compelled as an independent documentary film maker to make a film that would chronicle this movement, this very important movement, and in human terms, in personal terms, the people who… call for peace.”

Featured in Leppzer’s documentary was Professor John Bracey of the University of Massachusetts, in Amherst, and brother of Choate English Teacher Connie Matthews. Mr. Bracey has long been a Civil Rights activist and was involved in the movement in the 1960’s. In the film, he was shown giving speeches at peace movements and also at the Amherst Middle School.

“The Peace Patriots” was filmed in Leppzer’s “backyard”: Western Massachusetts, and mainly in Northampton, Greenfield, Springfield, and Amherst. Mr. Leppzer also followed protesters to anti-war rallies in New York City. The film documented the growing peace movement in the U.S. starting in 2003.

On February 13th, 2003, one month before the war, 500,000 people protested in 60 countries worldwide. Moreover, 15-30 million demonstrated against the war the day after it was declared, in March 2003.

Students, as well as teachers, clergy and combat veterans from Vietnam, Korea and the Persian Gulf were all shown as part of the growing peace movement in “The Peace Patriots”.

Over 450 college campuses in the nation joined the protest. Video clips from gatherings at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, were shown where college, high, and middle school students spoke supporting peace.

War Veterans from World War II, Vietnam, Korea, and the Desert Storm wars all came together in protest, as “The Veterans for Peace”. When speaking about war, veteran and professor at UMass Jean Grossholtz said on camera that “It is a stupid waste of life, and a stupid waste of time.”

Protestors displayed acts of civil disobedience in Chicopee, Mass., at the Westover Air Base, on March 20, 2003, during the beginning of the war. Groups of people sat outside the base holding signs saying things such as “No Blood for Oil,” “Drop Bush, not Bombs,” and “Let’s Fearlessly Create a World of Brilliant Peace.”

Across the street from where they sat were a pro-war boy and a woman [presumably his mother] yelling at them “War is great! Go to Hell!” Later, at an Affinity Group [a support group for people participating in acts of civil disobedience] meeting, one of the female protestors at that demonstration said that she at first had the urge to yell back to them, but then calmed herself saying that she knew that was against her true inner principles.

Ms. Grossholtz was also at this protest, unafraid of being cuffed by many of the armed officers. She teaches her students that “when a policy of your government is wrong you have every right to… take a stand against that wrong…” and says “… it [The Iraq War] is the wrong thing to do and I don’t want it done in my name.”

People of faith took a stand against the war as well. On April 9, 2003, the people of Springfield, Massachusetts and the surrounding area attended an interfaith worship service in front of the federal building. People of all religions holding posters saying things like “Who would Jesus Bomb?” joined with one another and recited prayers while sitting in front of the building.

On Spring Break of 2003 dissidents from the Amherst, MA area attended the “Spring Break Out.” Students blockaded Route 9 between Amherst and Northampton and then impulsively continued on to the mall and Walmart, bearing anti-war messages.

Another more informative tactic for peace occurred on the Amherst Town Common. Pairs of shoes were placed on the grass, each pair representing those already killed in the Iraq War: 980 for the U.S. Soldiers and 1000 for the estimated 16,000 Iraqi civilians.

Fifty Thousand people marched during a rally in New York City in March 2004 at the one year anniversary of the war.

“Consistently 60-70% of the American public wants this war to end, wants the troops to come home,” says Leppzer.

A question and answer session began, after the video was shown. Microphones were placed in convenient locations in the auditorium and students who had questions for the two presenters went forth to speak up.

The students were not at all afraid to voice their opinions to Leppzer and Bracey, and in some cases openly said that the documentary was “close-minded” and “biased.” Zachary Remsen ‘07 began the discussion with the Leppzer and Bracey, by saying something along the lines of “Well, thank you for that wonderful piece of propaganda.”

Leppzer and Bracey were not at all fazed by the reaction, and were seemingly pleased that their presentation had sparked controversy. “People need to speak their minds and debate…” said Leppzer while confronting some issues students shot at him.

Students had varying feelings on the Special Program, as would any group when dealing with political issues. When asked about his impression of the speaker and the presentation as a whole, third former Andrew Ricardo said, “I had mixed feelings about the program. I thought it was excellent that a speaker with a strong viewpoint came to Choate, but…the students’ questions and the subsequent responses only reconfirmed my belief that people of strongly opposing political viewpoints will seldom see eye to eye or come to any sort of rational medium. The crowd response also seemed to support this.”

Also, a student who prefers not to be named added, “although I did not agree with all of the things said in the documentary, I thought the program was very interesting and well-presented. It is always good for everyone to hear from the other side of an argument, both in life and politics. It opens your mind to knew perspectives and helps you understand where people are coming from.”