How many dead is “enough”? Hollins U Poli.sci. student Lachelle Roddy asks

 Lachelle Roddy

Having had enough she calls for end to U.S. Middle East wars, commitment to care: nonviolence in foreign relations

Re-reporting, editing by
Carolyn Bennett

Motivated young

“I live in a global village in Roanoke, Virginia; and in school (Hollins University), there are many women from the Middle East including Afghanistan and Palestine. They never know whether their families will be alive the next day because of U.S. drones as well as U.S. funding of Israeli war crimes.

Syrians protest
foreigners' interference

“It is very difficult for them to go to school (in the United States) when they have so much hardship back home because of our nation’s foreign policy; especially when, out of fear of being labeled a terrorist, they cannot speak up.”

U.S. Senate hearing considering John Kerry for U.S. Secretary of State

“I stood in the back listening as they continued to reference how big of a threat the Middle East is to America,” Lachelle Roddy said, “and how America needs to be a global leader ─ as if we are not already occupying enough countries. I had had enough when they mentioned economic sanctions on Iran. I could not stay silent any longer, and decided to speak up.

We are killing thousands of people in the Middle East who are no threat to us.

When is it going to be enough?

When are enough people going to be killed?

Motivated by the devastating impact of U.S. foreign policy on the lives of people in the Middle East, the 19-year-old Hollins University student spoke out at the Senate Hearings considering confirmation of President Barack Obama’s nomination for U.S. Secretary of State.

“Global Village” ─ exposure matters

Among its “firsts” are: the first college in Virginia to name a woman president (Matty Cocke, 1901), first chartered women’s college in Virginia, among the first abroad programs in the country (1955, Abroad-Paris), first women’s college in Virginia to offer coed graduate programs (1958), one of the first writers in residence programs in the United States (1959), this 1842 college turned university, sitting on 475 Roanoke, Virginia, acres, is known for its undergraduate and graduate writing programs, which have produced Pulitzer Prize-winning authors Annie Dillard, current Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey, and Henry S. Taylor.

Hollins University where Lachelle Roddy majors in political science is one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States. It hosts branches of College Republicans and College Democrats in addition to other politically and culturally focused groups dedicated to more specific causes and seeking to advance diversity, creativity, self-expression, unity, independence and self-confidence. Among them are the Global Interest Association, Black Student Alliance, and OUTloud.

Hollins University

Hollins’ core population includes ─

750 undergraduate students (avg. high school GPA 3.5) from 47 states, 14 countries

20 percent students of color

Two-thirds at graduation have had internships

50 percent have had international learning experience

70 percent avg. within a year of graduation are employed, 27 percent are attending graduate or professional school.

“I’m tired of my friends in the Middle East not knowing if they are going to live to see the next day!” Hollins University political science student Lachelle Roddy said of her motivation to protest at a Vietnam War protester’s confirmation hearing to head what has been an “all-wars-all-the-time  cabinet-level agency in the Obama government.

Sources and notes

“Activist Disrupts Kerry Nomination Hearing, Demands End to Military Aid to Israel” (Kevin Zeese - Cool Revolution, January 24, 2013, Posted on 25 January 2013), http://october2011.org/blogs/kevin-zeese/activist-disrupts-kerry-nomination-hearing-demands-end-military-aid-israel

Code Pink intern and college student Lachelle Roddy disrupted the nomination hearing of Sen. John Kerry today. [VIDEO below] From the gallery of the Senate chamber, Roddy voiced her objection to US military aid to Israel:

Roddy commented on her reasons for speaking out during the Senate hearing, which she says was a spontaneous outburst and not a planned action:

“Former presidential candidate goes before Senate panel in first major hearing for president’s new cabinet nominees … A protester interrupts Kerry's statement. She says, ‘you're killing people in the Middle East for no reason... I'm tired of my friends in the Middle East dying.’ She is escorted out” (Tom McCarthy, guardian.co.uk, Thursday 24 January 2013 14.03), http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/24/john-kerry-live-blog-secretary-state

http://www.upi.com/blog/2013/01/24/WATCH-Protester-interrupts-Kerry-confirmation-hearing/1231359043781/

(By Kelsey Osterman, January 24, 2013, http://redalertpolitics.com/2013/01/24/code-pink-protester-interrupts-sen-john-kerry-confirmation-hearing/

“Today, CODEPINK 19-year-old activist Lachelle Roddy interrupted Senator John Kerry’s confirmation hearing for Secretary of State before the Senate Foreign Relations committee. From

Video: CODEPINK activist interrupts Kerry confirmation hearing demanding end of US aid to Israel (by Adam Horowitz on January 24, 2013), http://mondoweiss.net/2013/01/interrupts-confirmation-demanding.html

“Reality Check weekly review for week ending Friday February 1─ In the headlines this past week: War on Syria: Israel strikes a research center on Syrian soil, Egypt’s second anniversary of its revolution: a week of violence: over 50 dead, Atrocities in the France led war in Mali, U.S. gun violence: spiraling out of control, and in news on Iran: the 10 days of dawn [protester at John Kerry U.S. Secretary of State confirmations hearings],” http://www.presstv.ir/section/3510528.html

Hollins University http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hollins_University

International programs: In the most recent graduating class, almost half of students had an international learning experience. Hollins sponsors its own programs in Paris and London. In addition, its students study in Cordoba, Argentina; Seville and Alicante, Spain; Osaka, Japan; Puebla, Mexico; Legon, Ghana; Perugia, Rome, and Florence, Italy; Limerick, Ireland; Athens, Greece; Ludwigsburg, Germany; Cape Town, South Africa; and the School for Field Studies, with programs in Costa Rica, Mexico, Australia, and Kenya/Tanzania. Hollins also sponsors an annual service learning project in Lucea, Jamaica, http://www.hollins.edu/about/glance.shtml

Follow the money as predictor of performance in the national and international interest

Center for Responsive Politics assembled data

New U.S. Secretary of State

Sen. John Kerry

Cycle Source of Funds, 2007-2012

Campaign Cmte only

Individual Contributions $3,726,438 (40%)

Small Individual Contributions $354,202 (4%)

Large Individual Contributions $3,372,234 (36%)

PAC Contributions $1,495,700 (16%)

Candidate self-financing $0 (0%)

Other $4,069,870 (44%)

All the numbers on this page are for the 2007-2012 election cycle and based on Federal Election Commission data available electronically on February 03, 2013

http://www.opensecrets.org/politicians/summary.php?cid=N00000245&cycle=2012#funds

SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE

Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass), Chair

Sen. Richard G. Lugar (R-Ind), Ranking Member

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee makes decisions on foreign aid and policy, which is why members are targeted by ideological contributors, such as Pro-Israel political action committees and Cuba-related PACs. This committee also plays a key role in renewing the trade privileges of other nations and expanding membership to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Sectors Contributing to Members of this Committee, 2012 Election Cycle

PACS - INDIVS

Agribusiness

$1,850,593 - $1,810,637

Communic/Electronics

$2,468,450 - $4,775,614

Construction

$1,349,678 - $3,493,830

Defense

$931,850 - $273,538

Energy/Nat Resource

$3,392,885 - $2,976,730

Finance/Insur/RealEst

$5,801,143 - $17,896,810

Health

$4,834,711 - $6,323,355

Lawyers & Lobbyists

$1,874,169 - $16,260,483

Transportation

$2,109,901 - $1,376,362

Misc Business

$3,567,536 - $9,285,107

Labor

$3,101,265 - $57,024

Ideology/Single-Issue

$6,416,712 - $7,762,341

Other

$96,300 - $12,861,289

Figures are based on Federal Election Commission data released electronically on November 12, 2012. Numbers are taken from PAC donations and individual contributions of more than $200. http://www.opensecrets.org/cmteprofiles/overview.php?cmte=SFOR&cmteid=S13&cycle=2012

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