Burlington Friends Meeting Friday Film Series
The Boys Who Said No
Friday April 21, 7:30 pm
175 North Prospect Street, Burlington
The Boys Who Said No is the first documentary film to profile the young men and women who actively opposed the military draft in order to end the Vietnam War. It shows how their acts of nonviolent resistance, risking arrest and imprisonment for up to 5 years, were a critical part of the antiwar movement, intensifying opposition to the war and eventually forcing an end to both conscription and the war.
During the late 1960s and early 1970s, resistance to the American war in Vietnam grew substantially. Hundreds of thousands of draft-age men refused to cooperate. Tens of thousands immigrated to Canada, Sweden, and other countries. American soldiers in Vietnam increasingly refused to follow orders and risked court-martial and prison for organizing inside the military. Claims for conscientious objector status soared to unprecedented levels. Millions marched against the war.
Of the estimated 500,000 young men who refused to cooperate with the draft only 4,000 were imprisoned, sometimes serving long prison sentences on the basis of their beliefs that the war was immoral and human life was sacred.
This film explores the influence of Gandhian nonviolence and the impact of the civil rights movement on Resistance members, a connection illustrated in footage of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. visiting and supporting Joan Baez and others jailed for blocking the Oakland Induction Center in 1967. It also highlights the prosecution and trials of war resisters. Documentary and news footage capture anti-war demonstrations and marches, anti-draft meetings, and men, young and old, speaking out in support of the resistance movement.