Lessons from their elders for today's student protesters

May 16—They marched and they mobilized, against a war and nuclear power, for civil rights and women's "liberation." Filled with the particular passion of the young, they raised their voices, burned their draft cards and risked imprisonment, believing they could make a difference.

For members of an older generation, the scenes enfolding at college campuses in New Hampshire and across the country look and feel familiar. And they have some advice for the students protesting the war in Gaza today:

Be true to your conscience, but respectful of those who take a different view. Consider the consequences of your actions. Don't give up. And: "Don't act with hate."

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Mark Barker calls himself "a typical American" — "in that I was brought up to believe in the rightness of everything about America," he said. His father was an American Baptist minister, and as a teenager, Barker was active in the Civil Air Patrol.

He thought of applying to the Air Force Academy, "but it was the peak of the Vietnam war," he said.

The more Barker learned about the war, the more opposed to it he felt. He became a conscientious objector and went to Columbia University, where in 1968 he joined the students who were occupying several campus buildings.

"I was hoping that we could change university policy, to stop doing military work," recalled Barker, now 75.

Inside the occupied buildings, students talked about nonviolent resistance and what they would do if the police came, Barker said. He chose passive resistance. "I was carried out by four Tactical Patrol Force officers," he said.

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Michael Ferber of Strafford was a graduate student at Harvard University in 1967, with a student deferment that kept him out of the draft. "But I began to feel guilty about having it," he said.

So he reported to the draft board that he was a conscientious objector. "They didn't like that," he said. "They took away my student deferment, and classified me 1-A, meaning I was immediately draftable."

Ferber joined an anti-war group called The Resistance. He embraced a plan for young men around the country to turn in their draft cards, resist induction, get arrested and stand trial. "The idea was you would not try to escape it," he said. "This was the opposite of draft dodging."

Ferber helped organize a group in Boston, and they got the blessing of the Arlington Street Church to hold their protest there. On Oct. 16, 1967, about 5,000 people gathered on the Boston Common for a rally. "Then we marched into the church, which rang its carillon to the tune of 'We Shall Overcome'," he said.

Religious and civic leaders spoke, and then about 200 men came forward with their draft cards. "A few of them burned them, but most of them turned them in," Ferber said. Draft cards from around the country were delivered to the Department of Justice after a rally in Washington.

Early the next year, Ferber was indicted, along with four "co-conspirators," including child development expert Dr. Benjamin Spock and clergyman and peace activist William Sloane Coffin. They were charged in federal court with conspiracy to abet and counsel others to violate the draft law.

Ferber was 23 years old.

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Cathy Wolff had just left her job as a wire service reporter when she joined the Clamshell Alliance, a local group formed to oppose construction of a nuclear power plant in Seabrook.

It was the summer of 1976, and Wolff was in her late 20s. With her media background, she became a spokesperson for the group. "For me, it was kind of exciting and encompassing," she said.

"The first Clamshell occupation was 18 people, all from New Hampshire, all trained in nonviolent civil disobedience, walking down the railroad tracks," she said.

A few weeks later, organizers put out a call for others across New England to join them. "Then 180 walked on the site the next time," she said. The following summer, "We were 1,800 people who showed up."

Wolff recalled her parents cautioning her, "Whatever you do, don't get arrested."

But that's what happened in 1977, when she was among hundreds of protesters arrested for occupying the Seabrook construction site. They were held at a National Guard Armory for 13 days.

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James McKim was 3 years old when his parents brought him to a civil rights march in their hometown of Charleston, South Carolina, but his memory of seeing Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is still vivid.

"It was that palpable," he said. "It was amazing."

His parents supported the civil rights struggle, but did so quietly, McKim said. When he went to Dartmouth College in 1979, he said, "I did not get involved in any causes. I like to say I was not mature enough to understand all of that."

When Dartmouth students built "shanty towns" on the green to demand the college divest from South Africa because of apartheid, McKim did not join them.

"That's not my personality," he said. "It still isn't today. Mine's behind the scenes, getting things done."

McKim pursued a career in technology. He later became a reluctant warrior in the struggle for diversity and reconciliation.

'To win friends'

Now 76 and living in Kittery, Maine, former Clamshell member Wolff advises today's student protesters: "Don't act with hate."

"If you're holding up a sign that says 'Free Palestine,' hold up a sign in your other hand that says 'Anti-Semitism is abhorrent,'" she said. "Don't let yourself get sucked into statements that can be weaponized and make you look like a bigot."

Meanwhile, she cautioned, the college administrators dealing with the current demonstrations "need to remember past protests and the excesses — what can happen when you call armed guards onto a college campus."

After a career in technology, Barker moved to New Hampshire in 2008 to be near family. A Quaker, he remains active in causes he believes in. "The struggle never ends," he said.

Barker urges protesters to follow what he calls the "platinum" rule: "Treat others as you'd wish to be treated if you were in their shoes. Think about the response that you'll get, and whether or not that is the response that you want to get."

One more thing: "Listen, listen, listen."

After a much-publicized trial, Ferber and the rest of the "Boston 5" protesters were convicted, but that was overturned on appeal. He was never drafted. Hired by the University of New Hampshire, he taught in the English department for more than 30 years before retiring in 2018.

Ferber opposes vandalism — like what happened at UNH a few days ago. "The fact that it turns people off is a good reason not to do it," he said. "You want to win friends. You win a nonviolent struggle by getting people on your side."

The protest movement he was part of became an unstoppable force, and eventually President Richard Nixon signed the peace accords that ended the war.

Ferber said today's protests are also having an effect, with some university leaders agreeing to review their investments, and some national leaders calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Claims that the protesters are anti-Semitic remind him of how the anti-war protesters were labeled communists, Ferber said. "We were not communists," he said. "We were just aghast at this war."

He doesn't believe the students protesting today are anti-Semitic either, noting Jewish organizations and individuals have joined the demonstrations, both here and in Israel.

But Ferber does have some advice for them: "Make it very clear you are not denouncing Jews; you are denouncing the Israeli government for what they are doing."

"Because people are dying every day, people feel the urgency is overwhelming, which is how we often felt about Vietnam. But you've got to keep your cool," he said. "Because you want to be effective, not just loud."

To unify, not divide

For years, McKim had been active in the Episcopal Church. In 2012, he got a call from then-Bishop Gene Robinson, asking him to chair an anti-racism committee. He agreed — but only if they changed its name to the diversity committee.

"It was important to me because I don't want to be anti-anything," he said. "I want to be for something.

"It's pitting us versus them, when what we're really talking about is how can we be together," said McKim, 62, who is also president of the NAACP in Manchester.

That's something McKim would remind the young protesters today: "Don't just be against something. Be for something that is unifying, not something that's divisive."

"I would say there are two sides to every story, and it's important, if you truly want to get your message across and not put someone on the defensive, that you understand where they're coming from," he said.

McKim has similar advice for college administrators: "Lead with empathy, toward unity."

swickham@unionleader.com