When it comes to freedom fighters, I’ve met a few. I once shook hands with Martin Luther King long before he gave birth to his wonderful dream. I twice sang to Rosa Parks and basked in her beautiful and warm smile, so thankful that she once sat down so I could stand up tall. I remember sipping wine with Pete Seeger and kicking back while he sang and waxed eloquently about civil and human rights and his efforts to get the world to “study war no more.” Needless to say these were thrilling moments in my life but no more so than the moments I’ve spent, over the last year, with a number of freedom-fighting students from Lincoln and Mission Bay High. These kids, over a hundred strong, most of them Latinos along with a smattering of African-Americans, didn’t set out to change their world. No, they were just trying to make their grades and get their homework in on time and get ahead in the lunchline. Then one day, they suddenly came to realize that some of their peers who were looking for college preparatory courses were steered into JROTC (which is often a direct path into the military) based on the lie that the program has academic value. And they got wind of plans for weapons training on their campuses which they sensibly felt made a hypocrisy out of the school district’s “no excuses, no exceptions” zero-tolerance policy regarding weapons. As they pondered what to do and who to turn to, a couple of brilliant, caring teachers, Kiki Ochoa at Lincoln and Luis Villanueva at Mission Bay, came to their rescue with open arms. They were joined by parents and a few other educators and community activists like me. We became the Education Not Arms Coalition and set out on a quest which has been, figuratively speaking, reminiscent of the freedom struggles of yore. Those who marched for justice in the streets of the deep South in the ’60s came up against fire hoses and police attack dogs. Our petitions and rallies and presentations were met by authorities, for the most part, with sober, cold, “Whatever, who cares?” attitudes. The students in our coalition were accused of being “coached and manipulated” by a bunch of “uninformed special interest groups.” But, in reality, some of them, based on both personal and reported negative experiences with JROTC, educated themselves about their issues and concerns and organized forums where they presented what they had learned from their meticulous research. Quite simply, they knew what they expected of their schools and set out to make it happen. The powers that be in Montgomery frowned at Rosa’s refusal to give up her bus seat because “segregation is just the way it is.” San Diego city schools, early on, dismissed the students’ protestations against weapons training because “it has existed in the district since 1919.” But like their counterparts from long ago, the students and their allies won. Students in the school system can no longer be lied to about or railroaded into JROTC, and weapons training has seen its last days. The beauty of it all to me, as an educator, is that these students’ teachers steadily, along the way, guided them and nurtured them and helped them make the journey from innocent victims to sophisticated community activists who now know how to create the kinds of social changes that are needed in our society — if people are to truly be free. I will forever hold these young pursuers of justice, these new heroes of mine, in a place in my heart and soul alongside the freedom fighters of old. — Ernie McCray is a San Diego teacher and principal of 37 years, including time as principal at Cabrillo Elementary School.