[Peace] Boycott Firehaus!

[martin smith]

please forward widely!

Dear Friends:
On Monday, June 5, after a summer school session, several of
my classmates and I decided to go to Firehaus at 708 S. Sixth
Street, a bar/restaurant that has decent food and offers a
nicer atmosphere than most Green St./campus bars.  This
particular evening, I was wearing a "U.S. Out of Iraq" tshirt
that is one of the numerous anti-war shirts that I wear as a
veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps and as a member of Iraq
Veterans Against the War.  Given the immoral war launched by
the Bush administration and the thousands of needless deaths
that have been lost for oil profits, my tshirt represents a
small statement in opposition to the lies of our government
and to the war crimes committed by the U.S. military at Abu
Gharib and Haditha. 

When I went to the bathroom on this evening, a drunken bar
patron cornered me and began hurling epithets at me for
wearing a tshirt in opposition to the war, following me to my
table.  When I reported the bar patron's conduct to the
manager, I was simply told that this customer was a regular
and that there was nothing the bar was willing to do.  The
hostile and threatening actions by the bar patron would not
have been considered appropriate behavior under any other
circumstance; however, I believe that because the patron was
directing his epithets at me for wearing an anti-war tshirt,
the manager consented and refused to remove the drunken patron
from the bar. 

The complicity of the manager in condoning this bar patron's
actions should be seen as a serious threat to free speech and
dissent in the campus community.  The ability of bar patron to
freely intimidate and harass customers in a bar/restaurant for
wearing a tshirt is merely a step removed from the ability of
persons to harass people on campus and in the broader
Champaign/Urbana community. 

I ask you to Boycott Firehaus and to refuse to give them your
business.  I also call on the general manager of Firehaus to
train their staff in how to properly intervene in their
customer's behavior if they exhibit hostile and threatening
actions towards other patrons.  All members of the
Champaign/Urbana community should feel safe to voice their
dissent through free speech in any appropriate venue.  I will
proudly continue to wear my anti-war tshirts and buttons, and
I hope you will too! 

Bring the Troops Home Now!
Martin Smith



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