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David Miller Burns His Draft Card

Back in the day on October 15th, 1965 Roman Catholic Pacifist David J. Miller publicly burned his draft card at a rally against the Vietnam War. The move was an act of civil disobedience as President Lyndon Johnson had recently signed a bill into law that prohibited anyone from carrying out the gesture of protest. Miller, a member of Catholic Worker, decided he would challenge the authority of the new law in New York when he was invited to speak at a demonstration organized by the National Coordinating Committee to End the War in Vietnam. Before a crowd of supporters, Miller said, “I’m not going to give my prepared speech. I am going to let this action speak for itself.” With that, he struck a few matches unsuccessfully in a number attempts to set his draft-card ablaze before someone lent him a cigarette lighter to get the job done.

Miller was arrested three days later by the FBI. Facing five years of imprisonment for his act, the pacifist was found guilty and served twenty-two months in jail.

For Uprising, this is your truth professa’ saying it’s no mystery why they conceal our people’s history