Memorial Day: Remember the Victims of War & "war"

05-29-2011 • Free Patriot Press

Memorial Day has become the unofficial start of Summer, a time for businesses to hold sales and a time for family barbecue's. It has also lost a lot of meaning in recent years, as people say “Memorial Day is a time to remember our men & women in uniform.” Memorial Day was first celebrated as “Decoration Day” when friends and family would decorate the graves of soldiers killed during the American Civil War. In 1971, Memorial Day became an official federal holiday and became a holiday to remember all victims of war. Most people only think of soldiers, their families and civilian casualties as being “victims of war.” And most people think only of war as a military campaign using weapons. However, there are many more victims of war. Millions of non-violent men and women are being held captive by federal, State and municipal governments as prisoners of the “drug war.” Aside from the 1/2 million inmates across the country at any given time and the 1.7 million people arrested for drug o