Editor's note: The photo that originally accompanied this story was an incorrect illustration of the story. The photographer erroneously took a photo of Robert Davis' thesis exhibition at Mainsite Gallery in downtown Norman. Davis is a MFA student in the School of Art and Art History.
______________________
The combat boots that laid Monday on the South Oval represented Oklahomans who have died in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Though they will never be worn, they still serve a purpose for the American Friends Service Committee.
The boots, which symbolized the 94 Oklahomans who have died in the two wars, are a part of the “Eyes Wide Open: The Human Cost of War” exhibition presented by the American Friends Service Committee, said John Fletcher, professor emeritus at OU.
The boots have a tag that shows the name, age and hometown of a fallen soldier, said Bekah Stone, international area studies senior.
Stone is a member of the OU Center for Social Justice, which helped sponsor the exhibit. The Center for Social Justice aims to engage students in more social justice activities, Stone said.
“We try to bridge the divide between what you are learning in class about war and activism,” she said.
The American Friends Service Committee is associated with the Society of Friends, also known as the Quakers, said Fletcher, who is with the Norman Friends Meeting.
“One of the main objectives for the Quakers from their beginning in the 1650s is peace,” Fletcher said. “So what you have here is an exhibit which is focused on the human cost of war.”
The exhibit on the South Oval also has a number of civilian shoes to remind people that there have been a high casualty rate for civilians, especially in Iraq. It was estimated in 2006 that more than 650,000 Iraqis lost their lives due to the Iraq War, according to a study published in the British medical journal, The Lancet.
“We would like for people to stop and think for a minute about what the cost for the wars have been,” Fletcher said.
When it began in 2005, the exhibit was on a national scale, and it traveled from location to location across the country, he said.
“It got quite large, and it got so large that it was too expensive to transport,” he said.
The organization broke up the national exhibit in 2007 and had individual states present it, he said. At that time, he said, the Norman Friends Meeting took over the exhibit and has presented in Tulsa and Oklahoma City.
Fletcher said OU is an excellent place to interact with people and to have an opportunity to ask people to think about the issues the exhibit presents.
“As the day has progressed there have been a lot of students who have taken the time to pay attention to the boots, the shoes, the posters and visit with us,” he said.
David Benfield, University College freshman, said the exhibit was effective in emphasizing the impact of American soldier deaths.
“A lot of people forget that there’s a war going on,” he said. “We are actually a country at war.”
The exhibit also will be viewable in the South Oval from 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. today.
The Oklahoma Daily is pleased to provide you the opportunity to share your thoughts about this article. We encourage lively debate on the issues of the day, but we ask you refrain from using profanity or other offensive speech, engaging in personal attacks or name-calling, posting advertising, or straying from the topic at hand. To comment, you must be a registered user of OUDaily.com. Thanks for taking the time to offer your thoughts.
You must be logged in to leave a comment. Log in | Register
mustafa 2 years ago
During the same period of time there have been over 250,000 traffic deaths in the US. Oklahoma averages over 700 deaths a year. http://www.disastercenter.com/traffic/State.htm .
I would guess at least 100 of those are alcohol related and within the service-age range. Why don’t we put out one hundred pairs of shoes for all the kids who will be killed this year alone due to alcohol. We can start with shoes from the two OU girls killed so far.
oustudent2013 2 years ago
Right, we should honor those who drink and drive if we're going to honor those who have fought for our country and died. Almost the same thing, right?
mustafa 2 years ago
Where is there anything in this article to suggest that this exhibit is meant to honor our fallen soldiers?
This exhibit is cheap propaganda arguing that we have no business going to war, even in our own defense. The sponsors of this exhibit wish they could put out ten times the number of boots, but alas the facts are against them. Prior to the start of the war the anti-war Left predicted we would lose "6000 troops just taking Iraq." They were bitterly disappointed that it was achieved in a matter of days and only cost 300 lives. (Those same three hundreds are in the total.) What they don’t tell you is that 40% of the casualties are NOM-COMBAT RELATED. The heat is a big killer as well as, yes, traffic accidents. Subtract the number of soldiers kill by suicide attacks and roadside bombs to get to the number of actual combat related deaths.
Just like everywhere else, there is a spot just outside of Norman where a couple of crosses mark the spot that two guys got killed in a one car accident. Neither one of them was the least bit interested in serving their country in the armed forces; after all, they didn't want to die. They’re dead anyway. Apparently they preferred a meaningless death on a lonely stretch of road to risking their lives in the service of their country.
hillelkkiller89 2 years ago
I have to agree with Mustafa on this one. I talked to a couple of the people at this 'memorial' and they seemed more interested in telling me how meaningless these lost lives were than showing that they died fighting for a cause they believed in. I have a lot of family in the military, and I happen to know one of the soldier's whose name is one those boots, as well as several that aren't. The men who are being represented by those boots would be ashamed to know that their deaths are being used in propaganda against the cause they died fighting for. Whether you agree with the war or not I think the most important thing to remember is to honor these brave Americans, not use them when they no longer have a voice