1. Who was your inspiration to protest the war by wearing black armbands to school? Please explain why.

Who: The wounded, maimed, dying, and dead Americans and Vietnamese soldiers and civilians, of whom approximately 80% were civilian children, women, and men, on both sides of the 17th parallel of north latitude.

Why: We were involved in a civil war of Vietnam and we did not belong there. I do not recall that they involved themselves in our American Civil War.

On 9-2-45, Ho Chi Minh made a public declaration of Vietnamese independence before 500,000 people in Ha Noi. He began his speech: "We hold truths that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness." Does that sound like the enemy or an American founding father?

If we do not learn from history, then we are doomed to repeat it.

Vietnamese General Tran Hung Dao defeated the Mongols in the year 1284, and said: "We must weaken (the enemy) by drawing him into protracted campaigns... When the enemy is away from home for a long time and produces no victories and families learn of their dead, then the enemy population at home becomes dissatisfied and considers it a Mandate from Heaven that their armies be recalled. Time is always in our favor. Our climate, mountains and jungles discourage the enemy. But for us they offer sanctuary and a place from which to attack."

That was just one piece of history we did not learn from the Vietnamese people. [Chris Eckhardt]

2. What did you know about the legal system before becoming involved in the Tinker v. Des Moines case, and what did you learn from the process?

In my opinion, as a publicly educated student, in one of the top 5 best publicly educated states (Iowa) in 1965, I think I knew a lot about the American judicial system. I attended Perkins Elementary School, Franklin Junior High School, and Theodore Roosevelt High School, all in Des Moines, Iowa, so I had many excellent teachers. At Perkins and Franklin, I was elected President of the Student Council. At Franklin, I memorized The Gettysburg Address; I was promoted to advanced English classes; I was voted "Most Likely To Succeed", and kid with the "Cleanest Locker."

I learned that justice delayed is justice denied. I learned that the judicial system runs slow, and even slower now, since our current Republican controlled Congress chooses to stall the approval of appointing federal judges recommended by our President and needed by our country. I learned that the process, although slow, does work. I learned also that with faith, and patience, justice prevails. [Chris Eckhardt]

3. Where did you get the courage to bring this case (contesting your suspension for wearing black armbands to school) to the court??

Actually it took less courage than some people might think. I did not experience anywhere near the attacks that say, the Little Rock students faced, when they integrated Arkansas' schools. My family did get some threats on our lives and on our house. Someone called on Christmas eve and said that the house would be blown up by morning. Some other people threw red paint on our house and threatened to kill me. I learned at an early age about the extreme right wing.

1965 was a time in history filled with courageous people taking risks. In 1963 Martin Luther King led the march on Washington and gave his "I have a dream" speech. Civil rights workers were being killed. Buddhist monks were lighting themselves on fire and burning to death to bring attention to the Vietnam war. American servicemen and women were going through the hell of war, and 1600 had already been killed. The Vietnamese people were watching their children burned by napalm. There were a lot of examples of courage.

My parents had a lot of courage. They were spiritual people (my father was a Methodist minister) who put their beliefs into action. "Brotherhood" and "peace" were ideals that my parents worked hard for, but this did not always make them popular. [Mary Beth Tinker]

4. What was it like for a 13 year old, 15 year old, and 16 year old to go to trial to contest your suspension?

First, to set one part of the record straight, Mary Beth was 13, John was 15, and although 99% of the literature for the past 30+ years wants to age me to being 16, I, like John, was only 15 years old. But, who's counting?

At one point when I was on the witness stand, I testified how the Vice-Principal of Roosevelt, on 12-16-65, asked me to remove my black arm band, and I refused on constitutional grounds. Then he asked me, "Do you want a busted nose?" While repeating this, I watched from the witness stand, as the Vice-Principal walked out of the courtroom. I still don't know whether it was out of shame, or just maybe because he needed to go to the bathroom. [Chris Eckhardt]

5. What did you really think was going to happen when the court case started?

I felt from the beginning that we were right, and that we would win. Later I was not so sure we would win, but I still thought we were right. [John Tinker]

6. In connection with your wearing the black armbands to school, the suspension, and the subsequent court case, were you ever intimidated by the court, the public, or by peers enough to want to give up or back down?

The tension I felt at the time that was due to my involvement in the armband case was not so much the result of intimidation in any overt sense. Rather, it was the result of social pressures from the cliques—the "in-crowd", and was more in the form of psychological abuse than physical threat..

Everyone involved in the armband case had to deal with the pressures coming from their individual circumstances. Some of our friends could not wear armbands because their parents' jobs were threatened. Chris, Mary Beth and I had the support of our parents, and there wasn't a problem with our parents' employers. I had friends at school who defended me openly. And, of course, we had the support of the peace community. No, I never wanted to back down. I thought that we were right, and that we should pursue the case as far as possible. [John Tinker]

7. After the Supreme Court decision in your favor in the Tinker v. Des Moines case, did you get much attention from officials at school or the local media?

After the Supreme Court decision, we got a lot of attention from the local and national media. By that time, we had moved to St. Louis and I was in a different school. I was in 11th grade. It was 1968. The school officials in my new school in St. Louis did not really give it much attention.

I remember Time magazine coming to the school and taking pictures of me in chemistry class. It was kind of embarrassing, especially since I had just started going to that school a few months earlier. But in a way, I was proud. [Mary Beth Tinker]