Rep. Charles Rangel may have dodged the proverbial bullet yesterday, refusing to say whether he’ll continue to support reinstatement of the draft, but dozens of teenagers and parents at track-and-field games in Washington Heights were eager to lay their views on the line.
“I don’t think they should do it [reinstate the draft],” said Jason Beasley, 14, a volunteer at the Road Runners Foundation’s Youth Track & Field meet, where Rangel officiated by firing a starter’s pistol.
“I don’t think it’s right to send people off to die in war,” Beasley said.
Tafari Bucknor, 16, said he didn’t plan to join the military.
“I don’t really like the idea,” he said, “but I don’t think it’s going to happen. I hope it doesn’t happen.”
The Democratic congressman and influential chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, declined to comment.
But the controversial call for the draft did resonate with some parents.
“I think everybody should make a sacrifice for their country,” said Armando Raymos, whose 11-year-old daughter, Yvonne, was competing.
“They are defending our lifestyle, and I think rich people should be included.”
The draft ended in 1973.
Rangel has called for reviving the draft as an anti-war effort to bridge the class divide.