The draft resistance movement in Detroit, which until now has operated underground, has surfaced with the opening of the Draft Resistance Center at 12820 Hamilton at Glendale.
The storefront office, rented by the Draft Resistance Committee and the Draft Committee of the Vietnam Summer Project, will serve primarily as the headquarters for their joint organizing project among draft age young men in Highland Park.
The office will be a gathering—place and a meeting—place for the young men of the community and the business center for the project. As soon as possible, a draft counseling and draft information center will go into operation. Draft counseling will run on a regularly scheduled basis, and an attorney and clergymen will be available to advise young men regardless of the course of action they choose to follow.
An Open House featuring entertainment and information for a whole afternoon to tell the public about the work of the organizers and the organizing project and to get assistance for the continued operation of the center has been postponed because of the uprising in Detroit. The probable date for the event is August 6.
Also housed in the center will be a committee drawing up a series of educational materials on the nature of the draft, its function in this country’s foreign policy, and the realities of the functioning of the draft. As well as being made available in this office, these will be used by as many of the draft groups in other parts of the city as will want them.
Another group is trying to pierce the shroud of secrecy that surrounds local draft boards to make public information on who they are and what they do. This is public information by rights, but there has been some reticence by government agencies to disclose who is making the decisions on the lives of draft age men.
