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Speech for 10/01/2006 UJP Peace Rally on the Boston Common
Written and presented by Mélida Arredondo, Gold Star Families Speak Out

I believe that it is my responsibility to remember the dead and the fallen and learn about those I did not know
personally.   Some would say “how morbid” or do not want to here what I have to say because it’s too
depressing. However, to die is a part of life.

As a country, we are not permitted to see the many caskets, to know about the families and how they suffer after
the burials of their kin, to know the exact number of those dying. We do not talk about the violence happening all
around us in our country, our city. Our young people are killing each other and themselves. I mourn for all those
who don’t make it to the paper or on the news. I know that Alex deserves to be known as the 968th US troop to
die in Iraq.

Lcpl. Alexander Scott Arredondo, USMC was killed on August 25, 2004. Everyday I mourn for him but my heart
cries tears on Alex’s birthday, every 25th of each month, at holidays and when another KIA is announced. I weep
over the too many homicides that have occurred in the City of Boston. When I can, I pay my respects to the
families of those killed in Boston and the troops killed overseas.

Since the beginning of Operation Iraqi Freedom: 2712 troops have been killed in Iraq, 532 this year alone.
Almost 20,000 troops have been wounded in Iraq.

In Afghanistan, a total of 485 of the coalition forces have died; the majority are American troops. The US
wounded in Afghanistan numbers 901. There is no number for dead or wounded Afghanis.

101 journalists and 352 contractors have been killed in Iraq. An estimate of 45,000 Iraqis has been killed during
Operation Iraqi Freedom. There is no known number of Iraqi wounded.

This year so far 55 have been killed in Boston. The overwhelming majority have been teenagers and young
adults. In 2005, 73 were murdered. In 2004, 61 were murdered and 41 in 2003.

There is no count of the young people from our neighborhoods in Boston who are incarcerated. With limited
choices, it’s not hard to wonder why. You see: 30% of those who live in Boston are 29 and younger. One out of 5
children under the age of 18 lives in poverty in Boston. This is how I understand it.
        In the inner cities, the good, smart kids manage to go to college,
        the kids who are good but have a hard time in school go into the military,
        the kids who drop out of school and want to help their family out turn to crime.

Each of the dead, incarcerated and wounded have a mom, dad, sisters, brothers, cousins, aunts, uncles,
friends. To hide our dead and pretend that bad things are not happening in the streets of Boston, in the desert of
Iraq and in the Mountains of Afghanistan is to dishonor the dead.

Right after Alex died, my priest said to me that God needed Alex for a reason. I believe that God took Alex so that
his father and I give a voice to all of the dead…so that we all work together to stop the killing whether in Boston,
Springfield, Iraq or Afghanistan.

To grieve together as a country will ultimately unite us all and have us all work towards change. We are losing a
generation, our children to war, to homicide and to prison.
Don’t fight the tears. Fight the fears and work to form a United State of America.

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Speech for 10/01/2006 UJP Peace Rally on the Boston Common