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Lilly, Emily and I at the Saturday Street Fair. |
Less than three months ago, three of us (Emily, Lilly and I) adventured to Columbus / Ft. Benning, Georgia for the annual School of the Americas Protest and Vigil. The three of us drove into the Ft. Benning area knowing the Protest and Vigil from three different perspectives: for Emily this was her third year; for myself, my second year and for Lilly it was her first.
This year’s events were the first without the Ignation Family Teach-In For Justice happening consecutively. The Teach-In is a weekend of social justice focused events and lectures for the benefit of students at Jesuit colleges and high schools. This year, the Teach-In was in Washington, D.C. to allow students to the opportunity to meet with their Congress people and truly have a chance at voicing their opinions to people in high places. But in some ways, the decrease in numbers at Ft. Benning helped make a larger statement. The few that were able to travel to the events over the weekend were able to hold firm into their belief that the School of the Americas should be shut down and to their reasons as to why the program should no longer exist.
As I dragged myself into work on Monday morning, word worked its way around the office that I had in fact been in Georgia less than 36 hours before hand. “What’s in Georgia;?” was easily the most asked question I had that day. My answer of course was “the Schools of the Americas.” Which led directly into my explanation. School of the Americas, now known as Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is a program who’s whose international headquarters are at in Ft. Benning, Georgia. Beginning as a program to bring Latin American soldiers and leaders to the United States to learn basic U.S. Military training and military techniques, the program has morphed into a program for people to take the knowledge and instead torture and kill thousands of innocent people at the hands of School Of Americas graduates.
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| Poster size design of the beeswax cloth. |
This past November, hundreds made a stand and asked for the School of the Americas to be closed. Saturday, the entrance to Ft. Benning was lined with non-profit organizations and individuals, each with a case to represent asking you to listen, everything from protecting the Appalachian Trail and Coal Mines to Veterans for Peace. The street was covered with quiet individuals who just wanted to learn about the environment, a beeswax art cloth of the path of coal from mountaintop to human use and informational tables on United States policies of a variety of issues. The quiet Saturday afternoon put the three of us on edge when twenty plus individuals were arrested for taking the “protest outside permitted areas.” However, the protest was not taken outside the designated area in any way. If any individual stood still for more than a few seconds, they ran the risk of being considered actively protesting. After making a beeline for the car, the three of us took a quick breather and decided to go to the Columbus Convention and Trade Center to hear testimonials, to watch documentaries and to hear talks about a variety of situations around the world. During our time at the Center, we heard a talk about Roman Catholic Women Priests and the excommunication they face with their ordination; we watched a documentary on the foundation and growth of one of the largest Salvadorian gangs in Los Angeles, Cali. and heard about a variety of other social justice issues across the world.
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My cross in memory of Juan Carlos Garcia. |
Sunday, we woke with anticipation of the vigil ceremony. Lilly had never been and did not know what to expect when she would see the gate entrance to the base covered in crosses, each with a name of an individual who died at the hands of a School of the Americas graduate. My cross bore the name of a gentleman whose mother worked with Emily when she spent her Mardi Gras 2010 break on a Service and Learning Trip in El Salvador. He died because he was the driver for a group of United Nations officials who were visiting El Salvador in attempts to help the country after its civil war.
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Crosses in memory of those who have passed. |
Through the course of its 59 years in existence, the School of the Americas has trained “over 60,000 Latin American soldiers in counterinsurgency techniques, sniper training, commando and psychological warfare, military intelligence and interrogation tactics. These graduates have consistently used their skills to wage a war against their own people. Among those targeted by SOA graduates are educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. Hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained at the School of” the Americas (School of the Americas Watch Web Site).
The weekend reminds us that El Salvadorian people live their life in fear, fear that something will happen to their family members and they will know, fear that they will be tortured, fear of life. The vigil reminded us that people exist around the world fearing, fearful of no water, no food of their government. The vigil reminded us to be the voice for the voiceless, to stand tall for those who are no longer with us and to be Presente for all who have been lost.
