School of the Americas Protest, 2006

I returned yesterday from the School of the Americas protest at Ft. Benning, Columbus, GA. The School of the Americas is where we train soldiers from other countries in 'counter-insurgency' tactics, most notably torture. Graduates of this school have been responsible for tens of thousands of civilian deaths throughout Central and South America. These are a few of my initial impressions, as well as three pictures:




Perhaps the most moving moment for me was meeting the young 'Iraq Veterans Against the War.' I realized they were ten years younger than I am now, eighteen year-olds. I have family in the military, but they are older. I met plenty of soldiers in Iraq, but they seemed so aged and hardened in their roles there. I asked these guys how they got the bus organized and how they got down there, they admitted they had arrived 'on fumes' and weren't exactly sure how they'd get home afterwards. So I bought a t-shirt to support them, which said "Free the Troops." I thought it answered the unasked question in this support our troops/end the war debate. I thought afterwards, if ever there were a group of 'America's Finest,' it was these guys, who not only wanted to serve their country, but also were courageous enough to ask the hard questions about the consequences this service had--on themselves, on our country, on people around the world.





I participated in a 'die-in' with about thirty others, our faces painted white to symbolize death, and draped in black mourning shrouds. We carried coffins in the beginning of the funeral procession, then lay down in front of the entrance to the base and were covered in red paint to symbolize the massacres which have been committed:



...what I noticed most was the cold. The ground was cold, the 'blood' I was soaked in was cold, the air was cold, and I couldn't even feel the heat from the sun. It made my muscles and joints stiff and painful. I began to wonder how everyone else on the ground around me was doing. I lost track of time, and a few times, I think I drifted off into sleep and back. I couldn't speak or move really, since I was supposed to be 'dead.' I wasn't supposed to open my eyes. I could hear the voices of people walking around me, and I wondered if they saw me, or if my friends would recognize me. And then it struck me, that in a massacre, a person might have the very same thoughts...the cold, the fear of being un-seen, wondering how long you would be there, the pain, perhaps needing to 'play dead' in order to survive if the killers were still around. This has been the scene re-played throughout Central and South America, dozens of massacres by soldiers trained by the School of the Americas. And here we lay, the symbolic dead, at the gates of where it all begins.





I came away from the protest energized --knowing that mass demonstrations are not the work, but the rallies help us to continue with the daily work until our goals are acheived. It was good to meet others within the Presbyterian church and other seminaries and schools and organizations--all working together from all over the country--and to know we are not alone in our concerns. Also, I came away with a better perspective on my seminary studies. It seems like we as students always whine, "we're too busy, we have to study." As Rick Ufford-Chase told us during his visit to McCormick seminary recently, 'we do not have the luxury of being overwhelmed.' These are the times in which we study, and we need to view our studies not just as professional training, but as incorporating them into the struggle for justice. We need to get our professors on the same page with us, supporting us in responding to the world faithfully, even as students, and perhaps even coming up with alternative assignments to integrate the world and the classroom.