“Non violence is not inaction... It is not for the timid or weak…Non violence is hard work. It is the willingness to sacrifice. It is the patience to win.”
-Cesar Chavez
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There is no place to start.
With an issue that has such deep roots, and a cause with so many different facets, there is no place to start.
I had no idea where to start this journey myself. Before leaving, I had no idea how to conceptualize what I was getting myself into or the way things were going to be once I got there. The School of the Americas is such an intense issue, and I would be lying if I said I didn’t see the argument the “other side” makes about the issue. But from what I saw, and from what I experienced…it was a simple issue with a simple starting point.
The vigil.
It started with the first name. It started with the name being read and the crowd lifting their crosses and saying in unison, “presente.” It continued for over 2 hours. For over two hours on Sunday morning I heard the names of those who have lost their lives due to the training that the SOA provides. Children, teens, adults, elderly, they found commonality in their death. With each and every name read, it started again, because each and every name had significance, just as each and every name before and after it had. And when the names stopped, when the litany ceased, it did not end. There will be more, there are more, for this, there may be a clear beginning, but there is no clear end.
The spirit.
It started in peace. From the moment I arrived I felt it: these were my people. I spent the weekend surrounded by people who believe in goodness. They did not travel from across the country to point out the presence of evil in the world, but to present the possibility of peace. I stood in mass on Saturday evening with thousands of other people, and felt the spirit. These people were not here to get their weekend Mass cards punched, they were there because they are
Catholic for the same reasons I am. Because they believe in goodness, they believe in peace, but mostly because they believe in humanity. And this, it began in peace, but it continued forth in hope.
The reality.
It started with the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation. It started with spreading the ideal of democracy further into our world. I understand the ideals under which it began, and under which it theoretically operates today. However it is simple: The ideals for which it theoretically teaches aside, many of the graduates of the SOA have gone forward to commit some of the worst offenses to humans rights in our lifetimes. The fact is that the skills that they are learning are aiding them in violating our human race. Where it started may be unclear, but where it ends is pretty clear to me…it ends with two hours worth of names of those who have lost their lives in the name of “security cooperation.” It begins in a place where we teach Latin American soldiers warfare, and ends with the loss of lives, over and over again.
But the real question is. When does it end?
The fact is I could go on for days. But that’s the idea. In the big picture, this may be about putting an end to the SOA. But for me, this is about a place to start. I didn’t sit in a van for 40 hours because it was the cool thing to do, or because I thought it would be nice to get out of the city. I did it because I believe in it.
And I saw 20,000 other people who believe in it too.
And I heard them chanting, “Ain’t no power like the power of people, because the power of people don’t stop!”
And the fact is, its true.
And the fact is, there is hope.
Non-violence is more than hippie idealism.
It is compassion.
It is love.
It is understanding.
It is solidarity.
Compassion. Love. Understanding. Solidarity.
I think that’s it. That is where to start.
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“When all people are free to ask why, to say I love you, to say no; when everyone is cared for, sheltered, fed; when we are all able to live where we want and leave when we wish; then we will know peace.”
-Jesse M. Kahn
