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The School of the Americas Vigil: One Member's Perspective
By Region 8 Webmaster John Davis

Last Winter I received a call about writing a piece on the School of the Americas for the Region Insert of Solidarity Magazine. I had to admit it at the time that I had never heard of the School of the Americas. However, after about an hour of research on the Internet I had learned a great deal about this organization that uses our tax dollars to train mercenaries for South America. The information set the activist in me at work as I began to throw myself into the article.

The next day I decided to call my good friend Sam Stark at the UAW PR department and bounce the piece off of him. Sam has proven to be a great sounding board through the years and felt his insight would be a welcomed addition to the article. In our conversation, Sam relayed the story of Rebecca Kanner of the Organizing Department and how she had spent six months in a federal prison for protesting against the School of the Americas. Sam suggested I give Rebecca a call and gave me her phone number at Solidarity House.

I dialed the number and spent several interesting minutes listening to this great human rights activist tell her story. Her courage inspired me and I decided right then that I would join the crowd at the annual School of Americas protest in November.

Region 8 sent two buses from the Atlanta area, but it proved to be closer for me to just meet the group there. I pulled into Columbus, Georgia about 9:00AM, ahead of the Region 8 buses. Not knowing exactly where to go, I decided to head down to the Civic Center where classes in peace were being conducted. As I pulled into the parking lot, I was amazed at the number of soldiers waiting in the parking lot. I also noticed a military helicopter parked in one corner that was offering rides. This all seemed very out of place to me until I saw the signs welcoming people to the “God Bless Fort Benning” celebration on the park grounds adjacent to the Civic Center. The local community was holding a day of support for the military base there in Columbus.

The irony in the situation is the misconception over the School of the Americas protest. The vigil is not against the base or our troops stationed there. The protest is against this school that is run inside the base. All of the students in the school are from South America. The school does not train our soldiers in the tactics of terror, but rather South American mercenaries.

The UAW has a long history of supporting the military and recently built a family housing unit for veteran families just outside of Lansing, Michigan. The UAW donated the material and laid off union members from the west Michigan area did the construction. It is very fitting to have a day to recognize the men and women of our military who follow the orders of our government, but if the event was suppose to be a counter protest then those in charge failed to understand what the School of the Americas protest is all about. Our troops often end up having to battle these killers trained with our tax dollars. So it could be said the protesters actually are supporting our troops by trying to eliminate the possibility of having to battle these assassins down the road.

Many years ago the United States took a heavy hand in training the “Freedom Fighters” for Afghanistan in the war against Russia. One of the more famous graduates of that effort was Osama bin Laden. Once these killers are trained and released on the world, there is no way to control them.

Once I decided I was at the wrong event, I headed to the assembly area for the vigil and found a large crowd making their way down to the stage. Along the way there were booths from a variety of religious organizations, human rights groups and labor advocates. The crowd was definitely a mixture with everything from college students to elderly people in wheel chairs being in attendance. It was not at all unusual to find a college student in tie-dye and jeans to be dancing with a senior citizen on a cane. The crowd also included the Veterans for Peace, dressed in their military uniform and nuns and priest in the formal habit. There were Buddhist monks in robes and regular folks such as the UAW delegation. While the crowd displayed diversity at its finest, the group shared one common goal with that being a vision of a better world.

As I stood there and watched the crowd and listened to the speakers and singers, I was reminded again of what being a union member is all about; social justice. Labor was founded on the idea an injury to one is an injury to all. If we truly believe in democracy, then we cant tolerate the killing of innocents and the shedding of blood for corporate profits. Taking lives in South America is just as much of a tragedy as taking lives in North America. The human race has developed a dangerous notion that the value of life changes with social status and that simply is not the case. Each life is important and we must defend the life of every person, regardless of their race, gender, nationality or social status.

During the 1960’s, UAW President Walter Reuther marched with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. all across the country to support the struggle for civil rights. Walter Reuther received a lot of criticism for joining in the fight, but that didn’t matter to him. Reuther understood the meaning of social justice as well as anyone and he took his place on the line for fighting for equality. Today the struggle continues and we must be on the line defending the rights of all people.

One of my personal highlights of the day was the opportunity to meet Rebecca Kanner in person. We had spoken on the phone and through email a number of times, but this was the first time to meet face to face. Rebecca has truly become a hero of mine for her willingness to step out and lay it all on the line for what she believes in. It is people such as Rebecca Kanner, Walter Reuther and Sam Stark that make me proud to be a union member.

As the day ended and the sun began to set behind the shrouded fence that kept the crowd out of view of Fort Benning, my mind was racing with mixed emotions. Even though it is unnerving to know that our government is training terrorist with our tax dollars – especially since they voted two weeks ago to cut $50 billion out of social services – the showing of young people at the vigil left me with hope. These young men and women who took the time to travel thousands of miles left we with hope for the future. Our world has evolved into a system of trampling the poor at the advantage of the rich and that has to stop. It is up to each of us to make a difference and the interest our youth has taken in making the world a better place gives me hope for tomorrow.

The School of the Americas provides nothing but hatred and despair, but together we can make a difference. We owe our children and grandchildren a better world than the one we have know and I am proud to be a member of an organization that is willing to fight to make sure that hope never dies.

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