On February 27th, I participated in my first open
act of civil disobedience as part of the Occupation Project. I,
along with St. Louis local chapter President, Chuc Smith,
three other veterans; Jim Allen, Harry Wyman and VFP office manager,
Cherie Eichholz and Military Families Speak Out Member, D. Ridgley
Brown, visited Representative Russ Carnahan's office to continue
our conversation to persuade him to vote down any bills that continue
to provide funding for the war in Iraq. Jim Allen and I decided
to sit-in to protest Carnahan's refusal to pledge not to continue
funding for the war. As a result, Jim and I were arrested.
This was not the first time Rep. Carnahan,
a Democrat, has been approached on this subject. He has been visited
several times by many members of his district and others who want
him to take a leadership role in Congress to de-fund the war.
I have been to his office more than once and on Friday February
23rd, I, along with veterans Woody Powell, Catie Shinn,
Cherie, Chuc, and National Guard member and Appeal for Redress
signer, Brian Hill, with Iraq Veteran, Cloy Richards, sat down
with Carnahan and discussed de-funding. Carnahan's basic rap is
that he is against the escalation and believes the war must come
to an end. He cannot promise to vote against a bill he has not
seen. He thinks that Jack Murtha's plan to restrict the ability
of the President to continue the war via oversight and placing
high standards on troop readiness before deployment is promising
and he does not want to de-fund the troops. We explained that
de-funding the war is not de-funding the troops; legislative restrictions
on the President will not end the war. Giving money to the President
for the war will only prolong the war and Bush has told us over
and over he does not intend to end the war. The American people
voted for new congressional leadership to end the war and de-funding
is the quickest route to make that happen. We also told him that
Democrats should put the President on the defensive by de-funding
the war and make him explain why he continues to wage war when
Congress has demanded a change of course, based on the mandate
from the American people. We emphasized that everyday Congress
spends looking for less direct ways to end the war, on average
three US service members die along with
many Iraqi children, women and men.
Unfortunately, we reached little agreement
beyond the obvious, the war must end. It appears that most Democrats
and Veterans For Peace are on a different time table.
Our entering Rep. Carnahan's office that Tuesday was
part of weeks of outreach and meetings to change his mind. I decided
that this time, I was not leaving until I received a satisfactory
answer. Thus, I was willing to risk arrest. There are many who
wonder why risk arrest. They ask, "Do you really think being
arrested will make a difference?" Well, my objective is not
to be arrested. My objective is to persuade my Representatives
or Senators to vote to de-fund the war. Yes, I am willing to risk
arrest and I do not know if my refusal to leave and subsequent
arrest will make a difference. However, I do know that inaction
will change nothing. Up till now I have done all I can do, short
of civil disobedience. I have marched. I have given out materials
and made countless talks and speeches. I have called and written
Congress. There are other creative ideas I hope to develop and
I will continue to do all of the things I have done in the past.
But February 27th was the time for me to put a little more on
the line. I am not rich, so I cannot get their attention with
large campaign contributions. I am not famous so I cannot awe
them with my notoriety. So, all I can do is visit, dialogue and
sit-in.
The journey to civil disobedience has been
one of reflection and hesitation. Of course, I ask, will it make
a difference. One cannot be sure. But for me it has also been
a question of conditioning and survival. I did not come to this
decision easily. As a Black male in America who has
been trained to be wary of the police, it has not been easy to
decide to willingly put myself into their hands. I have spent
most of my forty-two years trying not to be arrested.
I have plenty of examples of police misconduct against
Black men. In the late 90's the sodomy of Abner Louima and the
shooting death of Amadou Diallo in NYC heightened my fear of being
pursued and in the custody of police. In 1997 Abner Louima was
arrested outside of a Brooklyn nightclub for unclear reasons. He was beaten in
the squad car en route to the station, beaten in the station and
eventually sodomized in the station restroom with a plunger. Two
years later, in 1999, Amadou, a Guinean emigrant walking home
from a meal, unarmed and innocent of any crime, was gunned down
by four police officers in a barrage of shot, at 41. He was struck
19 times. It was a case of mistaken identity. The plain clothes
officers attempted to stop him because they thought he fit the
description of a since captured serial rapist. Another terrifying
story took place on November 26, 2006. The circumstances of the
incident are still under investigation, however it is clear that
Sean Bell, a young man leaving his bachelor party at a nightclub
in Jamaica
Queens with two friends,
died in a firestorm of 50 shots from five undercover police. One
of his friends was critically wounded. No gun was founded on Sean
or his friends. Sean was scheduled to marry later that day. These
three incidents are the extreme and, thankfully,are rare, but
real. The names of these three men stay with me and remind me
of the dangers I face.
In the week before my participation to occupy
Russ Carnahan's office, I received the January/February edition
of The Crisis magazine, a bi-monthly
periodical founded in 1910. It is the official publication of
the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People,
NAACP. An article entitled A New Day? examines "whether
gains in Black political power will improve the lives of average
African Americans". Well, that's me, so I read the article.
While there are promising facts in the article describing unprecedented
political gains and individual achievements, there were other
items that gave me pause as to whether or not I should occupy
my reps office.
Statistics show that Black men are the most
incarcerated demographic group in the country, with the highest
incarceration rate in the world. According to a recent Justice
Department report, 12.6 percent of Black males in their 20s are
behind bars. Federal government statistic show that Blacks have
an 18.6 percent chance of going to jail at some point in their
lives, while less than 4 percent of Whites will spend time locked
up.
I asked myself, do I really want to add to
these sad numbers?
So what motivates me? Why have I decided to
move forward with this tactic? I am motivated by the death of
tens of thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of people in
this war. I am most motivated by the life of my only son who is
a soldier in the 101st Airborne, who has already participated
in one tour in Iraq. I am motivated
by the death of his second child, my 7 month old grandson, who
died on January 3, 2007 of a genetic disease. I am motivated by
the fact that when I ask Goddess why my grandson died and when
I peer through the pain of his death in search of reasons and
people to blame, I can only find the reality and cycle of life.
People die from disease. It is natural and for the most part not
any one person is to blame. I could look and perhaps find human
created environmental factors. But if these factors do exist,
they are many steps removed from causing death, unlike the firing
of a gun or the dropping of a bomb, where one can easily observe
cause and effect and can witness who fired the gun or dropped
the bomb.
Having sat and cried with Iraqi and American Gold
Star fathers and mothers and feeling a glimpse of their pain,
I thought I had an idea of that pain. How foolish of me. I did
not know the emptiness one feels. Or I should say there is an
empty space I feel that will never be filled because Jeremiah,
my grandson, who once lived there is gone forever. Where I must
accept the reality of life, Gold Star Parents and Gold Star Spouses
and Gold Star Children must face the reality of war, a human activity
caused by human actions. Where I can find no one to hold responsible
for my anger and pain, an Iraqi can hold my nation, my son and
me responsible for their pain. This is the sense of urgency I
hope my small act of civil disobedience will help convey to Representative
Carnahan and Senator McCaskill.
Lastly I ask myself, if not now when? After
nearly four years of protest, over 3,100 dead US service members,
tens to hundreds of thousands
of dead Iraqis who are guilty of nothing but living in Iraq, obvious
lies by our leaders that took us to war, possible war with Iran,
an election for a change in direction, no change of direction
by our President and an indecisive Congress who needs to be pushed
in the right direction - when would be a better time to give civil
disobedience a try? We are at a critical moment.
Congress will soon vote for a $90 billion appropriation
that could fund the war until the end of President Bush's term.
After this vote, Congress will have little power to end the war.
We need to flood Congress with letters, phone calls, e-mails and
faxes demanding they end funding. We must show up at their doors
in force. If enough of us sit-in, they will end the war. If we
don't, they won't. Maintaining a majority and gaining the presidency
is the priority of the Democrats. Ours is ending the war.
You do not have to commit an act of civil disobedience
to participate in the Occupation Project. Stand on the corner
while others enter the office. Be present when occupiers are taken
away or released from custody. Every small act makes a difference.
We need more acts to move them forward.
Add yours.
Thanks.
Michael T. McPhearson is the Executive
Director of Veterans For Peace. He may be reached at: 314 725-6005 or
via email at: [email protected]
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