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]
