Wow, what an emotion filled finale for us. For those that don’t know the last day of the School of the Americus Watch there’s always a solemn memorial for the victims of SOA graduates. Demonstrators place their religious/spiritual symbols on the fence that blocks the public from entering Fort Benning, where the SOA program resides. Many of the religious symbols bare the name of a specific murder victim. As demonstrators take time to place their symbols on the fences names of the murder victims are read from the stage. I found myself weeping, filled with despair, grief, and hope. If 25,000 people from all over the world can converge on a Sunday in Columbus Ga. To stand in solidarity with foreign murder victims that, for the most part, they’ve never met, then maybe there’s hope. Only 12 congressional votes stand in the way of closing the murderous program for good.
After the procession was over Witt was introduced to the stage. The emcee recognized the “State Of Hope” tour and the crowd cheered. Witt ripped into, “Here’s to the State of Things” and the crowd really responded. It was a great bookend to our tour.
We discovered later that three students from Kennesaw State University were arrested because they refused to give the police their crosses, which each bore the name of children that had been murdered by SOA graduates. The police cited that the crucifixes’ were to large and could be considered a weapon. It’s difficult to comprehend how police would see three college kids carrying crosses on Sunday as a threat. The three students didn’t resist arrest and bonded out after spending five hours in a cell. All three of them have been active in Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition Affiliate groups. We’ve contacted them to reassure them that we would provide them with whatever support they need. See the video of their arrest below.
So we packed up the van for the last time and began our last trip back home. It’s safe to so that it was a life changing experience for all of us. I hope we strengthened the voice of the progressive voice in our great state. I hope that some in our state will begin to hold our politicians accountable when they claim to support our brothers and sisters in uniform. I hope that we never put our troops in harms way on a foundation of lies, public manipulation, and media cheerleading. I hope we all begin to prepare for a new generation of troubled veterans as they return from a seemingly endless war. I hope that we’re able to spend the kind of money we’ve given this president for his war on more pressing national needs in the future.
Tim Franzen
Georgia Peace & Justice Coalition
Photos by Al Viola
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On Sunday three students who are part of the GPJC network were arrested at SOA Watch for carrying crosses that local police deemed were too large. See the footage of their arrest below.
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