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School of the Americas "SOA 6" Trial Reflections
Originally published in E-Leaven, January 25, 2009, Issue 2

We Join Her In Spirit
Editor's note: On Monday, January 26, Denver human rights advocate and Director of Colorado Campus Compact Theresa Cusimano stood trial for her act of civil disobedience at the "School of the Americas" Protest at Fort Benning, Georgia, this past November. Many have read about Theresa's courage in a recent Denver Post column by Susan Greene (go to: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_11521550).

Below is a series of items relating to this protest and trial.  We begin with a brief bio about Theresa and then a personal reflection by Leaven's Amy Sheber-Howard who is presently in Georgia with Theresa.

Theresa M. Cusimano, J.D. served as a public interest advocate for twenty years. Her Italian/Irish passion for social justice has led her to work with: the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops on immigration and refugee issues, the federal Department of Education on the Americans with Disabilities Act and more recently with Colorado Campus Compact to support college campus engagement in community problem solving. Cusimano was born in New York, raised outside of Philadelphia and has the joy of living in the Rocky Mountain state of Colorado. She is both honored and extremely humbled to have participated in nonviolent civil disobedience with her five co-defendants who together, face trial on Monday, January 26th.

You Move the World by What You Do
by Amy Sheber-Howard, Saturday, January 24, 2009

I gathered last night in the lobby of the Howard Johnsons in Columbus, Georgia -- location of Ft. Benning and the School of the Americas -- with a dozen or more people from around the country. I had never met most of them before; a few I had barely met a couple of months ago. In the circle around me were the defendants in this year's School of the Americas Watch (SOAW) trial and their supporters. Several former prisoners of conscience who had served jail or probation time in previous years for doing civil disobedience to protest the School of the Americas were present. It was a powerful witness. Many volunteers who are part of the SOAW volunteer legal collective were there as well.

I am in Georgia this weekend to support Theresa Cusimano, a friend and colleague at Regis University, who "crossed the line" onto the Ft. Benning base this November in civil disobedience to take a stand against U.S. international human rights abuses. We started the evening in this circle in song, led by Eric LeCompte, head of the Washington D.C. office of SOAW. We are rising up, our spirits are on fire. I could feel the energy and the power of nonviolent action present in the individuals who had gathered because of their belief in the power of love over fear and injustice, and in the need to support others in this journey. I thought I had come to support Theresa; in this moment it became clear to me that I would be learning a lot from these nonviolent practitioners.

I was inspired by the presence and words of those in the circle. Despite uncertainty about what will transpire in the courtroom on Monday, there was a sense of deep peace and freedom in having acted boldly in the name of justice, in the names of those tortured and disappeared and without voice, in the people gathered in this circle. Theresa had earlier shared how it felt to have made the choice for action at Ft. Benning in November: "I don't know if my civil disobedience will bring policy change or make my government accountable. But I know I am no longer a silent bystander. I am a nonviolent objector. I sleep peacefully knowing I've made a choice of conscience, however illogical my choice may seem to others."

Another defendant, Al Simmons, a retired preschool teacher from Richmond, VA, spoke words about his decision for civil disobedience that inspired me. "I want a better, kinder, more just world for our children, our children's children, and our children's children's children, and I don't think you can get there at the end of a gun." Al mentioned that he regularly visits four prisoners in federal prison and reflected that whether one ends up in prison in this society depends so much on "the luck of birth," alluding to the institutional racism that exists in our justice and prison system.

Bill Quigley, a lawyer from New Orleans who for several years has been serving on the legal collective for SOAW, also inspired me by his words about the power of truth-telling. "Court can be awkward, but when people actually tell the truth, the world stops for a few seconds. There is a little piece of light." To those gathered who engage in nonviolent action for justice he said, "From working with hundreds of defendants and thousands of supporters, I can say without a doubt that you move the world by what you do."

I have been moved by what these people gathered do, by what many other friends who engage in nonviolent action for social change do, by what Theresa did. I feel challenged to support Theresa and the others in the best ways that I can. As the mother of children who are ten and eleven years old, risking arrest and a prison sentence are not viable options for me right now, but supporting those who do through prayer, community organizing and education, legislative and advocacy efforts, and financial contribution is. How about you?

If you would like to support Theresa and metro Denver efforts to raise consciousness about avenues for engaged citizenship to advocate for justice and human rights, please send an email to Amy at asheberh@regis.edu.

What follows is an edited version of the press release prepared for a press conference on the steps of the courthouse on Monday morning, just before the trial.

Human Rights Advocates Face Federal Prison for Nonviolent Direct Action Opposing the School of the Americas
On Monday, January 26, 2009, six human rights advocates will begin federal trials for carrying the protest against the School of the Americas onto the Fort Benning military base in Georgia. This school, re-named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, is a controversial U.S. Army training school for Latin American soldiers. Each person faces up to six months in prison and a $5,000 fine for this act of nonviolent civil disobedience.

The 6 were among the tens of thousands who gathered on November 22-23, 2008 outside the gates of Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, to demand a change in U.S.-Latin America foreign policy and the closure of the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC). The group peacefully crossed onto Ft. Benning, site of the school, while thousands stood vigil at the gates in memory of those killed by graduates of the institution.

The "SOA 6" are:
Sr. Diane Pinchot, OSU, from Cleveland, Ohio
Theresa Cusimano, Denver, Colorado
Father Luis Barrios, from North Bergen, NJ
Al Simmons, from Richmond, Virginia
Louis Wolf, from Washington, DC
Kristen Holm, from Chicago, Illinois.

They "crossed the line" to protest the school's lack of transparency, its historical ties to brutal dictatorships throughout Latin America and the ever-growing number of human rights abuses and crimes committed by its graduates.

The SOA/WHINSEC, a military training facility for Latin American security personnel located at Fort Benning, Georgia, made headlines in 1996 when the Pentagon released training manuals used at the school that advocated torture, extortion and execution. In spite of an aggressive international PR campaign and lobbying efforts on behalf of WHINSEC, support for the institute continues to erode. With over thirty-five Representatives who voted to continue funding the SOA/WHINSEC losing their seats in Congress on November 2008, human rights advocates have their sights set on pressuring the new Congress to permanently shut down the school in 2009. The last vote to defund the SOA/WHINSEC, in 2007, lost by a margin of only six votes.

The defendants are scheduled to begin trial at the Federal Court in Columbus, Georgia at 9am on Monday before Judge G. Mallon Faircloth, known for handing down stiff sentences to opponents of the SOA/ WHINSEC. Since protests began 19 years ago, 237 people have served prison sentences of up to two years for nonviolent civil disobedience.

 

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