 Presbyterians arrested in School of Americas protest By Evan Silverstein Presbyterian News Service Thursday, December 7, 2000
At least one Presbyterian is among the 21 people facing federal charges and possible imprisonment for taking part in the peaceful demonstration. Most of the people who were detained were merely processed and issued "ban and bar" letters forbidding their return to the post for five years. For Ann Huntwork, a 69-year-old member of Westminister Presbyterian Church in Portland, Ore., and a long-time opponent of the School of the Americas, this arrest was her fourth in connection with protests at Fort Benning, which is about 85 miles southwest of Atlanta. Huntwork, who served as a missionary in Iran for 12 years, faces federal charges including resisting arrest, trespassing and destruction of federal property. She was detained after she and five others, including her husband, Bruce, dug shallow graves on the post in which they intended to bury dolls representing alleged School of America victims. Bruce Huntwork received a "ban and bar letter," while his wife's fate is in the hands of the judicial system. "I feel like it's a privilege to be able to be engaged in looking at something that does so much damage," Ann Huntwork said, referring to the controversial military academy. She speculated that she might be sentenced to at least three months behind bars. "I feel very, very committed to continue working on this," she said. "I'll probably get out (of jail) and go back and do it again." An estimated 3,500 protesters ventured onto the post during the protest. A total of 1,766 were detained and issued "ban and bar" letters, then processed and bused to a Columbus, Ga. park, where they were released. Twenty-two members of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship (PPF), which has opposed the School of Americas for years, took part in the demonstration, which was in its 11th year. At least two of six PPF members who crossed onto the base were arrested, according to Marilyn White of suburban Houston, TX, a former PPF co-moderator who helped organize the delegation but was not arrested during the demonstration. "We know now that it's more than just a street festival," White said of the Fort Benning action, which continues to grow in attendance each year. "Those of us who want to close the school are willing to stand out there in the freezing rain and cold, and keep coming back every year until it is closed." PPF officials said at least 50 Presbyterians attended the protest, including students from Presbyterian-related colleges such as Warren Wilson in Asheville, N.C., Peace College in Raleigh, N.C., and Maryville College in Maryville, Tenn. The Presbyterian Church (USA) General Assembly has called repeatedly for the closing of the SOA, which has trained more than 60,000 Latin American military and police in counter-insurgency warfare over the past 50 years. PCUSA was the first faith group to adopt an official policy of opposing the school. Some protesters wore white "death masks" and carried crosses and coffins to symbolize the alleged victims of SOA violence in Latin America. Thirty-two activists staged a re-enactment of a Colombian massacre, and were arrested. "Our family's journey to SOA is really a venture in faith for us," said Erik Johnson, a Presbyterian minister from Maryville, Tenn. who was arrested along with his 18-year-old daughter, Ingrid. "Part of coming to SOA is also joining in the hope that ... the violence raging in peoples' lives (in Central America) doesn't have to have the last word. We want to stand in solidarity with the hope that is born of their struggle." Other Presbyterians arrested included Genevieve Yancey, a 79-year-old PPF member who worships at Second Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tenn., and the Rev. Allen Proctor of Raleigh, a Presbyterian campus minister at North Carolina State University who accompanied nine students to the protest from N.C. State, Wake Technical Community College and Presbyterian-affiliated Peace College. "They were upset about how our government participates in the disappearances and murders and massacres that happen in Latin America," Proctor said of the students, six of whom were arrested. "They felt it was our duty as Christians to give a Christian witness to our opposition to that U.S. policy." Though recent congressional efforts to close or trim the School of the Americas' budget have failed to win approval on Capitol Hill, Presbyterians remain committed to the fight to shut it down. |
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