Courage, Muslim Brother, You Do Not Walk Alone

Witness Against Torture activists entered the Hart Senate office building in Washington, DC at 1pm today, January 20, 2010, to lobby Congress in a new way. We were dressed in orange jumpsuits with the names of Guantanamo prisoners that have been cleared for release pinned to our backs. Four activists went to each of the seven floors to walk through the corridors in silence.

As one of the participants, I walked very slowly up and down one corridor on the fifth floor. I was aware of my fellow "ghost walkers" on all the other floors, and knew we were being seen by the workers there. Though I heard no comments from the people who passed me by, I imagined what I would say if one of them asked me what I was doing. I would reply, "I am a ghost of Guantanamo, here to remind you that there are men there who are suffering because we have deprived them of hope."

At 1:45 pm, the walkers began descending the stairwells together to meet in the ground floor atrium. We went silently and in single file to the middle of the huge space and prepared to sing. Kathy Kelly from Voices for Creative Nonviolence and a participant in today's action led the group in a South African freedom song to honor the prisoners who continue their unjust confinement in Guantanamo prison - and those who have died in custody. "Courage, Muslim brothers, you do not walk alone. We will walk with you and sing your spirit home."

As the first note sounded, all the grief for the Guantanamo detainees' ruined lives filled my eyes and voice with tears. I think I cried for them, for me, and for the lost soul of America.

We filed out of the building before arrests could be made, but not before being witnessed by all seven floors of those we had come to lobby.