Compiled by Kate Cowley
Dear Friends,
On the fifth day of the fast, in honor of the birthday Martin Luther King Jr., Ted led us in a reflection on some of King's writings, asking us to think about a phrase from his Strength to Love about having a "tough mind and a tender heart."
Ted began by sharing with us a story about an absurd situation during the second "ghost walk" through the Senate Hart building. At one point, Ted found himself in the bathroom, clad in the orange jumpsuit, with another man whose quick reaction at seeing him there was to start ridiculing him. In the embarrassment and absurdity of the moment, Ted found himself unable to find the patience and calmness and responded in the same reactionary tone.
Ted raised the questions: How do we move beyond this reactionary tone and rhetoric in order to really break through to someone's heart? How do we even think about the mindset of someone who wants to keep Guantanamo open? It is not through rhetoric and argument, but through experience that people become aware.
In his reflection, Ted also discussed the role of imagination, reminding us of a something Daniel Berrigan once said, that perhaps the greatest loss from the attacks of September 11, 2001 was the loss of the human imagination. We talked about how in much what we are doing during this fast - in trying to see ourselves in the prisoner, in the torturer, or the person on the street who wants to keep Guantanamo open - the imagination plays a crucial role.
Many of us anticipated that our upcoming vigil outside of the restaurant where John Yoo was speaking about his new book would be a tense one, given the reaction we heard about from the New York event at the Cornell club where people who spoke out were dragged out. We were aware that we would definitely not be "preaching to the choir" at a Federalist Society event, but encountering people who would likely have a different perspective and opinion.
After our reflection, we left quickly to be in time for the vigil. The plan was for three people with tickets to go inside while the rest vigiled outside. At different points the folks inside would stand, put a hood over their head, and hold a sign. At the same time, a group of about 20 of us stood outside of the restaurant flanking the entrance on either side in jumpsuits and hoods, holding signs of images depicted torture victims from different periods in our history, as well as signs that read:"Torture is wrong, universally and eternally."
Bob, Matt and Lindsay were on the inside, and Lindsay wrote a reflection about her experience which is included below. You can also see a video of our presence at the John Yoo book event below.
At the end of the day, most of the group went to an evening vigil that happens every Friday night in DC at Walter Reed Hospital. Initially formed by Code Pink and others in 2005, this vigil calls for supporting the troops by bringing them home. As we stood holding a banner that read "Mourn the Dead, Heal the Wounded, End the Wars," there was great deal of positive response, with people driving by and honking almost constantly throughout the presence.
Tomorrow (or perhaps today as you read this), we head to a vigil at the CIA headquarters, and then we will spend the day of planning and reflecting outside the city on Sunday.
If you are in or around DC, be in touch so we can connect! Thank you for all you are doing.
Peace with Justice,
Witness Against Torture
www.witnesstorture.org
Table of Contents:
- A letter to Federalist Society Friends from the John Yoo event. Lindsay Hagerman, New York, NY
- Some thoughts on the Fast & Haiti. Margo Liebers, Hallam, Nebraska
- Poem In Memory of Martin Luther King. Jr. Art Laffin, Washington, DC
- Video by Mike Benedetti
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A letter to Federalist Society friends from the John Yoo event
Lindsay Hagerman, New York, NY
Friday, January 15, 2010: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s birthday
Dear Roman, Simone, Greg, Phil, David, and the rest of the people who shared a table with me at John Yoo's talk this afternoon:
I wish I had enough foresight to hand you a note when I left our table. Since I did not, I am left to pray that this letter reaches each of you.
This afternoon at twelve o'clock, I joined your table in the center of the banquet room for John Yoo's book signing and luncheon/talk. We chatted for about a half an hour until the speaking began. Soon after John began to speak, my friend Bob stood up by his table behind us. Some of you looked back and saw him standing silently with a black hood over his head, holding a sign that read "Indefinite Detention = Torture = Illegal." After about two minutes, a security guard asked Bob to leave the room and Bob complied. I waited a few more minutes then I excused myself from our table and stepped into the center aisle. I made sure that I stood directly in John Yoo's line of vision. I pulled a black hood from my purse and put it over my head. I silently stood holding a large piece of paper that read: "Legal arguments cannot mask torture." I silently prayed for you, for me, for John, for the victims of torture around the world, and for all of our families.
Before I had time for much else, a security guard grabbed my waist. With the guard behind me, I very slowly processed with hood and sign until I left the room. During that slow walk, I prayed for forgiveness. I prayed for forgiveness from God and from torture victims throughout history. I prayed for all of us in that room, including myself, who are or have been complicit with the sin of torture, whether in our presence or in our names.
In the stairwell as I was leaving to join the outside demonstration, I sent up a prayer of gratitude for Dr. King's life, for his work, and for the opportunity I had today to express my love for all of God and Her creation.
Even though we clearly disagree in our opinion of John Yoo's work, I genuinely enjoyed our conversations and would love to have more opportunities to share back and forth. Unfortunately, there were times in a couple conversations where I was not able to be forthright with you, especially when some of you asked me questions to which honest answers may have "outed" me as a protester. I regret having "deceived" you and want you to know that the vast majority of information I shared about myself was truthful.
My name is Lindsay Hagerman. I am 26 years old and was raised in Dallas, Texas. I graduated from Highland Park High School (an elite public school in a very white, very Republican community). I graduated from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, VA and then did my graduate work in American history at the University of Delaware. It is true that I have relatives that have urged me to go to law school. I do live and work at a House of Hospitality for homeless women and children in the Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Roman, I was moved by something you shared with me from your years at Stanford Law School during the Vietnam War. You spoke with resentment about protesters who repeatedly called you a "fascist." I mourn how name-calling from all sides undermines our ability to understand one another. I have continued to reflect on your story, as well as conversations I had with others of you, and here are a couple more things I want you to understand about me and what I did today:
I am like you. No matter how much you may want to lock me away in the neat and tidy "protestor" stereotype, I feel "at home" with you. Sitting at that table, even I was taken aback by the ease with which I slipped back into the "polite" social norms of "my past." You reminded me of members of my family, people in my neighborhood growing up, classmates and friends of mine. Despite Yoo's joke about his students (caricatured as Jon Stewart-watching liberal activists) not doing their homework, I did mine. I did it well in "good schools" with a large percentage of conservative teachers and professors. But the more I tried to understand the experiences of poor people and people of color, the more I questioned basic fundamental "truths" I'd been raised to believe. Before long James Baldwin's words rang true with me:
"People who imagine that history flatters them (as it does, indeed, since they wrote it) are impaled on their history like a butterfly on a pin and become incapable of seeing or changing themselves, or the world. This is the place in which it seems to me, most white Americans find themselves. Impaled. They are dimly, or vividly, aware that the history they have fed themselves is mainly a lie, but they do not know how to release themselves from it, and they suffer enormously from the resulting personal incoherence."
When we embrace "torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment" as acceptable methods for dealing with any human being, we embrace incoherence. I don't see any of you or John Yoo as evil—to the contrary, you are my brothers and sisters. I love you too much to stand by while you continue to impale yourselves and destroy the lives of our other brothers and sisters. I had a moral obligation to act as I did today precisely because I can "pass" in settings like a Federalist Society gathering.
Please, please feel free to contact me next time you're in New York City. I would love to take any of you out for coffee or tea. Either way, my prayers are with you.
Sincerely,
Lindsay
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Some thoughts on the Fast & Haiti
Margo Liebers, Hallam, Nebraska
It is with deep sorrow and a profound sense of shame that I write. My doctor has stopped my fast on the grounds that I'm quite underweight to start with and that I don't have the reserves for a twelve day fast.
I would like to ignore this advice, (why should I have the choice to eat or not when so many have had all choice taken from them) but, like so many others in the U.S., I can't afford to get sick. My prayers and my thoughts are with you all. Wish I could be there in Washington.
Given the recent earthquake in Haiti, I want to share with all of you that I had worked in Haiti for five years. I've been connected with the Sisters of St. Margaret I worked for through the Internet since the earthquake. The Holy Trinity day school and the St. Vincent's school for handicapped children and the Episcopal Cathedral as well as the convent itself have all been destroyed….BUT the sisters and the children are safe with no serious injuries!
I consider this a miracle and am so overjoyed. Maybe there will be another miracle and your witness in Washington will lead to a real cessation of torture and rendition and all the other horrors.
Peace,
Margo Liebers
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Poem In Memory of Martin Luther King. Jr.
Art Laffin, Washington, DC
"We must pursue peaceful ends by peaceful means. I'm committed to nonviolence absolutely, I am just not going to kill anybody, whether it's in Vietnam or here at home...(because) only a refusal to hate or kill can put an end to the chain of violence in the world and lead toward community where people live together without fear."
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Imagine
Imagine a world free of hate.
Imagine a world free of killing.
Imagine!
Imagine a world free of weapons.
Imagine a world free of war.
Imagine!
Imagine a world free of oppression.
Imagine a world free of exploitation.
!magine!
Imagine a world free of racism.
Imagine a world free of discrimination.
Imagine!
Imagine a world free of torture.
Imagine a world free of fear!
Imagine!
Imagine a world striving to become the Beloved Community,
where all life and creation are held sacred.
Imagine!
Dr. King, prophet of nonviolence, imagined such a world.
He was murdered by the powers
for speaking truth to power,
for proclaiming God's reign of justice and love.
Martin gave his life so that our world might live in peace and justice.
So must we give of our lives.
Imagine!
Let us imagine and create together
the Beloved Community Martin Luther King lived and died for.
Martin Luther King. Jr., pray for us.
Video by Mike Benedetti: