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News from the Keweenaw Peninsula January 4, 2002 Text and photos © 2001 Michele Anderson

Peace Alliance to hold fifth Walking Vigil Jan. 5

HOUGHTON -- The Copper Country Peace Alliance will sponsor a fifth Walking Vigil for Peace and Nonviolence on Saturday, Jan. 5. Anyone wishing to join the walk is asked to meet at 11:30 a.m. at the Motherlode café in Houghton 

Snowy, cold and windy weather has not discouraged the participants from walking every Saturday since Dec. 8. The third vigil, on Dec. 22, attracted 45 walkers carrying signs for peace in the world as they walked from Houghton, across the Portage Lift Bridge, to Hancock and back.

About 45 participants in the Dec. 22 Copper Country Peace Alliance Vigil for Peace and Nonviolence walk through downtown Houghton on their way to Hancock. The group will hold a fifth vigil this Saturday, Jan. 5, beginning at 11:30 a.m. in the Motherlode café in Houghton.

"It's a good thing for the people to start figuring what is going on," said a bystander watching the group passing through Hancock on Dec. 22. Although he wished to remain anonymous, the gentleman said he was a veteran of four years of military service during World War II -- in North Africa, Italy, France, Germany and the United States.

Suzanne Van Dam of Houghton, a participant in the Dec. 22 vigil, said the end of the bombing of Afghanistan (if indeed it has ended) "doesn't mean the issue is over ... especially (the issue of) suspension of civil liberties."

Keweenaw Now guest columnist Ray Sharp of Stanton Township, his wife, Wendy, and children Kai, 9, Isabel, 5, and Salvador, 3, participated in the Dec. 22 vigil. Sharp said he felt many good Americans are working for peace and social justice.

Kai Sharp, 9, left, of Stanton Township, carries the earth flag in Hancock during the third Copper Country Peace Alliance Walking Vigil on Dec. 22. Also pictured are his sister Isabel, 5, and mom Wendy Sharp, with other walkers. Ray Sharp (not pictured), carried son Salvador, 3, on his back during the vigil.

"We came and brought the whole family because we wanted to join with our friends," Sharp said. "We want it to be known that there are good people of conscience that have legitimate, rational differences with United States foreign policy. We wanted to join our friends to show that there are more people who feel that way than the mainstream press would have you believe."*

The Rev. Bucky Beach, Finlandia University chaplain and assistant professor of religion and philosophy, joined the Dec. 22 vigil, noting he believed it important for people to look at things from a variety of perspectives.

"If peace is the goal, then there's more than one way to get there," Beach said, "and we need to look at some alternative ways." 

Although some Peace Alliance members were out of town during the Dec. 29 vigil, about 32 people showed up for both the walk and a video presentation on the School of the Americas, followed by discussion, at the Community Arts Center in Hancock.

Wind and snow did not deter participants in the fourth Peace Alliance Vigil, seen here crossing the Portage Lift Bridge on the way to Hancock on Dec. 29, 2001.

The 16-minute (1998) video -- titled "School of the Americas: An Insider Speaks Out," produced by Linda Panetta, distributed by Maryknoll World Productions and funded by Veterans for Peace, Inc., Minnesota Chapter -- is narrated by Joseph Blair, a retired U.S. Army major and Latin America specialist and a former faculty member of the School of the Americas, located at Fort Benning, Ga. (On January 17, 2001, the SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, or WHISC.)**

In this documentary film, which has some graphic footage of actual victims of torture and murder by Latin American military, Blair talks about his own experience at the school, which has trained Latin American military since 1946, and about why he has become a critic of the school and its policies.

At the beginning of the film Blair states, "When I was at the United States Army School of the Americas, we routinely had Latin American students who were human rights abusers; and it didn't make any difference to us. It was common knowledge that the School of the Americas was the best place a Latin American officer could go to launder his drug money."

Blair says he became a critic of the school (which is supported by U.S. taxpayers) when he read about U.S. Army denials that they knew anything about the atrocities and murders their graduates were committing and when he learned of the murders of Jesuit priests in El Salvador.

"Some of the El Salvador soldiers who murdered the six Jesuit priests were my former students when I was on the faculty of the School of the Americas," admits Blair, who was a senior logistics instructor at the school.

Blair adds that he was in favor of the School of the Americas during the Cold War, but he believes it should be shut down now.

"The United States Army School of the Americas is a Cold War dinosaur. It should close its doors and take its place in history with the Berlin Wall," Blair says in the film.

Both young and old vigil participants were affected by the film.

"It made me sad," said Autumn Weglarz, 21, a student at Finlandia University's School of Art and Design. "I knew about the School of the Americas before," she added, "but I'd never seen the video before. I think it's just atrocious that the United States is supporting this."

Don Lask, a 10th-grade student at Hancock High School, said he had heard of the School of the Americas before but this was the first time he heard any information on it.

"I thought it was good that it was a U.S. military officer talking about it," he said.

Lask, who has interests in music and political science, added he had attended the last three vigils "because I believe in a peaceful society and world, and I believe that nonviolent actions can be taken to solve situations."

Robert and Viola Brown of Houghton, founding members of the Copper Country Peace Alliance, both attended the video presentation.

Heading toward the Portage Lift Bridge in Houghton, Robert Brown, left, of Houghton, a founding member of the Copper Country Peace Alliance, carries the group's sign during their third Walking Vigil for Peace and Nonviolence on Dec. 22, 2001.

Said Robert Brown, "I knew it was bad, but it's even worse than I thought."

Viola Brown concurred.

"Horrible, horrible," she said.

With the Browns was Howard Anderson of Hancock, retired Michigan Tech professor of engineering and astronomy.

"I've heard about the School of the Americas, and I certainly don't agree that this is a way to achieve a harmonious civilization," Anderson said. "I certainly have no objection to trying to annihilate these perpetrators of the September 11th tragedy, but I think we need to teach people to have respect for all life -- not only for people but for all living things."

After the vigil, some Peace Alliance members continued their discussion in the Motherlode café in Houghton.

Palestinian-American Tarik Kanaana, a Motherlode employee and Michigan Tech student in mathematics, said he thinks the vigils are a good idea.

Tarik Kanaana, a Motherlode employee and Michigan Tech student in mathematics, is of Palestinian-American descent. He said he believes the peace vigils are a good idea.

"I think the most important part here is -- It looks as if everybody is supportive of the war," Kanaana said. "I think it's good that somebody's showing that it's not 100 percent support as some people would like to believe."

Tom Ex, co-owner, with his wife Donna Gladden-Ex, of the Motherlode, said he had no objection to the Peace Alliance group meeting in the café for their vigils and that he would not object to a group with opposite views meeting there either.

"Our policy at the Motherlode is that we're a coffee house in the true sense of the word -- that is, we're a venue for the peaceful, free exchange of ideas, Tom Ex said. "This is an open, democratic society here ... Everyone has a right to their own opinions, and we encourage an exchange of those ideas. Dialogue is good." 

*Some members of the Copper Country Peace Alliance responded to a recent editorial in The Daily Mining Gazette with letters to the editor explaining their views. Readers may wish to consult the Daily Mining Gazette Letters to the Editor Archives for letters by Alex Mayer (Dec. 27, 2001), Dana Richter (Dec. 28, 2001) and Viola Brown (Dec. 29, 2001).

See the Dec. 20, 2001, editorial that received these reactions.

**Editor's note: For more information on the School of the Americas and its renaming visit the School of the Americas Watch Web site.

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