Trying Not to Stick
My Head in the Sand by Steve Clemens. April 29, 2013
After walking two miles behind a “Stop Frac Sand” banner, we
arrived at the Port of Winona where 18-wheel trucks were unloading their
cargoes of silica frac sand on to barges in the Mississippi River to be shipped
to natural gas fracking operations in Texas or other locations. A second group
of friends walked over three miles to another Winona, MN site where
already-mined frac sand was being washed before loaded on to the trucks that were
arrive at the port. With the support of dozens of other friends, 35 of us were
arrested on trespass charges as we nonviolently blocked the trucks this morning
in what may have been the largest protest to date against fracking.
I traveled to Winona at the invitation of the Winona
Catholic Worker, the community which was hosting the annual Midwest Catholic
Worker “Faith and Resistance Retreat”. Members of this group who offer
hospitality to the poor and marginalized from at least 9 nearby states gathered
from Friday evening until today for a time of reflection, renewal, fellowship,
and resistance. We recited a pledge to practice nonviolence before the march to
the protest sites and many of us carried a letter sent to the gathering from
the farmer-philosopher Wendell Berry.
In it he writes:
“You have offered me the privilege of joining by letter with you and
your friends in Winona in opposition to “frac sand mining,” and I am happy to
accept.
I will say, first, that there is never, for any reason, a justification
for doing long-term or permanent damage to the ecosphere. We did not create the
world, we do not own it, and we have no right to destroy any part of it.
Second, most of our politicians and their corporate employers are
measuring their work by standards of profitability and mechanical efficiency.
Those standards are wrong. There is one standard that is right: the health of
living creatures and the living earth.
Third, we must give our needs to eat, drink, and breathe an absolute
precedence over our need for mined fuels.
I wish you well.”
Others carried a letter written by Sandra Steingraber, an
upstate NY scientist and mother who is in jail for her nonviolent protest at
Seneca Lake, NY. We carried a Statement of Purpose drawn up by the Catholic
Workers on “Ending Fracking and Silica Sand Mining.” But mostly we carried
ourselves – with our strong desires to help save our environment so it can be
passed on to future generations. Our message was placing our bodies in front of
the trucks to shut down the shipping of this sand used to extract more fossil
fuels.
Greed, fueled by short-term profits is a major reason we are
shackled with climate disruptions and the extinction of huge numbers of various
species. Shared sacrifice and community are some of the tools we choose to use
to claw our way back (or ahead) and this inter-generational gathering provided
both challenge and hope. This weekend offered an opportunity to reflect and act
with others who share a vision of a more compassionate approach to life and want
to be part of a nonviolent struggle to make that an alternative path for us to
pursue.
Only 35 risked arrest because each of those communities need
someone who remains committed to providing hospitality for the marginalized in
their home areas in case those arrested get the maximum sentence of 90 days in
jail. The state “criminal trespass” charge also allows for a hefty fine as well
but most Catholic Workers on principle would refuse to pay such because to do
so would lessen their abilities to serve the poor.
I am not a Catholic Worker. I’m not even a Catholic but I am
humbled and blessed to be welcomed into their midst. But even others are not
Catholic. The relatively new “Mennonite Worker” community from Minneapolis was
well represented as well as the Phillips-based “Rye House”. So those acting and
living within the spirit of Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin, founders of the
movement, are welcomed. Seasoned activists led the Sunday afternoon nonviolence
training but it is always good to have a refresher every once in awhile and to
provide a welcome format for the “rookies” to civil disobedience and nonviolent
direct action.
The Winona police were very courteous to us even after our
refusal to leave led to our arrest. When I mentioned my problems with carpal
tunnel as I was being handcuffed, the arresting officer asked if I was OK with
being ‘cuffed in front instead of the standard behind-the-back position. I am
grateful for the kindness shown. Many of these police officers know of the
possible health risks to themselves from breathing in these sand particles.
They also know how “get rich quick” schemes brought about by outsiders wishing
to profit from exploiting these local resources have created a multitude of
conflicts within this southern Minnesota river town.
Getting arrested while working for nonviolent change –
especially when joined with like-minded friends – is a privilege in our
democracy at a time when corporate voices try to drown out citizen concerns.
Polished advertising on our TVs try to convince us that there is “clean coal”
or that exploiting oil and gas resources can make us “energy independent” or
provide hundreds or thousands of jobs. All in the attempt to continue what has
been called our “American way of life” – the over-consumption of finite
resources in a world where many are desperate for adequate food and water. Many
Americans want to stick their heads in the sand, pretending there is no need for
a change of heart and a change of course. My friends and I want to risk our own freedom in order to say
“no!”
