tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79765113712590618442024-03-13T11:12:10.910-05:00MennonistaEssays, articles, letters written by Steve Clemens, peace and justice activist from Minneapolis, MNSteve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.comBlogger252125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-83547345393179786462024-02-01T11:10:00.030-06:002024-02-15T13:19:51.701-06:00Breaking With the "Quiet-in-the-Land" Stereotype of Mennonites<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br /></span></b></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnq9esLFONj0P4xIIcii4OH4u99Tpv_SxFAt-qJPaTORjBIFJJgvh3EWzwCS4wjiU8TskRw3ZpPs5UrR8wbI2ZskaFRr3yuTpIpqZ3k9AqWVlow-Rx2IP9fdTlJlrvEZYXCAN5fKSNHwjiNQchH1zA12i0pV_1h77fvKOj58wR_DEngdRyjnsGFRJMnG4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjnq9esLFONj0P4xIIcii4OH4u99Tpv_SxFAt-qJPaTORjBIFJJgvh3EWzwCS4wjiU8TskRw3ZpPs5UrR8wbI2ZskaFRr3yuTpIpqZ3k9AqWVlow-Rx2IP9fdTlJlrvEZYXCAN5fKSNHwjiNQchH1zA12i0pV_1h77fvKOj58wR_DEngdRyjnsGFRJMnG4" width="180" /></a></span></b></div></div><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><br />Breaking With “The Quiet-in-the-Land” Stereotype of Mennonites-<o:p></o:p></span></b><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Becketwood Midweek Gathering Talk by Steve Clemens, 1/31/24<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">People who followed a former Roman Catholic priest, <b>Menno Simons,</b> and were part of the movement referred to as the Radical Reformation were called <b>Mennonites</b>. In the early 1500s as Martin Luther and John Calvin and others were breaking away from the Roman Catholic Church, a group of mostly young “radicals” felt the Protestant Reformation did not go far enough in several ways: these groups often called for a separation of church and state, embraced nonviolence rather than using the sword to coerce religious “conversion”, stressed communal living or shared resources, often called for more Biblical literacy, rejected separateness of priests/clergy by stressing the “priesthood of all believers”, and often encouraged personal piety and sober living. A group of these radicals were called a slur- “<b>Anabaptist</b>” meaning re-baptizer - since they rejected infant baptism, insisting that only as an adult could one make a confession of faith. They were routinely persecuted as heretics by both Catholic and Protestant leaders and governments. Infant baptism was the way one became a member of that “state”. These small movements were identified by nicknames - often after so-called “leaders” of the groups <b>Mennonites</b> after Menno Simons; <b>Amish</b> after Jacob Ammon; <b>Hutterites</b> after Jacob Hutter; <b>Schwenkfelders</b> after Caspar Schwenkfeld von Ossig; <b>Swedenborgians</b> after Emmanuel Swedenborg; <b>Moravians</b> after the area of Europe from which they fled. Because they were considered by church and governmental leaders to be <b>heretics</b>, they often could not own land and were subjected to persecution and torture; many, in fact, were martyred for their faith.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Some of these groups found a new home in the early 1700s in the colony given to <b>William Penn</b> by the King of England as a reward for Penn’s father, an Admiral who saved the king’s life and his throne. Admiral Penn’s son, a convert to the Quaker movement in England, was determined to populate his colony with others who embraced a separation of church and state and did not want to “use the sword” nor pay taxes for the purpose of supporting an army or armed militia. Mennonites and others of these small movements were offered land and religious freedom in Penn’s colony. We can discuss later how this movement gradually and then more rapidly displaced the Lenape/Delaware indigenous peoples from their homelands – mostly through purchases of land but also by deceit rather than armed force.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Mennonites are considered one of three “<b>Peace churches</b>” along with the Quakers and the Church of the Brethren because traditionally their members refused military service and were recognized as conscientious objectors. Mennonites stressed that they were “citizens of the Kingdom of God” rather than claiming to be citizens of whatever governing state they lived in. They often said the state “rules by the sword” and it made no sense to them to vote because the President was also the “commander-in-chief” and, as pacifists, they would not weigh in on who might be a better leader of the military. Because of their refusal to carry weapons and their abstaining from voting and, instead, sticking to farming or other “useful” trades, they were often known as “<b>the-Quiet-in-the-Land</b>”. Some governments, including Catherine The Great, and Canada in the late 1800s, sought out Mennonites to settle there because they were good farmers and would not rise up in arms against the government.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">My ancestors were recruited by William Penn to come to his colony and arrived in 1709, settling 30 miles north of Philadelphia. The Clemens families have remained on this land within 10 miles of that original homestead. My parents were raised in the Franconia Conference, one of the more conservative of several Mennonite conferences in eastern Pennsylvania. Despite his upbringing, my father went into the Army during WWII rather than declaring to be a conscientious objector. My parents had been “liberalized” by the Sunday School movement – rebelling against Mennonite traits such as hair coverings for women, no jewelry, no musical instruments in worship - but also insisting that they should proselytize others rather than just keeping their faith as a private matter between themselves, their church, and God. They helped found a new congregation which was called Mennonite but never affiliated with any of the Mennonite conferences. I was baptized a Mennonite at age 12 but most of my Christian formation was in the form of evangelical theology.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">I went to a Christian college prep school where I was exposed to other “Christians” – some were even Democrats! At the height of the US War on Vietnam, I entered Wheaton College in 1968 and I was enrolled in mandatory Army ROTC. A month and a half later, I turned 18 and registered for the draft as a Conscientious Objector. The next year I started participating in Draft Board demonstrations led by Maryknoll priest from the Catholic seminary in Glen Ellyn, IL, the town next to Wheaton.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"> While at Wheaton I learned about the Anabaptists in a Church History course- a history mostly ignored in my childhood.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">After graduating from Wheaton, I learned that a farmer-neighbor was now head of the Mennonite Central Committee’s Peace Section during the Vietnam era. I had been reading John Howard Yoder, Art Gish, William Stringfellow, and the Post-American which later became Sojourners Magazine and decided after a year of Grad School to embark on a year or two of “voluntary service” since my lottery number was too high to be drafted. <b>Walton Hackman</b>, that former neighbor, recommended that I consider spending a summer in rural Mississippi. Living in a poor Black neighborhood in the rural Mississippi Delta was an eye-opening, formative experience! Then I followed that with a year placement in Washington, DC at the Mennonite office on Capitol Hill.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In the fall 1974, enroute to my Washington, DC assignment, I met a man named <b>Ladon Sheats</b> at our Voluntary Service orientation. He showed a multimedia <b>Values Presentation</b> – contrasting values of <b>God’s Kingdom vs</b> <b>US Culture.</b> Using photos of current and historical events, advertising, music, and text like “I Am a Rock, I Am an Island” by Simon and Garfield and songs by the Moody Blues and Cat Stevens - he contrasted the values of <b>interdependence vs independence</b>; <b>community and cooperation vs competition</b>; <b>brotherhood/sisterhood vs racial separation</b>; <b>simple living vs materialism</b>; <b>nonviolence vs militarism</b>. (I clearly remember hearing the refrain of Cat Stevens’ song, <u>Father and Son</u>: “It’s not time to make a change, just relax and take it easy; You’re still young, that’s your fault, there’s so much you have to know …”). This presentation told us we must “<b><u>CHOOSE</u> which values you will live by</b>.” It was a clear call for me to live out the values of my faith rather than being co-opted by the culture. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">My voluntary service assignment in DC was at the Mennonite Central Committee’s Peace Section Washington Office. It was designed to inform and educate Mennonite congregations around the country about national and foreign policy issues from a perspective of Christian discipleship. We focused on world hunger, the Vietnam War, the death penalty, food stamps and supplemental programs for the poor, criminal justice, US relations with other nations, civil and human rights, nuclear weapons, … It was a small 3-person office, but we networked and worked with other Protestant and Catholic church agencies; and Quaker, and Jewish advocacy groups as well. I attended many Congressional hearings, read legislative briefs, and attended meetings and conferences where these issues were discussed. We took Mennonite students on tours of the Pentagon, the CIA, and Congress. <o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPOb3BU-xIGFhIU7_1x0AntSg3md2-LLKOq5-u4nnCltY0QhJkN6nMGsYX0kPXfkgJ_eBQJ0SXyZfZJRHwFxJ-7bOCO412iqGiKFZu8McwWrB4LqJfzLDHCv3kNNrfysJIZ1p4iGFsaGQ8R7zM8fSp3C72ls8m4BYa5dkAedHR0Noofzn-ZsLOtDkyMC4" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img alt="" data-original-height="2560" data-original-width="1920" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiPOb3BU-xIGFhIU7_1x0AntSg3md2-LLKOq5-u4nnCltY0QhJkN6nMGsYX0kPXfkgJ_eBQJ0SXyZfZJRHwFxJ-7bOCO412iqGiKFZu8McwWrB4LqJfzLDHCv3kNNrfysJIZ1p4iGFsaGQ8R7zM8fSp3C72ls8m4BYa5dkAedHR0Noofzn-ZsLOtDkyMC4" width="180" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">That year also saw me joining a weekly Bible Study group with former Catholic priest, <b>Philip Berrigan</b> and former nun, <b>Liz McAlister</b> where we discussed Biblical scripture in the context of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel’s book, <b><u>The Prophets</u></b>. Discussions with that study group led me to my first arrest - at the White House – in the last major demonstration against Vietnam War in March 1975, a month before the Saigon government fell. 61 of us were arrested including Dick Gregory, Jim Peck, Dan Berrigan, Liz McAlister. During the six hours in jail awaiting processing, I was meeting Ladon Sheats again -this time behind bars. He told me more about the intentional community he was part of in southwest Georgia and suggested I consider moving there after this year of service. I applied to become a volunteer there starting in September 1975, just before I turned 25.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Koinonia</span></b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">, the name of that intentional Christian Community, was founded in 1942 to be a “<b>demonstration plot</b>”- a group trying to live out the ideas of Jesus and the values of the Kingdom of God. One of the four adult founders was a Southern Baptist farmer who went to seminary and became a Greek scholar, <b>Clarence Jordan</b>. He became well-known for his “<b>CottonPatch</b>” translations of the Christian New Testament and as a powerful, yet humorous, preacher.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">To become a member of that community, one was expected to embrace 5 values : <b>Nonviolence, racial reconciliation, service to others, simple/compassionate living, and economic sharing</b> - all under the umbrella of following the Way of Jesus. The community was ecumenical, lay-led, with people working and worshipping together. An active farm (raising pecans, peanuts, grapes, peaches, soybeans, and corn), an organic garden, an early childhood nursery and education center, and an affordable housing ministry were areas where we worked. A mail order business selling pecans, fruitcake, and candy was a significant source of revenue for the community as well as a source of jobs for local residents. Because of its embrace of racial reconciliation – with Blacks and whites working side-by-side, it became a target for the Klu Klux Klan and many other racist southern whites at least until the late 1970s.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">Koinonia was the birthplace of the <b>Habitat For Humanity</b> movement which was modeled after the community’s housing ministry. A School of Radical Discipleship formed basis of Volunteer Program where people came for 3-4 months of work, study, and reflection. After completing those initial sessions and volunteering for at least a year, one could apply for <b>Resident Partnership</b> - the term used for members of the community. As a Partner, one was to practice <b>divesture</b> -you could not own your own house or car and were expected to live off a small monthly living and food allowance. The community provided housing, shared transportation, and a common noon meal. Our practice was one of a “common purse”. The joke was said that “we hold all things in common except our spouses!” The membership commitment was into the indefinite future – until one felt called elsewhere or died. The Partnership varied between 20 and 35 adult members plus 8-20 volunteers at any given time while I lived there from 1975-1990. Especially in the 1950s through the early 1970s, many Mennonite young men came there to do “alternative service” as conscientious objectors.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">With nonviolence as a central tenant of Koinonia’s values, and with the War on Vietnam abruptly ending several months before, the community wrestled with creative ways to express our peacemaking values in the broader society. One area of major concern was the proliferation and threatened use of <b>nuclear weapons</b>. Even though our neighbor, <b>Jimmy Carter</b>, recently became the President, a group of us from the community drove 20 hours north to Groton, CT to protest the christening by Rosalynn Carter of the USS Georgia, a new US Trident ballistic missile nuclear submarine. <o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In March of 1980 we heard word of Archbishop Oscar Romero’s assassination while saying mass in San Salvador; later in December of that year, 4 US Catholic nuns were raped and murdered there as well. A few years later we learned that the soldiers involved in these atrocities were trained at the notorious <b>School of the Americas</b> run by the US Army.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In 1981 Ladon Sheats invited me to join him as part of a non-violent <b>prayer pilgrimage</b> to <b>Pantex</b>, the final assembly plant for all US nuclear weapons located outside Amarillo, TX. Our intent was to go to a place of great spiritual darkness with an act of <u>public prayer</u> to shine a light on the evil we perceived there. That style of witness was foreshadowed by Fredrick Douglass and Dr. Martin Luther King who said they were “<u>praying with our feet</u>”. It was there I met Fr. Larry Rosebaugh, an Oblate priest from Wisconsin as one of the 6 of us who scaled the 12’ fence surrounding the nuclear weapons plant. After spending six months in jail and federal prison for that witness, I returned to Koinonia.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In 1983 we learned that the US Army was training soldiers from El Salvador at Ft. Benning, GA – an hour and ½ west of Koinonia. Groups from Atlanta scheduled a march and protest, but it quickly turned into an “us vs them” style of chanting: “2,4,6,8, it’s the junta that we hate”; “Alexander Haig, how many nuns did you kill today?” Some of us from Koinonia didn’t feel the chants were an appropriate way to protest so we started a Quaker-style candlelight prayer vigil on Thursday nights which we held weekly for the next 5 or so years before it became a monthly vigil.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgytfhUt9iEbYCCyQ-m-DdfaWBjlT9HbJV0_j-9Gn5Wpu3RMiZ95f7kbIzB8RWQslFQOJbVUmcbXRTjOux6px8zc6nDddNJh7jj0hl8-cdYYs8q2SGHylVfDZflY8jefo_JSY_PSpKT6YoU7ueKWEXYs46DcVK6p0zIzYUXOlu4YsC-R3HqO9fARZe_bC8" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="668" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgytfhUt9iEbYCCyQ-m-DdfaWBjlT9HbJV0_j-9Gn5Wpu3RMiZ95f7kbIzB8RWQslFQOJbVUmcbXRTjOux6px8zc6nDddNJh7jj0hl8-cdYYs8q2SGHylVfDZflY8jefo_JSY_PSpKT6YoU7ueKWEXYs46DcVK6p0zIzYUXOlu4YsC-R3HqO9fARZe_bC8" width="167" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">In August 1983, Fr. <b>Roy Bourgeois</b>, a Maryknoll priest, and Fr. Larry Rosebaugh came to Koinonia to share with us their plans to nonviolently protest the training of Salvadoran troops at the base. We invited them to join our weekly vigil. After having been arrested 4 times earlier in the week for various protests on the base and being removed from the base after arrest and given a “Ban-and-bar” letter, Roy and Larry invited our vigil group to join them in what became their final protest before they were hauled off to jail. We planted a cross on the Base Commander’s front lawn. I joined them with 3 others from our weekly vigil group and then was held under arrest for 6 hours before being released with a lifetime <b>Ban and Bar letter</b>. Roy ended up getting 18 months in prison, Larry got 1 year in prison.<o:p></o:p></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDMXDNrYa3xBTir3Rpsi4qncJtoaBsYaJgtkW14Ac4RTwehauIz0ZkLL-E4R3fsZVOMcC82tO7oWtTGqqc58wWaXr13KhVyqbmRBEdHacnYmG41Zyd7mCOUljqjTWSpWF7PkAfIWVM7CNxGu1Klha3I2TOspt71qKD0Lt0sWrLWLtwfFPryxFaKIKtwWE" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /><img alt="" data-original-height="1920" data-original-width="2560" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDMXDNrYa3xBTir3Rpsi4qncJtoaBsYaJgtkW14Ac4RTwehauIz0ZkLL-E4R3fsZVOMcC82tO7oWtTGqqc58wWaXr13KhVyqbmRBEdHacnYmG41Zyd7mCOUljqjTWSpWF7PkAfIWVM7CNxGu1Klha3I2TOspt71qKD0Lt0sWrLWLtwfFPryxFaKIKtwWE" width="320" /></a></span></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">After our family moved to MN in 1990 for a sabbatical year, Father Roy founded the <b>School Of the Americas Watch</b> which began an annual vigil in November held for more than 25 years at the main gate to Ft. Benning. It started as a prayerful fast outside the main gates with a handful of Veterans For Peace. The annual vigil grew in size every year, from 8 to more than 20,000. Actor Martin Sheen, singer Pete Seeger, and other “celebrities” came to protest this “school” which trained Central and South American soldiers in what was euphemistically called “enhanced interrogation techniques”, “counter-insurgency”, and assassination. Especially after the revelations of the torture conducted by US troops at <b>Abu Ghraib</b> in Iraq, large crowds started to “connect-the-dots” to what the SOA had been teaching for many years. So, in 2005, I decided it was time again to risk arrest and prison with another prayerful protest. I expected a 6-month prison sentence but ended up with only 3 months due to a technicality. But those stories can wait for another time.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;">My parents had warned me about Roman Catholics as I was growing up – “Don’t ever date a Catholic because you might fall in love and the Bible says, ‘Do not be unequally yoked with an unbeliever’.” How ironic that many of my closest friends (and fellow convicts) are Catholic nuns, priests, and former priests who married nuns! I’ve also learned that <u>being “quiet” in the face of violence and injustice can be easily construed as being complicit or acquiescing</u>. As Dr. ML King said, “Never allow it to be said that you are silent overlookers, detached spectators, but that you are involved participants in the struggle to make justice a reality.” Being “<b>The-Quiet-In -The -Land</b>” was no longer a virtue despite that rich, Mennonite heritage.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-14232296067186881042023-03-26T14:44:00.002-05:002023-03-26T14:49:35.159-05:00A Time to Forgive or Forget?<p> <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh63QnjcjaFeQaZoVQfnrYCrtIkrUXdXvnJnmWRzZQDH03BdRQl6J87AhiQrN0oifWTCa9JsKchx0yBmiYtfpxCzDS-CBBxMH_ntvLNB6oxk70PSOjG-QyHD5GttdqFfn5Eh2fhGOEPtCmsinNIHguZsXJqTdMi18wGFfoEYfh4jep_xGJtuhrLdATu" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="768" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEh63QnjcjaFeQaZoVQfnrYCrtIkrUXdXvnJnmWRzZQDH03BdRQl6J87AhiQrN0oifWTCa9JsKchx0yBmiYtfpxCzDS-CBBxMH_ntvLNB6oxk70PSOjG-QyHD5GttdqFfn5Eh2fhGOEPtCmsinNIHguZsXJqTdMi18wGFfoEYfh4jep_xGJtuhrLdATu" width="180" /></a></div>Standing outside UN Development Program office in Baghdad Dec. 9, 2002</div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><b>After 20 Years – Is It Time to Forgive?</b> By Steve Clemens<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">March 20, 2003 marked the beginning of (another) US invasion of Iraq. It was based on lies and anti-Muslim fears and resentments, but average Americans often believed their national leaders and the corporate media which basically silenced those who opposed military intervention.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">Having traveled to Baghdad in December 2002 as part of an ad-hoc “Peace Team”, with the intent to be present with the Iraqi people in the face of a threatened “Shock and Awe” bombardment, I returned back to Minnesota 3 months before the war actually began. I used those 3 months to speak to more than 60 groups at schools, colleges, community centers, and churches about what I saw and learned about Iraq – hoping to galvanize the vocal opposition to the war. I concentrated my pictures with the faces of children, noting that these are often the primary victims of the brutal sanctions regime placed on the country by the US and Britain since 1991, and photos of power plants and water treatment facilities in complete disrepair.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">After the war and occupation dragged on -much beyond the “cakewalk” promised by Rumsfeld and others, and well beyond the “Mission Accomplished” photo op of our President decked out in a flight suit on the deck of a carrier off the coast of San Diego, the mood in our nation began to gradually turn as more US military, mercenary contractors, and even embedded journalists failed to return or returned with missing limbs, head traumas, and/or PTSD. Notions of “the long war” arose as the occupation past the length of the Vietnam fiasco. And Afghanistan continued to demand more military sacrifices as well.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">A local restauranteur I hadn’t met yet, Sami Rasouli, decided to return to his native Iraq city of Najaf to see for himself. Some local friends approached me to ask if I would join their efforts to find ways to financially support him and to help “broaden” his voice by sharing some of the Iraqi art he brought back with him to dispel the myths about the land and culture we were destroying. Those efforts eventually coalesced into what became The Iraqi and American Reconciliation Project, an NGO based in Minneapolis which worked to educate and encourage and heal the toxic divides in our country over the war and between Americans and Iraqis.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">At Sami’s behest, we worked to have Minneapolis become a Sister City with his home city of Najaf, and Sami brought numerous delegations of Iraqi professionals to the US when visas could be secured. Finally, after President Obama removed US troops out of the country (and before returning them to attack a rising ISIS a little more than a year or two later), IARP accepted an invitation by the governor of Najaf to visit our Sister City in November 2012. The governor had us stay in a “guest house” overlooking the Euphrates River – a former gaudy palace built by Saddam Hussein during his brutal reign. Despite the destruction wrought in their nation and homeland by US and British militaries and mercenary contractors, the Iraqi people we met welcomed us with smiles, tears, and embraces. It seemed to me that they were willing to forgive -if not forget- those of us who traveled a great distance to be with them.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">But the governing system foisted on the Iraqi people by the Occupiers, and, at the encouragement of former exiled “elites” like Chalabi, emphasized sectarian divides and power and privileges given disproportionally to sectarian militia or tribal leaders mostly at the expense of the ordinary Iraqi citizens. Corruption was rampant – both by US<br /> contractors who skimmed off much of the money allocated to rebuild schools, hospitals, power grids, water treatment plants, … - as well as sectarian “leaders” who saw their opportunity to regain what they claim Saddam “stole” from them. Tragically this continues today.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">On the 20<sup>th</sup> anniversary much of the US media used the term “mistake” when describing the invasion, war, and occupation. There were few voices that really identified it as a “crime” even though that same media used that term to describe Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. The irony of forgetting Abu Ghraib, “black sites” run by the CIA, Guantanamo prisoners, as well as the destruction of civilian infrastructure is not lost on other nations or Iraqis as we, as a nation, pivot to a Cold War with China as well as a proxy war with Russia.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">We can’t ask the Iraqis to forgive us if we work diligently to forget what we did and fail to learn that military might cannot install either democracy or civility. Iraq continues be seen as still “unstable”. The US State Department lists Iraq as “Level 4: Do Not Travel” as of January 3 of 2023, adding, “<span style="background: white;">Do not travel to Iraq due to terrorism, kidnapping, armed conflict, civil unrest, and Mission Iraq’s limited capacity to provide support to U.S. citizens.</span>”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><span face="robotocondensed-regular-webfont, serif" style="background: white; color: #003875;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">So, short of traveling back to Iraq – and, is there a government official there who would even invite us? – how can we work for healing and reconciliation today? At least one way is to get to know and welcome the Iraqis who have come here as immigrants, asylees, refugees, and visitors. Listen to their stories. Hear and learn from their experiences. Pay attention to the poets and artists, the playwrights and storytellers. Visit their mosques and attend iftar gatherings during the holy month of Ramadan. Ask questions. Have empathy. Open your arms. Welcome them to your homes. Say, “I’m sorry” without any expectations of hearing a word of forgiveness. How are individuals able to forgive what nations do to others? And read – start with <u>A Stranger in Your Own City: Travels in the Middle East’s Long War </u>by Ghaith Abdul-Ahad.<o:p></o:p></p>Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-72025569612051033412023-03-02T12:10:00.001-06:002024-02-15T13:23:06.021-06:00Reminiscing About Jimmy Carter <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUqZZ4Owo1xX97L0DRifCZQm3Eex5XwGf-3LIm6ro5eFqBXBZr7T_aiFmitgPGzDD0onmPgmS4nF3mWA6Ev9SI8z79y7LGfemnxNpoafj6ZEwJXGKgft69AFMWKJqGGiF4w-EgRdBBiHi7JyoNFzNO4QT98x0MXwbzgCLf0Ip3813HZDdlxsd1qBeRQ50" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEhUqZZ4Owo1xX97L0DRifCZQm3Eex5XwGf-3LIm6ro5eFqBXBZr7T_aiFmitgPGzDD0onmPgmS4nF3mWA6Ev9SI8z79y7LGfemnxNpoafj6ZEwJXGKgft69AFMWKJqGGiF4w-EgRdBBiHi7JyoNFzNO4QT98x0MXwbzgCLf0Ip3813HZDdlxsd1qBeRQ50" width="320" /></a></div><br /> <b style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"><u>Reflecting on Jimmy Carter</u></b><span face="Calibri, sans-serif" style="font-size: 12pt;"> by Steve Clemens</span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">With word of former President Jimmy Carter entering hospice care, I thought back on my (limited) interactions with him and his family.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">When I moved to Sumter County, GA in the fall of 1975, I became aware that a former Governor of the state had decided to enter the race to become the nominee of the Democratic Party for President of the US in the upcoming 1976 election. The former governor was not all that popular with a number of white residents of the county where he was born and now prided himself of being “from Plains, GA”. The intentional community I had joined (Koinonia Partners) was located midway between the county seat of Americus and the small town of Plains and the local children attended school in Plains.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">Because my wife Christine was a nurse, she had a particular interest in a Plains resident who had worked at Koinonia in the 1950s and 60s (at great physical risk to herself) because she also labored as a midwife. Christine loved her work with new mothers and babies and sought out “Miss Gussie” Jackson who regaled us with her stories of all the babies she helped deliver. But one story stuck out for us when she told us about the time her home was firebombed by local racist white men because of her connections to Koinonia. Fortunately, only the porch was destroyed and she was not injured but she told us a “local white man”, a school board member, Jimmy Carter, publicly denounced the White Citizens Council for their racial violence. In the late 1950s in Plains, that took tremendous courage. She told us how proud she was that this man was now running for President! Later on, we found out that one of her daughters, Oculia, now worked as a cook for the Carter family.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">So, when the local newspaper or radio station announced that the Carter family was inviting anyone to come to the old train depot in Plains on Tuesday nights in 1976 to watch the primary campaign returns, I decided to join in and sat with Chip, Billy, Gloria, Miss Lillian, or other family members in a rocking chair for several of the early primaries before many people believed Carter had any chance of winning. (I didn’t tell them that I really supported Governor Jerry Brown as my preferred candidate – a more progressive contender at the time.) The sign over the train depot read “Jimmy Carter Presidential Campaign Headquarters”.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">When Jimmy came back home between campaign rallies, it was funny to see big men wearing new bib overalls and flannel shirts in the crowd. The Secret Service assigned to candidate Carter were told to “wear what the candidate was wearing” to better blend in – thus the new clothes. I approached one of the agents to ask how he liked this assignment and he was casual and friendly, taking time to answer my questions as he continued to scan the crowd for possible threats. As Carter began to win more and more primaries, the Secret Service agents assigned to him became much less friendly and more “business-like”. By the time he got the nomination, those agents were much less “friendly” – no bib overalls now and fewer smiles or conversation!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">Again, in the early days of the campaign, TV networks or newspapers sent their top reporters to cover other candidates. But as Carter racked up more support, the likes of Sam Donaldson and Kenley Jones came to Sumter County to report on this unique candidate. Because there were no hotels in Plains, the reporters stayed in Americus. They had per-diem allowances for lodging and meals but there were no 5-Star restaurants nearby. A local woman opened up a double-wide trailer on the outskirts of Americus with a sign that read “Faye’s Bar-B-Que Villa”. When Christine and I went to eat there one Saturday evening when Carter was in town, we were surprised to see both Donaldson and Jones come in with several other reporters, carrying bottles in brown bags because Faye didn’t have a license to serve alcohol. We could overhear them complaining about the lack of any “nightlife” in Sumter County. Soon, I’m sure at their request, steaks were added to her menu!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">As the campaign continued successfully, there was more and more interest in the candidate’s brother, Billy and his sister, “go-go” Gloria (she rode a motorcycle). Even more intriguing was Carter’s mother, “Miss Lillian”. She always had an opinion and freely shared it. Rosalynn’s family seemed a lot less memorable to the media.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">My hesitancy in supporting Carter stemmed primarily to his embrace of his Naval service under Admiral Rickover with nuclear submarines. Having recently been part of a year-long Bible study group with Phil Berrigan and Liz Macalister before moving to Koinonia, I had been mentored into the anti-nuke movement by some of the best activists. Carter didn’t emphasize cutting the military budget, didn’t eschew nuclear energy plants, and was not known for taking a strong stance against the debacle of our war and policy on Vietnam in comparison to other candidates. Senator George McGovern was my candidate just four years prior and I still had hopes for that kind of political courage.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">But there was an incident that made me realize that Carter did have some guts. Right in the middle of the campaign, July 4, 1976 was the Bicentennial of the Declaration of US Independence. But it also fell on a Sunday and many “Christian” churches unfortunately got swept up in a celebration of civil religion. Carter was in Plains that weekend and attended the services at his Plains Baptist Church. He was asked to give the opening prayer – and to be honest, it was the only redeeming part of a service which devolved into a “God Bless America” rally which assumed the “Prince of Peace” was now a cheerleader for the American way of life. (Soon after his inauguration, the Carters joined a new church down the road, Maranatha Baptist, founded specifically on a principle of racial inclusion as an expression of the gospel. Plains Baptist had quietly voted to continue its policy of “discouraging”, if not preventing the attendance of people of color at its services.)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">During the campaign, Playboy Magazine ran an interview with Carter where he famously admitted to having “lusted in his heart”. What particularly interested us at Koinonia was the assertion of Carter’s support for the interracial community down the road, Koinonia Farm, during the racial tensions in the 1940s, 50s, 60s, … By the time the interview came out, Clarence Jordan, the co-founder of our community had been dead almost 7 years. Florence, his surviving widow was asked by reporters about details. She told them he didn’t make a public defense of the embattled community during the time of the attacks against it by the Klan and other white racists. However, it became clear a year later when the Ku Klux Klan held a rally just outside of Plains city limit in protest of Carter’s policies. (I was called to testify at a trial of the man who drove his car into the speaker’s platform to protest the KKK. Before taking the stand, I was sequestered in a room with the Imperial Wizard of the Klan, Bill Wilkinson. He was joking with the sheriff deputies and handing out his business cards to them.)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">In December 1976, the President-elect welcomed many dignitaries to his modest home in Plains while he interviewed potential Cabinet members. Two of my friends, Phil Berrigan and Ladon Sheats traveled from their Catholic Worker House in Baltimore to outside his house in Plains to protest against Carter’s lack of opposition to nuclear weapons. I didn’t join them.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">Soon after taking office, with Plains now becoming a destination on the map, a newspaper was started called The Plains Monitor to cover the news in Carter’s home county. Besides local news and news about the Carter family, it became an avenue for me to publish Letters to The Editor, commenting on national and international policy. They printed my open letter to President Carter on why I was withholding part of my income tax as a conscientious objector to our military budget. When Rosalynn Carter was asked to attend the keel laying of a new nuclear ballistic submarine carrying nuclear weapons in April 1979, I wrote a letter to the editor of why I was driving to Connecticut to risk arrest in protest. The paper later printed an article and photo about some school children from Plains school who traveled with me to the protest. (They and their parents were members of our community at Koinonia).<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">During Carter’s presidency, I got to know Miss Lillian better when we both attended Fellowship Baptist Church in Americus. When Plains Baptist refused to integrate, Miss Lillian sought out a local Baptist church which welcomed all and this small congregation (compared to the First Baptist Church of Americus) fit the bill for her. In Sunday School class she was often outspoken and clearly had a deep commitment to her faith. The church also tolerated my statements during announcement time when I asked for prayers before getting arrested at the submarine dedication or when I refused to pay war taxes. The fact that the pastor and his wife and several other members of the church attended my wedding in 1978 at Koinonia showed their willingness to be public about their witness for racial inclusion.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">Because of all the attention now being paid to the small town of barely 650 people that was home to a US President, and possibly due to the efforts of the new First Lady, Plains opened the Plains Primary Healthcare Clinic just across the street from the train depot, the former campaign headquarters. It was a welcome addition to this small town where healthcare resources particularly for many of the local Black residents was sorely lacking. And they were looking to hire a local nurse as part of the staff. Christine jumped at the opportunity and worked there for several years. Big crowds often developed when the President was in town, so any extra infrastructure was welcome. The local gas station now hawked cans of “Billy Beer”, named after Jimmy’s brother who was well known for his love of that beverage. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">As the end of his first term approached, several crises loomed: a Soviet invasion into Afghanistan to prop up a failing socialist-leaning government, the Americans held hostage by a revolutionary movement in Iran after Carter allowed the former Shah to receive medical treatment in the US, inflation, gas shortages, … Then an intra-party struggle led by Senator Ted Kennedy to challenge him for the nomination of the Democratic Party found the President looking for ways to shore up his standing. He called for a boycott of the summer Olympics scheduled for Moscow, and to appear less weak against his militaristic Republican opponent, he reinstated mandatory registration for the US Military draft for all males ages 18-26 who had not previously served in the military. As a conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, I decided to write President Carter a letter refusing to register. I did not include in the letter the fact that I was past the age of requirement, only that for reasons of religious belief and conscience I was publicly refusing. It wasn’t until after he was soundly defeated by Ronald Reagan that I received a formal reply – a letter from the Department of Justice stating the consequences if my refusal continued: I think it was 5 years in jail and a fine. I received several other letters the next year or two before two FBI agents showed up at the Koinonia office asking to interview me. I told them I would continue to refuse to register and politely declined to tell them my Social Security number, my mother’s maiden name, or my birthdate. After about ½ hour, the one agent said to the other, “he appears to be older than 26 to me so I think we needn’t continue [with pursuing a prosecution for draft evasion].”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">But it was in his post-presidency where I met him outside his role as a candidate. Our intentional community, Koinonia, was also the birthplace for Habitat for Humanity. After he was out of office, whenever he was in Plains, Jimmy taught Sunday School at his Maranatha Baptist Church. Christine was close friends of a Hutterite couple, having spent a month at their community in North Dakota in the early 70’s. When Solomon and Sarah Maendel came to Americus to lend their skills and labor to the growing Habitat movement, they chose to attend Jimmy’s Sunday School sessions. After several weeks, and noticing their peculiar dress, the former president invited them to join him and Rosalynn for lunch after church. Jimmy remarked that as President, he found Quakers and Mennonites who served overseas to be some of the best sources for information about what the people thought about US foreign policy. Hutterites, being cousins of Mennonites (and more easily identified because of their distinctive dress), intrigued him. Solomon told Jimmy about his work with Habitat, and, as only someone who eschewed voting, scolded the former president for not being involved with Habitat and its work. The next day Jimmy called Millard Fuller to ask how he might be involved.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">In 1983 when the Carters became “involved” with Habitat, they were quite generous with both their time and talents. They even joined an awareness and fundraising walk for Habitat’s 10<sup>th</sup> anniversary from Americus to Kansas City in 1986. Christine and I only walked the first 8 miles to Plains – but we had a friend, Carolyn Schurr who walked all 1000 miles with the Carters and others, staying in churches en route overnight. Ten years later, on the 20<sup>th</sup> anniversary, I helped build the house next to the one the Carter’s worked on during a “blitz build” in Americus. Jimmy was always one of the first workers on site in the morning and didn’t quit early. When reporters came by to talk with them, he suggested they talk to the new homebuyers so he could continue to work. He was skilled and dedicated and used his “star-power” to bring many others to worksites as volunteers.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">In the mid-1980s he often came by our farm community to give greetings to Florence Jordan and have tea with her. It was hard to miss the Secret Service agents milling about as he visited. He even detoured on a planned trip to China to stop by to pay his respects to the co-founder of Koinonia when she died in 1986. At the request of some Partners who regularly attended his Sunday School class, Jimmy agreed to speak at one of Koinonia’s worship services which always took place on Sunday evenings. While I admired all that he had done for Habitat and other projects in his post-presidency, I couldn’t help but reflect that this man had also threatened to use nuclear weapons against the Soviets. So, after he spoke, I wrote him a letter describing the tensions I felt. I addressed him as “a brother in Christ” and shared my discomfort on this particular issue. He sent me a card back suggesting I read his recent book where he described how he tried to put his faith into action during his presidency. I had already read that book and noticed how his chapter on standing up to the Russians was devoid of references to Jesus’ teaching on loving our enemies. We also had strong disagreement about his acceptance of the Death Penalty at that time but over the years, he came to agree with Rosalynn and began to call for its abolition.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">One thing I was grateful for was his willingness to use his “celebrity” status to help even “minor” causes. The public school system in Sumter County was woefully underfunded as many of the white citizens send their children to a private, segregated “Christian” school and then elected school board members who tried to keep taxes low. In the mid-80s, the local school in Plains decided to have a Festival to raise funds for classrooms, supplies, and other needs. Koinonia was invited to have a stand to sell our organic strawberries with fresh whipped cream. But the big attraction was a free concert Jimmy initiated on the school grounds featuring his friend Willy Nelson. At the end of the wonderful event, Jimmy and Rosalynn joined Willy on the stage to sing “Amazing Grace”.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">Jimmy was proud of his hometown and often joined events to support it. One event that sticks out in my mind included a 5K run for children out of town and then circling back to a finish line right by the train depot. Our oldest son was encouraged to run by the son of a friend from Habitat who loved running. Micah was not known (at that time) as a distance runner but we were shocked when he placed third, ahead of his friend Josh and was awarded a trophy by the former president. When he got off the stage, we remarked that we were surprised he did better than his friend. Micah told us, “Well I got tired and stopped running once we got out of town and just ran back to the finish when the others returned.” Needless to say, we asked him to go back to the stage and return the trophy so the proper kid could receive it!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">I never did vote for Jimmy Carter. In the primary I supported Jerry Brown. In the general elections of 1976 and 1980, I wrote in Daniel Berrigan for President. But, reflecting back after all these years, Jimmy Carter did more good as President than any others in my lifetime. As he passes on to become one of our ancestors, I’m grateful for his life and witness, warts and all.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p>Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-83228461475575784462022-09-15T16:04:00.004-05:002022-09-15T16:04:54.701-05:00Moving From Conscientious Objector to War Resister<p> <br /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><b>The Day I Moved from Conscientious Objector to War Resister</b> by Steve Clemens 9/15/22<o:p></o:p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">I’m not sure which Nixon speech it was. It happened near the end of 1971 or early in 1972. Once again, the President called for an escalation of the war on Vietnam. That day I had received in the mail a letter from the Selective Service Administration (my draft board) asking me, I assume, to update my mailing address since I had just graduated early from Wheaton College and my II-S Student deferment had just expired. I looked at the letter, remembered Nixon’s speech and took it into the bathroom of my parents’ home.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">Three years earlier, when I turned 18 in the fall of 1968, I chose to register as a Conscientious Objector. Looking back on that time, it wasn’t a political statement against the War on Vietnam; rather, it was a religious statement that my commitment to the words of Jesus to “love my enemies” took precedence over the demands of my government. For almost a year after filing my claim as a CO, I took no part in anti-war demonstrations in my college town just outside of Chicago. However, in the Spring of 1969 I was invited to attend a “Black Power Symposium” at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL and my carefully constructed conservative white world was turned upside down. That weekend was followed by a week of (compulsory) chapel services at Wheaton led by a former NY street gang member who “got saved, turned his life over to Jesus” and became one of a minuscule few Black, evangelical evangelists, Tom Skinner (<a href="https://www.skinnerleaders.org/our-history" style="color: #0563c1;">https://www.skinnerleaders.org/our-history</a>). Tom recommended that I spend my summer break working in the inner city (aka the Black community) of Philadelphia, just 30 miles south of my childhood home.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">That summer introduced me to how the predominately white Philadelphia Police Force (under the direction of a very racist Frank Rizzo) responded to both Black and Hispanic neighborhoods. It was a wake-up call which forced me to consider the intersections between my religious identity and my political and social views. When I returned to my Illinois campus that fall, I joined a local Maryknoll priest in his weekly demonstrations outside the DuPage County Draft Board office in Wheaton. I started attending the weekly Operation Breadbasket services led by Jesse Jackson in Chicago. I chose an African American roommate. And I started reading <u>Ramparts</u> and other “leftist” magazines which were stridently against the war. I helped lead a campus anti-war group named after the pacifist, abolitionist founder of the college, the Jonathan Blanchard Association. I learned about my Anabaptist ancestors in a Bible History course. I met Jim Wallis as he was founding The Post American – which was re-named a few years later, Sojourners Magazine and was reading John Howard Yoder, Daniel Berrigan, and other faith-based peacemaking activists.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">I knew there were people in these movements who were “draft resisters” and/or “draft card burners” – but I didn’t know any of them personally. But I also knew the consequences faced by those prosecuted for such: often 2-5 years in prison. So, when I went into my parents’ bathroom after the Nixon speech, I took the Draft Card from my wallet (we were required by law to carry them) and burned it, letting the ashes go down the drain. I knew doing so privately was a bit cowardly, so I then decided to up the risk level. I crossed my name and address off my un-opened Selective Service letter and wrote above it – “Refused, obscene material! - Return to Sender” and put it back in the mailbox.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">[Fast-forward 8 years later when President Carter, trying to win re-election against Ronald Reagan, re-instated mandatory draft registration for males between the ages of 18-26. Never mind that I was 30 at the time. I wrote to the President, telling him I refused to resister for reasons of conscience. After numerous threatening letters over the next year, finally two FBI agents showed up at my workplace to inquire about my act of resistance. After politely refusing to tell them my Social Security number, my mother’s maiden name, or my birthplace and age, they decided amongst themselves that I was probably “older than 26” so they said they were closing my case.]<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in; text-align: start;">It still took me another 3 years after my burnt draft card for me to embrace “active” nonviolent resistance rather than just reacting to what our government was doing after the fact. Liz McAlister became a friend and mentor along with Phil Berrigan, her husband. She gently pushed me to embrace active nonviolence and see war resistance as a logical outcome if one takes conscientious objection seriously. Then she got arrested with me and 59 others at the White House in the last major demonstration against the Vietnam War in late March 1975. Dan Berrigan, the author who had inspired me and Dick Gregory who challenged me at the Black Power Symposium, were placed in handcuffs alongside me.<o:p></o:p></p></div>Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-61975627014684347662022-06-22T14:22:00.003-05:002022-07-01T08:33:58.182-05:00Remarks given at Mennonite Heritage Center on my Peacemaking Journey<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjPImanqzOmkNmBN8gAYPPRyZd7mrZIfeH6rWDz6FNO-FgLxVUrS-SZL3Iy_jMT-dZpy7D219PyR235dq_qn38jVs__KEMBO-aeICuQs5p2JDRvJMic_9KZkH8JC7GBLO3yD6_w1Xaipob_d6pirfI2YlgVoBhfRqBVeGao678LD1r9VqYQkkpKAP/s4032/20220617_110919%20(1).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="4032" height="387" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDjPImanqzOmkNmBN8gAYPPRyZd7mrZIfeH6rWDz6FNO-FgLxVUrS-SZL3Iy_jMT-dZpy7D219PyR235dq_qn38jVs__KEMBO-aeICuQs5p2JDRvJMic_9KZkH8JC7GBLO3yD6_w1Xaipob_d6pirfI2YlgVoBhfRqBVeGao678LD1r9VqYQkkpKAP/w517-h387/20220617_110919%20(1).jpg" width="517" /></a></div><br /> <p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><u>Peacemaking Journey Story for Mennonite Heritage Center Gathering</u>- Steve Clemens – June 17, 2022<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">I was Born in October 1950, the third of three sons to Lester Stauffer Clemens and Kathryn Hockman Clemens and lived for the first 15 years of my life in a farmhouse by the entrance to Hatfield Packing Company in Hatfield Township. For those first 7 years we shared the house with my cousin Butch, his wife Arlayne, and the first 3 of their children. Across the street was the Arthur Hackman family dairy farm and I later connected with the oldest son, Walton, who had a pivotal role in my faith journey.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">Our family was one of the founding members of what was then called “Calvary Mennonite Church” and I understood that I was the first infant to be “dedicated” in their new church building on Route 113 on the outskirts of Souderton. Bill Anders was the pastor for my first 10 years or so; followed by Art Malles for the following five years. I knew Bill was from a Mennonite background and I came to understand Art was from a Baptist background who came with at least some appreciation for the Anabaptist heritage. It never dawned on me that we were not affiliated with any of the Mennonite Conferences – Franconia, Eastern Board, or General Conference – but I was aware that we were “different” in that our church emphasized “missions” and expressed ourselves in more “evangelical” terms. I remember my mom wore a head covering in worship at least until I was about 7 and then it kind of disappeared. I also believed our church taught the “Truth” and only a few other churches did so – none of them being “Mennonite”.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">The two centers of my life were Calvary Mennonite and Hatfield Packing. Virtually all my friends were connected with one or the other, including most of our relatives. On the Clemens side, only 6 of the surviving 10 children of my father’s generation remained “Mennonite” with 4 of them initially or eventually ending up at Calvary (“Mennonite”). We never missed a service (as I recall), even being sure we attended a church service on Sunday mornings while away on vacation. Most of our vacations were to Highland Lake Bible Conference in upstate New York. “Christian Service Brigade” was our replacement for Boy Scouts. We attended Sunday School, worship, and Sunday evening services, Boys Brigade on Monday evening, Wednesday evening prayer meeting, and “evangelistic” services or “missionary conferences” whenever they were held in our area – or we traveled to Philadelphia or New York if someone like Billy Graham was holding services.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">I “accepted Jesus as my Personal Savior” at age 7 when my mom convinced me that I didn’t want to “go to Hell” and later was baptized as an “adult” at age 12 at Calvary. I identified as a “Bible-believing, born-again Christian” -clearly distinguishing myself from my peers at public school and/or the workers at the meat packing plant. However, that neat world began falling apart in 6<sup>th</sup> grade when I was sexually molested repeatedly by my male teacher. I never told my parents about this on-going trauma, believing this happened to me because I was guilty of some sin – after all, “All things work together for good to them that love God” – was one of many Bible verses I had memorized as a young child. So, when my parents presented me with the opportunity to choose to go to a “Christian school” for grades 10-12, I jumped at the prospect. Note: Christopher Dock was NOT one of the options presented to me.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">At the Stony Brook School For Boys on Long Island, NY, I was now away from the very narrow understanding of who was a “true Christian” since the school’s chaplain came from an Anglican background and the Headmaster was<br />Presbyterian (and I even later learned he was a Democrat!). I learned the Apostles’ Creed, saw others “reading” their prayers, and even had classmates who were Jewish or certainly not “born again”. However, I was so convinced by my upbringing that I needed to choose the “straight and narrow way” and that “secular education” could tempt me to “drink, dance, smoke, and play cards”, I choose the safe option of going to the “evangelical Harvard”, Wheaton College after my Christian Prep School. I was only 17 when I graduated in June of 1968, mostly oblivious to world events – especially the Civil Rights movement and the Vietnam War. All my classmates were going on to college, so the military draft wasn’t even on my radar.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">In September 1968, en route to Wheaton, we stopped in Fort Wayne, IN to visit my dad’s youngest sister, Betty, who had been widowed several years before. My cousin Jon was home that weekend from his Alternative Service (1-W) assignment as an orderly at a local hospital and I was somewhat stunned to realize he was a Conscientious Objector. I knew there were some who chose that route but didn’t personally know them. My dad and his older brother, Ezra were drafted and both participated in WWII. My oldest brother, Jerry was drafted in 1967 into the Army and served in Korea.) Two days later, when registering for my classes at Wheaton, I was handed a rifle, military uniform, and was told I was now enrolled in the compulsory Army ROTC classes for all freshman and sophomore male students. We had military drill at 7AM two days a week and Military Science classes three days a week. It wasn’t until I took my rifle up to the 3<sup>rd</sup> floor of a women’s dormitory for our shooting practice on the campus rifle range that the cognitive dissonance began: the targets were round circles with a bull’s eye but subconsciously I realized that, in reality, they were Vietnamese soldiers.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">My dad would take my brothers and me hunting each fall since I was at least 10, always instructing us as we were “sighting in” our guns that “we were never to point our guns at something we didn’t wish to shoot, we ate what we killed, and we were never, ever, to point our guns at a human being.” The gun my dad gave me at age 12 for deer hunting was a German Mauser rifle he had picked up on a European battlefield when he was in the US Army infantry and had disassembled it and mailed it home. Although he had the bayonet with the swastika on it, we didn’t attach it to the rifle for deer hunting. My dad never talked about the war or his “service” in it – only telling us “I did some things I wasn’t proud of, and I promised the Lord that if I made it home safely, I’d turn my life around and go to church.”<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">So, a month later as I was approaching my 18<sup>th</sup> birthday and was required to register for the Military Draft, I was approached by the Resident Assistant for my dormitory floor, and he asked me if I would like to pray and/or talk with him before I registered for the Draft. He was one of only a handful of Mennonites at Wheaton. We talked, prayed, and I decided that Jesus really meant what he said when he told us to “love our enemies” and I decided that I would register as a Conscientious Objector. My Draft Board wouldn’t rule on my application right away since I had an educational deferment as a college student, but I knew this decision to choose a different path might have some consequences.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">Briefly, demanding that I be released from the ROTC requirement put me at odds with the Wheaton administration and I quickly began associating with the campus “rebels” – members of the Student Government and the few Black and LatinX students on campus. It led me to attend a Black Power Symposium that Spring at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL followed by a summer working with street gangs in Philadelphia with the evangelical organization, Teen Haven. When I returned to Wheaton in the fall, I started participating in peace marches led by a local Catholic priest at the Wheaton Draft Board. I travelled many Saturday mornings to the southside of Chicago to attend Operation Breadbasket services led by Jesse Jackson. Later I took a few courses at the nearby Maryknoll Seminary and helped lead a campus peace group at Wheaton named after its founder, Jonathan Blanchard who was a pacifist and abolitionist. It took longer for my theology to change than my politics but a Church History course my junior year (led by a dissident professor) educated me about the Anabaptist movement I never learned at Calvary; and then John Howard Yoder was (surprisingly) allowed to preach in chapel (but only once!). Just before graduating early in December 1971, I met Jim Wallis as he was just beginning as editor of <i>The Post American</i>, later to be re-named <i>Sojourners Magazine</i>) and we began a long friendship. He introduced me to Art Gish and Ron Sider in the coming year and I devoured <u>The Politics of Jesus</u> and <u>The New Left and Christian Radicalism</u>. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">After a year of grad school in Social Work at Temple University School of Social Administration, I decided to drop out and do my “voluntary service”. In December 1969, the Military Draft switched to a lottery system as a way to tone down a lot of the growing anti-war sentiment. My birthdate gave me the lottery number 254 so I was almost certainly not going to be drafted in 1970 or whenever I left college but I felt a moral obligation to “serve my country” as a conscientious objector. I called up my former neighbor, Walton Hackman, who I discovered was now the Secretary of the MCC Peace Section in Akron, PA to inquire about doing service. He recommended that I consider going to the deep South with a joint MDS/MCC project in rural Mississippi. (He didn’t tell me then about his own experience there during Freedom Summer.) Just before leaving for Glen Allan, Mississippi, he invited me to supper and after discussing with him my excitement about <u>The Politics of Jesus</u>, he handed me a copy of William Stringfellow’s <u>An Ethic For Christians and Other Aliens In A Strange Land</u>. After some adventures in Mississippi, including 2 weekends in Philadelphia, MS, Walton asked if I would be willing to serve a year in Washington, DC at the Peace Section DC office.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">At our MCC VS orientation in Akron for that assignment I met Ladon Sheats and heard about Koinonia Farm for the first time. Ladon showed a multi-media presentation on “Values” – comparing and contrasting the values of our American culture and the values of the Kingdom of God as proclaimed by Jesus - and that planted seeds for me to travel to south Georgia after that year. Meanwhile, in Washington, DC I lived in the home of a former VS couple, John Swarr and Eva Beidler, because there was no VS house for MCC volunteers. John invited me to be part of a Monday Night Bible Study Group at the Community For Creative Nonviolence where I was blessed to be part of a group led by Phil Berrigan and Liz Macalister. I was now a long way from my anti-Catholic youth at Calvary Mennonite! We studied Abraham Heschel’s <u>The Prophets</u> and I was further initiated in the growing anti-nuclear movement after the Vietnam War ended. After several forays into quasi-legal protest at the White House, Liz encouraged me to take the next step and risk arrest more directly during the last major demonstration against the Vietnam War in March 1975. I told Delton Franz at the Peace Section office that I felt called to do this and he (somewhat reluctantly -as we were only an office of 3) agreed that I could act on my conscience.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">It was my letter to the editor of the Souderton Independent about my arrest that caused John Ruth to call Walton to inquire about me. Walton later told me John was somewhat chagrined that I was someone from a break-away group rather than one of the Mennonites who remained in that tradition. My visits with Walton after moving to Koinonia in the fall of 1975 often led to discussions about my own family history with the Mennonites that I never knew. While only in jail for 6 hours at that first arrest, I was shocked to learn that a few of my 61 fellow arrestees refused release “on their own recognizance” because, they said, it wouldn’t have been offered to them if they were Black, uneducated, or poor. I thought I had taken a major step – only to realize there were many harder and deeper challenges ahead. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">At Koinonia I learned about active peacemaking in the context of a residential community. One could choose to act as a “lone wolf” but if you wanted to last for the long haul, you needed others to challenge and support you. After a week of risky protests inside the Pentagon at the beginning of September 1980, Ladon Sheats approached me in about a possible Prayer Pilgrimage to the plant where all US nuclear weapons are assembled - it took me a while before saying “yes”. (I did not know at that time about the plans for the first Plowshares witness which would occur in the next few days but Ladon, now living at Jonah House, did.)<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">Fortunately, Christine and two other Koinonia friends were able to join me in the trip to Amarillo and the Pantex Plant in early February 1981. Gail, 8 months pregnant, and Christine chose to watch from a ½ mile away in case we were shot by the armed guards, but Edwin rode in the car with me and helped me get out the folding ladder we constructed to get over the first 12’ fence. As we entered the grounds of the huge Pantex plant, I definitely noticed the increase of adrenaline – but surprisingly I didn’t feel fear. Our group had spent the previous 3 days talking, praying, and even practicing climbing the ladders. Christine and I talked about the possibility of being shot at this heavily guarded facility. But when my faith overcame my fear, I felt truly free! I was moved to tears when a Resident Partner from Koinonia mailed me a photo of the whole community standing behind a banner reading, “Hang in there!” that they took on Easter Sunday morning as they prayed for me in jail. I felt a lot of support from my community over the 6 months during arraignment, trial, sentencing, while remaining in the county jail and then on to Federal prison.<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">After release from the Texarkana Federal Prison, I took the Greyhound bus back to Georgia and my waiting community. Four years later, and with quite a lot of discussion, 2 other community members joined me as we sat on the railroad tracks when the White Train loaded with nuclear warheads destined for the submarine base in Charleston, SC came through a town that was about 20 minutes from Koinonia. We realized we faced a possible 1-year sentence (assuming the train would stop – and we took precautions to clearly inform both law enforcement and the railroad security personnel of our intent) but ended up with only 5 days in jail before public pressure forced our judge to have a hearing on our unusual charges- contempt of court! While we fasted in jail, the Resident Partners of our community skipped their weekly Partners Meeting on Sunday night to travel to the jail and sing to us from outside its walls!<o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">I now see as providential that my parents had a huge, bound copy of <u>The Martyr’s Mirror</u> in our home. We didn’t have a TV until I was 13 so I spent a lot of time exploring what books we had. I learned at an early age that following my faith could have serious consequences. I owe much of my peacemaking desires to the nurturing I received from the Anabaptist tradition: The history of conscientious objection, taking the Scriptures seriously about loving ones enemies, books and stories of Peace Church people challenging the war machine and injustice, Walton, the Sojourners folk, Ladon Sheats and the teaching and witness of Clarence Jordan, Vincent Harding and his influence on Martin King, Mary Sprunger-Froese and her husband Peter who were part of the Pantex 6, Walter Wink, Ched Myers and Elaine Enns, … the list goes on. Some identified as Mennonites, others as Anabaptists, still others as “disciples” or “followers of the way”. It is somewhat ironic that it took a Church History course at an evangelical college to help guide me back to my own (squandered) heritage. <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">Being part of Peace Teams in Iraq and Afghanistan and later returning to Iraq were rare privileges to stretch my peacemaking skills and muscles. Many friends have helped me broaden my peacemaking to recognize the intersections with climate justice, racial reconciliation, interfaith cooperation, correcting economic disparities, re-learning history from the view of the underclass, marginalized, and oppressed, … When I first declared myself a conscientious objector, it was primarily a personal position – what I wouldn’t do. It hadn’t affected my politics, my lifestyle, or my theology. I was primarily a <b><i><u>passivist</u></i></b>. It took me a while to learn that to be a <b><i><u>pacifist</u></i></b>, one had to address the root causes that created the conflicts – one had to actively engage the issues and struggles of others – not be content in remaining “pure” (I wouldn’t do that!). And so, my journey into peacemaking continues … <o:p></o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;"><o:p> </o:p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">Christine and I were married in May of 1978 and our sons, Micah and Zach, were born in 1983 and 1986.<o:p></o:p></p><p></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in;">[discussion followed].<o:p></o:p></p>Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-52969857082690834502022-01-12T17:22:00.005-06:002022-01-12T17:29:53.776-06:00Remembering Ryan Karis<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTXK19O2xcoLeCSZIKLz6e6DHtCxohtANk5hfFRjdG4Bcxgi-5JOmJPNzochwxJNSSaYeF1tykYeeGH_ZSI5_r1G-Zute7WQdocH3jWGrdqcOgYaczGKzhcKLbivyOy2MRKIkSC48F1Uw/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="1128" data-original-width="1105" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTXK19O2xcoLeCSZIKLz6e6DHtCxohtANk5hfFRjdG4Bcxgi-5JOmJPNzochwxJNSSaYeF1tykYeeGH_ZSI5_r1G-Zute7WQdocH3jWGrdqcOgYaczGKzhcKLbivyOy2MRKIkSC48F1Uw/" width="235" /></a></div><br /> <b>Remembering Ryan Neal Delp Karis</b> - by Steve Clemens<p></p><p>I knew him first as Ryan Delp, the quiet Quaker from rural Indiana who was one of the mainstays of the Koinonia Partners Construction Crew when we first met in 1975 in rural southwestern Georgia. A “gentle giant” – he was taller than any of the other construction crew – Ryan, trained as an engineer at Purdue, laid out the corners of the lots and helped direct the design and construction of the single-family homes they helped build, first in what became known as Koinonia Village and then Forest Park for families who became homeowners for the first time. Some of them were former tenant farmers and these houses became their first opportunity to actually own a home and begin to build generational stability.</p><p>I was there when Karen West was in my volunteer group in 1975 and as their relationship blossomed into a marriage, they chose a new name, Karis, a word from the Greek New Testament meaning Grace of God, as their identity of this partnership which has blessed many others these past 45 years.</p><p>Ryan was one of the first three or four Habitat for Humanity international “volunteers”, surveying Ntondo, a small village in Zaire at the invitation/encouragement of Millard Fuller. How about that for a honeymoon?</p><p>He helped design and build the first passive solar house for Koinonia and then he and Karen invited Christine and I to move in with them as its first residents. If memory serves me correctly, we ate popcorn every night! It also marked the beginning of our long tradition of playing cards and telling stories.</p><p>He and Karen were two of the six inaugural members of Jubilee Partners, pioneers – helping build the first structures of this community in northwest Georgia through which thousands of refugees have come. Their living in tents while the first houses were built are warm memories Christine and I share with them.</p><p>Ryan and Karen regaled us with stories of their living in a refugee camp in Thailand to better understand the refugees coming from southeast Asia in the aftermath of the US War on Vietnam; then going to Cuernavaca, Mexico to learn Spanish to better work with a growing flood of refugees and asylum seekers from Central America; and then helping coordinate the Ano de Jubileo program that helped hundreds if not thousands of families and individuals find a new home and safety in Canada after the US shut the doors of compassion in the 1980s. He and I shared many bus trips to the southeast Texas border with Mexico and returning to Jubilee in north Georgia with a bus-load of refugees – or trips from Jubilee to Winnipeg, Manitoba, or to London and/or Toronto, Ontario to their new asylum homes.</p><p>But refugees were not Ryan’s only concern. As the Reagan White House years “progressed”, Ryan and his fellow Jubilee members decided to find ways to track and protest the shipment of nuclear weapons through our state and the southeastern part of the country as, what was then known as the “White Train” carried nuclear warheads from the assembly plant, Pantex, outside of Amarillo, Texas to the submarine base at Charleston, South Carolina and later to a new Trident submarine base built at Kings Bay, Georgia. I remember more than once Ryan called me in the middle of the night to tell me a train-load of nukes was headed our way – it had just left Memphis, or Anniston, or some other point and would soon be coming down Main Street in Montezuma, GA so we could gather our signs, candles, and banner to vigil along the tracks. That banner, a full-size sheet was emblazoned with the Scripture passage: “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit.” So Ryan’s passion for nonviolence was one of influences that warmed my heart as I sat in a cold jail cell after blocking that train.</p><p>As work and ministry continued to evolve at Jubilee, so did a family grow. Ryan and Karen invited us to join them at the Atlanta airport as they met their new son, Andrew, as he was carried off the airplane after arriving from his native Korea. We also celebrated with them as Rebecka joined their family.</p><p>Christine and I made numerous weekend (and occasionally months-long) trips to north Georgia to help build more structures at Jubilee for the growing community as well as the refugee ministry. With a mutual friend, Robbie, we would drive into nearby Athens for a dinner or to go to the food bank and end up in the parking lot of the discount grocery store with a ½ gallon of ice cream and 6 spoons. We’d sit, laugh, tell stories, and enjoy being together. Later, as Robbie fell in love and married a refugee from Cambodia who had come through Jubilee with her family, Chou also joined us when we’d visit.</p><p>Ryan’s birthday, December 28 th , always fell on what is called in the Christian calendar, The Feast of the Holy Innocents – when the church remembers the story of Jesus fleeing with his family to Egypt as a refugee to escape the murderous intent of King Herod. We would often have a public witness against nuclear weapons (which threatened children all over the world) or for immigrants and refugees or those on death row on that day. So, after a solemn vigil (or occasional acts of civil disobedience) during the day, we switched gears and celebrated Ryan’s birth in the evening – usually with ice cream, occasionally with cake too..</p><p>After 10 years of service at Jubilee, they moved to the Twin Cities just prior to the birth of Emily, their third child, in 1988. They joined a growing, fairly-new, faith community, the Community of St. Martin, that embraced their convictions of nonviolence, service to others, and simpler or compassionate living. When Christine and I were ready to take a Sabbatical year away from Koinonia, Ryan and Karen asked us to join them in the Twin Cities where the Community of St. Martin could provide us space in a hospitality house and help us find work and be part of their worship group. Ryan was already continuing his former construction work with a local Habitat for Humanity affiliate and when that organization decided to grow its capacity, he asked me if I’d like to consider coming to work with him. Christine and I decided the community and the employment prospects were a good change for us and we decided to put down roots in the neighborhood where many of the faith community lived – and I went to work at Habitat with Ryan as my new supervisor.</p><p>Ever since I’ve known Ryan and Karen, they have had a special passion for the mountains, streams, and beauty of Karen’s home state of Montana. When they returned from a road trip to the Bozeman/Livingston area, Ryan would haul out the slide projector and give us a report on their adventures. Karen relished the wonders of nature and the creatures, especially the birds, they encountered, and Ryan often had the visual record made with his camera. Those adventures would include not just hacking out a village site in central Africa near the Congo River, or the stark challenges of a refugee camp in Thailand, but also trips to South Korea they took as each of their three adopted children traveled with them to see their own homeland; then a trip to Iceland, taking Christine with them.</p><p>Since Karen finally retired from teaching in the Minneapolis Public Schools, and with a brief (apparent) lull in the Covid crisis, we planned to finally take them with us for a week in Cancun, Mexico at the end of January. Alas, it was not to be.</p><p>Ryan embodied the Quaker roots he had - comfortable with silence, looking for consensus, committed to nonviolent actions and solutions. People relied on his dependability and, when he shared his thoughts, others realized how engaged he was in the decision-making process.</p><p>I love you, Ryan. Thanks for being a valued friend, companion, example, accompaniment, and leader. You were often a calming present in a storm while also providing direction for not only surviving it but finding a way out. As you transition to that “great cloud of witnesses”, may your gentle spirit guide your way home. Rest in that grace of our Creator.</p>Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-84237108647151421232021-12-26T13:57:00.001-06:002021-12-26T13:58:50.741-06:00After 50 Years, Still Recovering From My PTSD<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">December of 1971 was the time I completed my academic requirements to graduate several months early fromWheaton College. 50 years is a long time in looking back at that part of my journey - especially in trying to heal from the religious and theological abuse heaped upon my 21-year-old self from the "evangelical" movement as expressed by the school that prided itself as being the "Harvard" of such. I've come to realize in the passing years the damage wrought by what I now see as a form of Post Theological Salvation Disorder (or Delusion) - PTSD.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Wheaton College proclaimed its motto: <i>For Christ and His Kingdom </i>and even had that motto emblazoned on the military uniforms the male students were required to wear twice a week for drill while carrying a rifle, marching in formation, with spit-polished shoes and polished brass buttons. All of this during the years of increasing slaughter occurring in South East Asia in Vietnam and then Cambodia. Only a few of us were also gradually becoming aware as well of the "secret" bombing of Laos - although it was hardly a "secret" to those recipients of US-made cluster bombs which continue to wreak havoc and destruction still today as farmers plow their fields or children find unexploded metal devices which often explode destroying limbs and lives. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The theology espoused by that evangelical movement was smug and self-assured: "we" - and I was raised to embrace it - knew who was "saved" and who was "lost". Amazingly, the saved looked a lot like us: overwhelmingly white, middle class, good American citizens on a mission to "save" others by "sharing" the "good news" (the meaning behind the term evangelical) in a way that perpetuated the mythology of American (or Christian) Exceptionalism. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">So much of the theology I embraced came from a place of fear: if I didn't believe it, or practice it correctly, I was doomed to an "eternal lake of fire" (hell) by a God who "loved me". But, if I just believed the correct things and did the required acts (confession of sins, "acceptance" of Jesus as my "saviour" -note the old English spelling because of the King James version of the Bible made it the norm -, and baptism), I could be "assured" of my personal salvation and an eternity in heaven. "I've got a mansion just over the hilltop, in that bright land where we'll never grow old", we sang with pride and confidence in my formative years. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Oh, but there were cracks widening within that smug assurance which grew wider, especially during my 3 1/2 years at that college. Maybe it was the Psychology professor who lamented the tendency of evangelicals' failure to understand and embrace ambiguity. Or definitely my Bible prof who rocked our compulsory chapel requirement when Dr. Webber preached my junior year about his experience of "the silence of God" which created a crisis-of-confidence among many students and caused a quite a few discussions on campus for at least the next week.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">One of those cracks was initiated when I chose to become a Conscientious Objector when I registered for the military draft early in my freshman year only to discover that the college administration was loath to follow its own guidelines in allowing me to be excused from the mandatory US Army ROTC requirements. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Another crack developed when I asked a fellow Black student to be my roommate and began to learn from him a very different perspective than my own upbringing. Then, between my junior and senior year, I signed up to go to Europe for the inaugural International Study Abroad program for Wheaton. Part of the 10-week experience included a visit to the Dachau Nazi concentration camp outside Munich. Although at that time it was easy for me to reject any association with Nazi horrors, it later became clearer to me how quickly one "righteous" group could turn on another and commit (or acquiesce to) unspeakable deeds. 31 years later, I would walk among the rusty ruins of Iraqi vehicles destroyed by US A-10 Warthog-fired depleted uranium bullets in the 1991 war and then visit a children's hospital in Basra to see Iraqi children dying of cancers most likely caused by exposure to radiation left by those weapons fired by my own nation's military. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">By the time of the fall of 1971, my senior year, I had recognized the "cracks" in my religious and theological beliefs had now become crevasses or even canyons. Thanks to my freshman Geology course, I learned much about glaciers, river erosion, and other acts of nature which radically change the surface of our planet. Looking back the past 50 years, it seems like it took me years to recover from that old self and my rigid beliefs - a change that sometimes now appears to be at a glacier's pace. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I got an invitation to attend my 50th Wheaton College class of '72 reunion in the mail this week. I'd love to sit down with a few of those classmates and hear where their journeys had led them - but, having witnessed from afar the past 5 years how the evangelical movement embraced the Trumpian worldview, I'm not sure I want to subject myself to more theological trauma. If I go to the reunion, will there be buttons we can wear that proclaim, "I survived my years at Wheaton"?</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><p></p>Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-80776908017223805262021-05-05T09:55:00.001-05:002022-06-22T14:24:12.149-05:00To Begin a Day of Reckoning<p> <b>To Begin A Day Of Reckoning</b> by Steve Clemens. May 5, 2021</p><p>In the wake of the guilty verdict for the slow-motion murder of George Floyd, voices around the nation have been raised for a day of reckoning and police accountability. Such a day and time, however, must begin at the top: the nation's top law enforcement building must be re-named.</p><p>J. Edgar Hoover embodied a pathological racism and his obsessive harassment of the Civil Rights and anti-war movements thoroughly disqualify him from having the FBI Building named after him. This is not a fashionable "cancel culture" whim; it is a necessary step in accountability and an end to the white-washing of the history of the US in the 1950s until present day.</p><p>Hoover specifically targeted Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Daniel and Philip Berrigan, and countless others in making the FBI under his control one of the most lawless institutions (along with the CIA) disguised under the rubric of "national security". Hoover threatened to unleash secrets about various US Presidents in order to retain his authoritarian grip on power as the longest serving director of the FBI. </p><p>If President Biden and/or Congress wish to end the era of police impunity, a clear signal they could send would be to remove the Hoover name from the building which should stand for justice. If not for the courage of the US Senate committee headed by Frank Church, we might never have known the lengths US government agencies went to in order to discredit both the Civil Rights and anti-war movements in this country - as well as the destabilization efforts for many progressive movements around the globe that threatened corporate profit-making. </p><p>This should be a day of reckoning, repentance, and re-evaluation. This era of white supremacy, American imperialism, police impunity, and other symptoms of a system of domination must end and be replaced by a culture of hospitality, inclusion, and humility. <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><p></p>Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-66391930914569736892020-09-23T21:25:00.000-05:002020-09-23T21:26:41.239-05:00Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="307" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi86yvqhdJ5FE4goEpXJ9HFeRt6SXkYoCKkob67HQvHIbjHfLtwNz-kVg8iN6ucd-buzCKLztmzV1cCGc8CLDfBN-nKHkVEEtgMppd2ciLeo47U82gBqXoniEhBa0C5PETb26uYC6-XMJQ/w409-h307/IMG-0185.JPG" width="409" /></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><b>Sometimes I Feel Like
a Motherless Child</b> … by Steve Clemens. September 2020<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Losing one’s Mom would normally be hard; during a time of
Covid-19, it is magnified because I wasn’t able to be with her for the past 6
months as she continued to descend further into her Alzheimer’s demise where
she would rarely speak to us over the phone (if she answered it at all).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">In today’s parlance, we are urged to “say her name”. To me,
she was always Mom, to cousin Johnny, just a few years her junior, she was “Hockey”
because of her “maiden name”, Kathryn Hockman. To other younger cousins she was
Aunt Kay or Aunt Kas. I don’t know if she was ever a Katie or other derivatives,
most just called her Kay. And, of course, she was “Grandma” or “Great Grandma”
to a large group of offspring.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">It’s been three and a half years since my Dad passed at age
95 and with Mom’s dementia it was hard to get a handle on how she was doing
since then when I made my visits back to Pennsylvania two or three times a
year. Each visit was bittersweet in that she would sleep in her reclining chair
most of the time I went to her Personal Care apartment, getting up (most of the
times) only for a walk down the hallway for her meals. Some visits she would
only say a word or two to me (and only if I asked her a direct question) during
the 2 or 3 hours I sat with her. Then she would have a “good day” and she’d
smile, even chuckle occasionally, and we could reminisce a little about things
50 years in the rearview mirror. On those days she often could recall the names
of her grandchildren and would even sing along to hymns that Christine had
picked out of the hymnal she had in her room. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Having left home to go to boarding school (by choice) just
before turning 15, most of my memories date before 1965 with notable exceptions
when I would return home (with longer – and facial - hair) during college years
or during annual visits back “home” after moving to the intentional Christian
community where I lived for 16 years, married, and started our family. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Although trained as a Registered Nurse, Mom left hospital
work in 1947 after my oldest brother, Jerry, was born 10 ½ months after she
married my Dad in January of that year. Having recently gotten out of the Army after
serving in Europe during WWII, my Dad met my Mom on the recommendation of my
Aunt Betty who was a nursing student one year ahead of Mom. Les and Kay shared
a large house next to the meat packing plant my Dad bought with three of his
brothers in 1946. It was shared by Dad’s cousins, Arlene (married to Harry) and
Butch (married to Arlayne) as all three couples started their families. Phil
was the next to arrive in 1949 on Mom’s 24<sup>th</sup> birthday and I followed
10 months after Phil.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Mom served as the de facto plant nurse when we lived less
than a baseball’s throw from the front entrance. Early memories of employees
with cuts or other injuries still remind me of Mom’s nursing skills. When each
of us boys reached age 7, our parents had us work before and after school, as
well as the summers at the “plant”. It was Hatfield Packing Company for many of
my early years before becoming Hatfield Quality Meats with a new logo and a “Smiling
Porker” as its symbol. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Dad saw his role as the enforcer of discipline; I guess Mom
was the “nurturer” but the roles didn’t seem to be rigid even though their
theology reinforced by our church had clear roles calling for the husband to be
the “head of the household”. Mom seemed content with that arrangement. Because
both parents were raised in conservative Mennonite homes, Mom took to wearing a
white, mesh head-covering – at least to church – when I was too young to go to
school. I don’t remember exactly when she discarded that practice but it must
have been by 1956 or 7. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">My Dad was the Vice President of the meat packing company
and my memories are that he travelled for business but not too frequently. “Your
Mom is in charge while I’m gone; behave yourselves!” is a memory I carry. Less
than an hour after leaving on one of his trips, I remember falling down the
basement stairs without too much damage other than bruises. Mom seemed rather
unflappable. Then the day before I turned 14, while working at the plant before
school, I fell down another flight of stairs, broke my jaw, a tooth, knocked 4
other teeth loose, and cut my lip. When I walked home to get medical attention,
Mom said she needed to get Jerry and Phil off to school first and then drove me
to the dentist and the doctor to be stitched up. I think her calmness during my
panic helped sooth my fears. She told me afterwards she was more concerned I’d
get injured playing junior high football than working at the plant and that
injury kept me benched for the rest of that football season after only one
game!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">I don’t know how Mom felt about me going away to boarding
school for 10<sup>th</sup> thru 12<sup>th</sup> grade because it is what I
chose after my Dad offered each of us the opportunity to go to a “Christian”
school. Neither of my brothers chose to do so. Subconsciously I wanted to get
out of the area so I jumped at the opportunity even though it meant going to
Long Island with only fall break weekend, Thanksgiving weekend, Christmas-New
Years weeks, and Spring break over Easter for trips home. When I came home, it
was with my dirty underwear, white shirts, and black trousers for Mom to wash
before putting me back on the train to New York. So, I think some of the
difficult years of “teenage rebellion” were at least delayed by not being around
much. One of the summers of high school years was spent as a teenage staff
member of the Bible Conference Camp in upstate New York that my parents took us
to every summer all during those pre-college years. But it wasn’t until I left
for college in the fall of 1968 that my politics and theology sharply veered
from the “straight and narrow” path I was shepherded into while living at home.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">As a family, we were expected to attend Sunday School,
Sunday morning worship, Sunday evening worship, and Wednesday evening prayer
meetings. When school age, we boys were enrolled in Christian Stockade and
Christian Service Brigade as an evangelical substitute for Cub or Boy Scouts.
That took care of Monday evenings. My memory of those years was that my entire
social life centered around the church and the meat packing plant. My relatives
who were not part of either group were definitely secondary. Given the age
spread of siblings in my Dad’s family (22 years between oldest and youngest-
with Dad the second youngest) and Mom’s (16 years, with Mom the third of 5), it
was hard for me to keep straight who was a cousin and who was an aunt or uncle
if they weren’t part of the plant or church. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">The church we attended – not the right word – we “belonged
to”, was a new spin-off from the conservative Mennonite churches of the area.
The pastor, a recent graduate of a Mennonite Seminary, wanted to shuck off some
of the old traditions while embracing a newer, evangelical style. My parents
were part of the founders of the congregation which maintained the name “Mennonite”
but never joined any of the local conferences but kept their independence.
Wearing a “covering” for women became optional; wedding rings and other jewelry
was now permitted; and musical instruments could accompany the voices while
singing! While all of that appealed to my parents, their claim was the emphasis
on evangelism and missionary zeal for conversions to their faith were more prominent
reasons for them to join. Also, there was less emphasis on the traditional
rejection of military service and the expectation that one would be a “conscientious
objector” to war that probably seemed more welcoming to my Dad who had just
returned from his participation in the US Army during World War II. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Gender roles back in the 1950s when I was growing up
remained fairly traditional with an emphasis on a husband as “head of the household”
and mom seemed to embrace her subordinate role with its “scriptural”
justifications. At least as I perceived it. I can never recall any verbal or
non-verbal dissent from my mom. When I returned from college having embraced
much more liberal or radical “politics”, including pacifism and anti-war
activism, I also had been strongly influenced by the rise of feminism and
gender equality and a rejection of patriarchy. I remember a rather passionate “discussion/argument”
with both parents over the Vietnam War, racism, and women’s roles one evening
before my parents headed off to bed. [Actually they headed off to their bedroom
where they always knelt on the floor by the bed to pray (usually together -but
not always) before “retiring” for the night.] That was when I started perusing
the extensive bookshelves they kept in the family room. It was there and then
that I discovered hard-bound books: <u>The Total Woman</u> by Marabel Morgan
and <u>Fascinating Womanhood</u> by a less well-known woman author. Both books
were part of the backlash against the Equal Rights Amendment movement and the
especially vehement rejection of it by evangelicals led by Phyllis Schlafly. I
had no idea how strongly my mom had embraced this movement until I opened
Morgan’s book to see it was not only autographed by the author but also
included a personal note of thanks to “Kay” for organizing the group of women
that had apparently met the author in our home!<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">My parents understood my “long hair” (it barely touched my
shoulders but was very long compared to the crew cut I wore until my junior
year in high school) and my “politics” (anti-war, no longer Republican,
supported George McGovern in 1972, the first year I was able to vote) as signs
of teenage or youthful “rebellion”. I remember a heated (for me) conversation
with both parents about Billy Graham’s support (or at least silence) over the
Vietnam War and, knowing of their longtime support for him and his evangelism “crusades”,
I told them I wanted nothing more to do with Graham because of his complicity
with that moral horror. [It was about that time that I had burned my Selective
Service (draft) card in the bathroom sink and mailed the ashes back to the
Draft Board]. My parents didn’t raise their voices but strongly disagreed – and
then, most likely, retired to their bedroom to pray for me. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">It presented a theological conundrum for them in that they
knew I was “saved” at age 7, baptized at age 12, and “recommitted my life to
Christ” several times at Highland Lake Bible Conference and/or at many of the
annual missionary conferences held at our church every year. We always had
missionaries staying at our home or other guest speakers for these conferences.
Yet here was I rejecting much of the “straight and narrow” theology of my
upbringing! They strongly urged me to attend a rather costly week of meetings
called “Basic Youth Conflicts” led by Bill Gothard which was a strategy
conservative parents used to keep their offspring inside that gospel tent.
(This was years before Gothard stepped
down after numerous allegations of sexual molestation became known.) I told my
parents I would not attend them even though they offered to pay the more than $600
fee for the course. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">After these (and other) conversations/confrontations, my
parents seemed convinced that I had “lost the faith”. And I had – at least what
I saw as a very narrow and skewed version of Christianity. I still identified
myself as a follower of Jesus and, at that time, even an “evangelical” but that
was at a time pre-Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson’s Moral Majority. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">I understood that with my “education” and my various
cultural experiences (living in the “inner city” while working with teenage
street gangs, attending a “Black Power symposium”, having an African-American
roommate at college and an Asian American roommate at prep school, taking two
college courses at a Catholic seminary, and traveling to western Europe for a
study abroad semester which included a visit to the Nazi Dachau concentration
camp) would naturally give me a broader (and different) perspective than the
typical rural/suburban evangelical upbringing that my brothers experienced.
Learning more about the Anabaptist movement helped me better understand my nominal
Mennonite heritage which was greatly enhanced with conversations with a farmer
neighbor who lived across the road from us in my first 15 years. We didn’t talk
theology and heritage until I was in grad school after my graduation from
Wheaton College and Walton Hackman, that neighbor, introduced me to the thought
and writing of William Stringfellow after we discussed John Howard Yoder and
other Anabaptist theologians and writers. My conversations with Walton greatly
helped me understand my own heritage and some of why my parents chose a different
path for themselves; ironically, my path was one that instead tried to
re-appreciate the tradition they left behind.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">I don’t ever recall seeing either of my parents cry. Or get
so angry that they seemed out of control. Even when my Dad gave me a “lickin’”,
he seemed to do it out of obligation [“spare the rod and spoil the child”]
rather than out of anger. I do recall my parents laughing at times; they
appreciated a good chuckle but overall, they held their emotions in check – at least
in front of me. Because of the three years spent at boarding school, I probably
missed a lot of the interactions my brothers had with them – or, maybe, being
the third of three active boys, they were worn out by the parenting prospects.
It was clear they cared about my “soul”. It was less clear to me, in
retrospect, that they celebrated me for who I was rather than what they hoped I
would be. I think my striving to show them my more “radical” understanding of
Jesus and Christianity was an attempt to allow them to embrace the real “me”
despite my desire to break out of the “straight and narrow” pathway prescribed
for good evangelicals. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">In some sense I was really saddened by Mom’s Alzheimer’s – particularly
her deepening into that “fog” after Dad died 3 ½ years before she did. It would
have been a good time to get to know her separately from my Dad’s more dominate
personality. Whenever we discussed theology, political perspectives, or even
social norms, it was usually Dad speaking for both of them so I had difficulty
hearing Mom as a different voice. Dad seemed to make most of the decisions and
I seldom recall any strong disagreements from Mom – except in the latter years
when Mom would often “scold” Les when he wanted dessert and she wanted to keep
his figure away from that displayed by her three sons. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Mom and Dad were very committed to missions – especially,
but not exclusively, those overseas. Besides hosting numerous missionary
families at our house for meals during their state-side furloughs, my parents
loved to plan their travels, especially after Dad’s retirement (at about age 65),
around visits to see foreign “mission fields”. They kept a world map in the
basement with pins stuck in, marking places they had visited over the 20-30
years of those travels. I was happy to
see their willingness to explore other places and escape the “bubble” of a
relatively monolithic culture of their evangelical church. However, I’ve also
come to view much of the more traditional missionary thrust as a continuing of
a colonized form of Christianity which often fits hand-in-glove with US
imperialistic foreign policy – both governmental as well as corporate. Also, as
a counter-point to a boring monoculture was the choice of both a nephew and a niece
to adopt non-Caucasian children into their families. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Living so far away from my parents for the past 46 years
caused me to miss out on changes they made in their lives as I was changing as
well. It also put our sons at a disadvantage in that they missed a lot of the “grandparent”
outings that seemed to bring great joy and memories to my nieces and nephews
and later their kids as well. They did take Micah and Zaq to the requisite trip
to Alaska which was very appreciated by both parents and kids. Growing up so
far away from, and in different settings (rural then urban vs suburban), left
little of the close interaction with each other that their cousins on both
sides of our families experienced. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">But that distance also provided a cushion against the
tensions of diverging preferences of culture, politics, and expressions of
faith (or lack thereof). When we gathered together, it was always easier to
avoid certain areas for discussion. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">Looking back, now a month shy of 70 years, and, having been
robbed of the past eight years of Mom’s failing memory or ability to reflect, I
wish I had treated both parents with more love, respect, and grace rather than
the determination to assert my own independence with the ability of “speaking
the ‘truth’ in love”. I needed to express more love, coupled with humility than
the “truth” I had/have embraced. It is of less importance than my conveyance of
love for them. Mom was only 24 years old when I showed up, a month premature
with a collapsed lung, needing to be in an incubator initially, with one son a
month and a half shy of 3 and the other only 10 months my senior! While at age
24 I was headed off to rural Mississippi with Mennonite Disaster Service and
then to Washington, DC with Mennonite Central Committee – two destinations
which helped continue to further the gap between my conservative upbringing and
my desire to spread my wings with the help of my “radical” identity. I was 24
when first arrested for nonviolent civil disobedience against the Vietnam War.
I was 24 when I dropped out of Social Work graduate school to do “voluntary
service” since I hadn’t been drafted into the military. I didn’t marry until I
was 27 and started a family only after reaching 32. Now, approaching 70 in less
than a month, I have much better appreciation and love for my parents
-especially my Mom. <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">When I was “speaking the ‘truth’ in love” to my parents, it
was because I wanted them to accept me for who I truly was, not an identity of
who I was and what I had believed as a child. Now I can see those two separate
identities were one-and-the-same. But living at a distance, I wanted them to
love who I had become rather than the ideal of who I had been. Because I understood
their theology as so dualistic - heaven or hell, saved or lost, faithful to
orthodoxy or heretic, lost or found – I wanted them to be assured I had still “kept
the faith” but chose to express it in some very different ways. I hope they
grew to understand that before their final days. Thank you, Mom. Thank you,
Dad. I love and miss you. You are now my ancestors who my Catholic friends have
taught me will be “praying and interceding for me and on my behalf”. And my
indigenous friends have taught me you will continue to be my elders and guides.
Yes, and even my evangelical friends have taught me I will be reunited with them
in “glory”. Rest in Peace.<o:p></o:p></p>
<!--EndFragment--></div><p></p><br />Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-58032072484688864772017-03-29T20:06:00.000-05:002017-03-30T12:42:07.091-05:00John Heid in the Courtroom<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
John Heid on Trial. March 29, 2017<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOrX5JHTQWAV1NS-5r04CyhVD82R22vwzbZrabVf4Fof1wwQtWUuMK-RyS4aNCqRyfG3W-mwP7eDCJ4GpKjx37aD304rGlDbVOxWsZcHMkiI-TpZO40fA3bMD3zH4B3uzFEcB1lL0kxFA/s1600/Steve+arrested+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOrX5JHTQWAV1NS-5r04CyhVD82R22vwzbZrabVf4Fof1wwQtWUuMK-RyS4aNCqRyfG3W-mwP7eDCJ4GpKjx37aD304rGlDbVOxWsZcHMkiI-TpZO40fA3bMD3zH4B3uzFEcB1lL0kxFA/s320/Steve+arrested+2016.jpg" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eddie Bloomer in 'cuffs</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the past 3 days, John Heid and Eddie Bloomer were on
trial in Hennepin County Courthouse for the arrests at the Black Lives
Matter/Twins Home Opener/Catholic Worker Faith and Resistance Retreat action
last April. This was the final in a series of 5 trials, which concluded in two
acquittals, dismissal of charges against many of the defendants, the conviction
of 8 who requested jury trials and the acceptance of a plea agreement for
others. (I was in this latter group due to the uncertainty surrounding my dying
father’s situation – not wanting to be in the middle of a 3-day trial at the
time of his passing.)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was a great honor to sit in on at least parts of 4 of the
trials and hear the clear testimony of fellow codefendants describe why they
took part. Although much of the trials focused on technical legal minutiae like
where exactly were you standing (were you technically on “Metro Transit
property”?) instead of the message we were trying to convey, defendants who
were eager to take the stand tried to embody the signs we carried: “White
Silence Equals Violence” by breaking silence around the police killings of
Jamar Clark and other black young men in our metro area.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yesterday and today, John Heid, going pro-se (representing
himself rather than using a lawyer for defense), spoke clearly and
passionately. It was difficult to take notes because so much of what he said
was note-worthy. Here is the gist of what I wrote down. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->The conscience of the community is an essential
part of a democracy.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->He is committed to Kingian nonviolence –
following the practice of Martin Luther King, Jr.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->My intent was to raise awareness [of the public]
when all other attempts seemed to have failed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->King teaches us to “raise the tension” –create a
“creative tension”. This process is not an easy or painless one; it is akin to
“lancing a boil- in order to get to the infection” and begin the healing
process. The cancer that must be addressed in our body politic is racism
exacerbated with notions of white supremacy throughout our nation. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->We take a “civil initiative” (some use terms
such as “civil disobedience” or “civil resistance”) to both pressure our
government and its “leaders” as well as take personal responsibility ourselves
when the state has failed to right an injustice. As a Quaker, John stated he
had “civil responsibility” and as a citizen he has a “civic responsibility”.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Conscience must inform our view of the law.
There are times (such as now) when “we have to leave the comfort of the
sidewalk for the dissonance of the streets” – referring to being willing to
risk arrest rather than just holding a sign on the sidewalk or leaving the
street after an arrest warning is delivered. “I don’t just go into the street
to raise havoc”, he stated, explaining his principled commitment to nonviolent
direct action attempting to address social injustice. “When lives are at stake,
laws need to adjust accordingly.” Sometimes one has to violate a law like
rushing into a burning building to save lives despite trespass codes. “Racism
is that fire today and it is burning down our houses and destroying our souls.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->“What is important is not where I stood – but
rather what I stood for”. This, in response to Prosecutor Patrick Marzitelli’s
attempt to get John to admit that one of his feet might have been on “Metro
Transit property” in a photo the State entered into evidence. Although I’m
certain John was not technically “trespassing” at the time the “leave or
arrest” warnings were given – (he had moved further away from the light rail
tracks as the vigil/protest progressed) – he wanted his emphasis to remain on
what he stood for – and why- rather than exactly where his feet were planted. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Telling the jury that we can’t build a
nonviolent world using the tools of violence, John called out the names of
Jamar, Philando, and Cordale – “may they rest in peace; a peace they never
found in these cities”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->At the closing arguments, the Prosecutor told
the jury they were to consider “just the facts and the law” -oh, and “common
sense” , setting aside their feelings and sentiments about the Black Lives
Matter movement or anything else. To which John Heid, when his turn arrived,
countered with “You [the jury] are to be the conscience of the community”. You
have a responsibility – the ability to respond. “You, today, are acting as the
soul of this community.” My intent, John stated clearly, was to take a claim of
responsibility for the troubles of our society. I was trying to prevent further
harm and address the harms of the past. It was my conscience that brought me
here- not a criminal intent. WHY I stood where I stood informs my intent. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
Alas, the jurors decided to follow the pleas of the
Prosecutor. Both John and Eddie were convicted on all charges.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But lest you think this was a defeat, John Heid
smiled his Quaker smile during a break in the trial, saying to me, it doesn’t
matter if I get convicted or not as long as we can speak some truth in this
courtroom. Thank you, brothers, for lives full of witness and conviction!<o:p></o:p></div>
</div>
Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-3997838825895793052017-03-22T19:36:00.000-05:002017-03-22T19:36:01.320-05:00My Dad and Prayer<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJK__T2lZfEnMURnrdF-IqQOuDPw7xAyXu9MeTBJ6KvC_9j95vhCodFkJ43LwhdG97uaQT-YShDFkDIymrruC9iRlG5ATJD556-wm6QOKilmJUwsHk2x3n-U7pPOjwY5ATO8PAybAUTo/s1600/Grandsons+carry+the+casket.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieJK__T2lZfEnMURnrdF-IqQOuDPw7xAyXu9MeTBJ6KvC_9j95vhCodFkJ43LwhdG97uaQT-YShDFkDIymrruC9iRlG5ATJD556-wm6QOKilmJUwsHk2x3n-U7pPOjwY5ATO8PAybAUTo/s320/Grandsons+carry+the+casket.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Grandsons carry the casket to the gravesite</td></tr>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Praying To Lester? by Steve Clemens<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br />
<span style="background: white;">He approached me at the end of the luncheon
after the burial of my father. We had a time of sharing after the meal and many
of those who took the microphone were members of Christian Business Men
Connection, CBMC, an organization my dad had participated in and financially
supported for dozens of years. This man, however, had a different message. I
had spoken about how my dad's courage in traveling unarmed to the capital city
of our national enemy was one of several things that inspired me to choose the path of conscientious objector
to the Vietnam War and my own later travel to Iraq and Afghanistan. The man,
appearing to be in his 80s, told me how my dad had looked him up at a CBMC
gathering after hearing he was a pacifist (and a distinct minority among that
evangelical group).</span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">"I'm committed
to nonviolence too", he exclaimed to me and then told him how my dad
shared with him that he had a son in prison for his protest against war. He
told me my dad wasn't real clear about understanding "why" I had
chosen that path and wanted to talk with others who shared his faith but also
chose nonviolence as well. He told me he wore a shirt with a picture of a
former nun who was protesting nuclear weapons and I smiled broadly and told him
about my year-long Bible Study group with her and her husband, Liz McAlister
and Phil Berrigan and how helpful they were to me on my own journey.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It got me thinking
about my many radical Catholic friends.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">When I was growing
up, I was taught to shun Roman Catholics because they "prayed to
Mary" and many also prayed for their dead friends and relatives in order
to shorten their time in "purgatory". As I got to know Catholic
believers for myself as an adult, I discovered that many suggested that we
should also pray to saints who have gone before us to intercede on our behalf
with the Divine. I had been taught to always pray " in Jesus' name"
as he was the only intercessor "between God and man[sic]".</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Well, Jesus calls
all of us to join him as "sons and daughters of God" and we are
called to " be like him".</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">My dad told me several
weeks ago when I traveled east to say my goodbyes that "every morning I
pray for Micah and Andrea and Zach". In fact, many of the CBMC men who
spoke at the luncheon noted how "long" my dad's daily prayer list was
- not only my sons but all his sons, their children and great grandchildren,
missionaries, and many others. So why should I think he'd stop praying for all
of us when his heart stopped beating?</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">It brings a smile to
my face just thinking that dad continues to intercede on my behalf as he, according
to his own vision and dreams before he passed, converses with "Jesus and
his disciples". He'll even get a chance to meet with the Berrigan brothers
and get more clarity on the attempts at faithful nonviolent witness of his
youngest son.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="background: white; color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Lester, please keep
me and Christine and our families on your list.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
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Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-45879306915523817492017-03-14T07:36:00.000-05:002017-03-14T07:40:00.661-05:00My Dad, The Diplomat<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Remembering a Hog
Butcher Diplomat</b> by Steve Clemens<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT-rpKL39qz546PdVQc-jp1N3XvAIMk_Spm9cmV5BH7Q72bH5gsmSBHMKA3Vkygkt7unaNxsRb0nBmYeOzxamkPm7T_Chciuac56jwxoWdKUf-pvGagElUqVZo7RC3fh68FfW8_prMq8A/s1600/Les+Clemens+smiling.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgT-rpKL39qz546PdVQc-jp1N3XvAIMk_Spm9cmV5BH7Q72bH5gsmSBHMKA3Vkygkt7unaNxsRb0nBmYeOzxamkPm7T_Chciuac56jwxoWdKUf-pvGagElUqVZo7RC3fh68FfW8_prMq8A/s320/Les+Clemens+smiling.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
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Not many years had passed since the demagoguery of Senator
Joe McCarthy when President Eisenhower embarked on what he called
“People-to-People” diplomacy. I don’t know the details because it happened before
my teenage years but my father set aside his butcher’s apron and knife to
travel with a group of other business leaders to East and West Berlin and
Moscow. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Dad returned home with photos and stories of the stark
contrasts between grocery stores from “the East and the West” but what I
remember most from that trip was not the bravery it must have taken for my Dad
to travel to the capital city of our “national enemy” but rather the fact that
he brought home seal-skin hats that we had seen many Russians wore in the
winter in the National Geographic photos we looked at as kids. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
I sit amazed nowadays at the courage he embodied to take
such risks. We regularly read the virulent anti-Communist propaganda tracts put
out by the John Birch Society so to be seen by others as one who would travel
to meet “the enemy” was in reality, my Dad’s embodiment of the Jonah story.
Nineveh was the Moscow for Jonah and I’m sure my Dad’s theology probably
included Jonah’s “repent or risk divine destruction” message even though in those
days I think it was forbidden for him to take his Bible “behind the Iron
Curtain”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
I do remember our church supported some missionaries who
“smuggled Bibles” to the people ruled by “godless Communists” but wonder now
how my father’s friends and work colleagues reacted to his willingness to
travel to the enemy’s home turf unarmed as a people-to-people diplomat. I wore
that beautiful seal-skin hat with pride – after all, it was a novelty and it
fit in well with the “coon-skin Davy Crockett” hats my brothers and I wore a
few years before. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
Dad left school after the tenth grade to help in the family
butchering business. He was very proficient with the knife – from boning out
hams at work to showing his sons how to skin a rabbit or gut a deer on our
hunting adventures. It is easy to remember those typically “macho” scenes of a
father and sons bonding together while fishing or hunting but from my vantage
point now of fifty-five plus years later, it is his willingness to stretch out
his hand to embrace an enemy is a memory I want to cherish.</div>
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<br />
Rest in Peace, Dad. Your lessons to me as we sighted-in our
shotguns or rifles before going hunting in my teen years always came with your
proviso: “never, ever, point your gun at a human being; never shoot anything
you don’t wish to kill; and eat what you kill.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
It was those messages in the back of my mind when I turned
18 and registered for the military draft and fired the rifle assigned to me on
the Wheaton College ROTC rifle range that caused me to declare I was a
Conscientious Objector as it dawned on me that my targets were no longer
pheasants, deer, or rabbits but rather “Viet Cong”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
You never bragged about your role as part of what our
culture deems “the Greatest Generation” as you followed General Patton’s troops
through France and into Germany trying to recover the bodies of dead and
wounded GIs off the battlefield as German snipers aimed at the spotlight you
operated. I never got the message from you about the heroism of going to war –
even against the Nazis. Granted, you were only in your early 20s and I remember
how invulnerable I felt at that age. But real courage was modeled for this son
by your un-armed attempt at diplomacy to those you saw as “trapped behind the
Iron Curtain.” </div>
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<br />
It is my prayer that I, too, have found ways to model such
leadership for my own sons in some small way to help heal the wounds of war and
division.</div>
</div>
Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-7419159769721523292017-03-13T17:26:00.000-05:002017-03-13T17:26:17.674-05:00Remembering My Dad<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><b>The Passing of My
Patriarch</b>: Remembering Lester S. Clemens <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjj5hwgMwafeYHralQzcRGB2UVa6O4-5044h398QUbrIkc1cG_5sQ6erXNcDwuTItoXYUn5h2Uvo9glDLbQLxuWfDPpVSgFyDClFdnTR5ir-VH_LRSy9-nzvGh6YMJZhU0sroIHul968/s1600/IMG_0093+%25281%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjj5hwgMwafeYHralQzcRGB2UVa6O4-5044h398QUbrIkc1cG_5sQ6erXNcDwuTItoXYUn5h2Uvo9glDLbQLxuWfDPpVSgFyDClFdnTR5ir-VH_LRSy9-nzvGh6YMJZhU0sroIHul968/s320/IMG_0093+%25281%2529.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dad at 95</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;"><br /></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">I know - patriarchy
is not in fashion these days- and rightfully so. But my father was the
patriarch of our family. Actually, his father, my paternal grandfather, John C
Clemens was more of a patriarch- having fathered 14 children, 10 surviving past
infancy; my paternal Grandfather was the more classic model but I was only 9
years old when he passed and had only spent a few summers with him when he
lived in our small basement apartment when he came north from his winter,
spring, and fall home in Sarasota, Florida where he moved after retirement. He
is the one who started the family business and provided the vision that was
followed by 4 of his sons in what is now known as the Clemens Family
Corporation but was merely Hatfield Packing Company in my childhood. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">My dad's patriarchy
was over his 3 sons, 9 grandchildren, and 18 great grandchildren (with one on
the way). His passing, at age 95, leaving only his youngest sister, my Aunt
Betty, age 92, marks the end of that generation. He provided the spiritual
leadership, the financial stability, and the discipline for our family.
Although my mom co-parented- especially when he was away on business trips
during my pre-teen years, we three sons knew who had the final word. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Dad's faith and
belief was a central core to his identity. Yes, he was also a veteran (having
survived World War II as an Army infantryman), a quiet philanthropist, a
businessman, and a community leader - but all of those identities were
subordinated to his desire to be known as a disciple and follower of
Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">My father was a
Veteran. Dad never talked to me about his military service until I asked him
direct questions after his 80th birthday celebration on the way back to the
airport for my return trip to Minnesota. "I did some things I'm not proud
of because I wasn't a Christian then. But I told the Lord, if I made it home
[from Europe] safely, I'd go to church and change my life," he told me. And
he did. As a boy, I marveled at the German Mauser rifles, replete with
removable bayonet bearing the swastika, and officer's Luger pistol,
he had sent home from the battlefield. We used the rifles for deer
hunting in our earlier teenage years. Not once did he ever give me the
impression that he was proud of his military service – he did it out of a sense
of obligation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Even though he and
some of his generation eventually left his Mennonite tradition disagreeing with
the ban on jewelry, musical instruments in worship, the need for women to wear
head coverings, ... he still retained much from that pietist heritage. He
identified as an "evangelical" because he felt he had an obligation
to share his "good news" about his relationship with Jesus with
others. His faith in and commitment to Jesus was the most important thing he
wanted to pass on to others.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Yes, Dad was a
philanthropist- he gave the bulk of his wealth away to many dozens, if not
hundreds, of organizations, causes, or people. While never living
extravagantly, he and my mom traveled to many distant places after his
retirement at age 65, primarily to visit missionaries they supported in prayer
and financially. Yes, a few organizations recognized Dad for his donations -
including been given an honorary doctorate by a local seminary, despite having
only a 10th grade formal education. But he was content not to make a show of
his generosity- he was merely passing on "the blessings he had received
from his 'Father in heaven'". I would be surprised as a young child to see
someone from our church who had recently lost his job now working as an
employee at the meat packing plant which was a mere 50-100 feet from our front
door. He strongly insisted that his sons continue his practice of giving to
others. Even his personal checks bore the scriptural verse, "For what
shall it profit a man to gain the whole world but to lose his own soul?"
That made a real impression on my brothers and me! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Dad was a
businessman - but here too, his ethics and values of his faith, also shared by
his 3 brothers in the meat packing business, took priority over profit. Even
though the plant employees were not unionized (unions were considered corrupt
and too confrontational for my Dad and uncles), they instituted a "profit
sharing" plan that eventually lead to a very comfortable retirement for
many of the men I worked alongside of as a youth. [Dad had us working at the
plant starting at age 7 before and after school. I started at 15 cents/hour and
was elated when I turned 15 and could then command $1.15/hour.] Having grown up
as "the boss' son - my Dad was Vice President to my Uncle John as the
company President until I went off to college and he succeeded my uncle - I
knew I was in a privileged position even though when I was assigned a job of
bagging kidneys and livers, making scrapple, boxing frozen chitterlings, or
assembling corrugated boxes I sometimes felt his desire to make us appreciate
the work we had was trying to make us "too equal". I look back now on
those days and lessons with deep gratitude and appreciation for his leadership
and direction. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">Dad was a community
leader. He regularly served on the church council and the missionary board. We
often hosted missionaries in our home when they were on home leave as well as
hosting special guest speakers who came to our church for the annual
"Missionary Conference". Dad served on the Board of Directors for a
Bible Conference, a local seminary, and other local businesses and
organizations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">But most of all, my
Dad was an example of how to live a faithful life. Even though we have parted
ways theologically, politically, and geographically, I still see my Dad as a
role model. Sure I have some regrets: he wasn't very expressive emotionally as
I was growing up but he was much more effusive as his health started failing
him - maybe causing those stoic Mennonite genes to relax a little more. In his
evangelical zeal, he was not affirming when I chose a different path - yet I
knew he still loved me despite what he saw as my "rebellion". We
certainly have some diverging philosophies when it comes to
"charitable" giving with my predilection for social justice and his
for evangelism but we both agree on direct service to the needy both at home and
abroad. Without his generosity to me, I'd have a lot less to share with others
as I've chosen to spend my vocational years with non-profit groups and
organizations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-US;">He has left big
shoes to fill. But he has blazed a path for his sons and their offspring. And
he couldn't have done all this without his loving partner, my Mom - now slowly
disappearing into her Alzheimer's. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-87043697504380592372017-03-12T22:52:00.003-05:002017-03-12T22:53:44.098-05:00Waiting ... Waiting<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Waiting, Waiting by Steve Clemens, March 12, 2017<o:p></o:p></div>
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“We are waiting, waiting, restless but waiting” was a
refrain our faith community sang each week during Advent. It is not the kind of
refrain one would normally sing during the season of Lent. But in my family, it
has been now about 6 weeks of watching my father, 95 years old, slip closer and
closer to his death. Having fallen and fractured both his pelvis and a hip
socket, his decline health-wise seemed precipitous as he needed two blood
transfusions and then increasing amounts of pain medications, slipping into
signs of dementia or confusion. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Knowing his healthcare directive wishes expressed to my
brother, I heeded his advice and flew into eastern Pennsylvania to say my
goodbyes. He was very glad to see me and for the four days I spent there he was
relatively responsive for part of each day but lapsing further downward as the
day progressed. Phil told me dad called him “Frank” and he often made
references to things or places that made no sense to us. Other times he
responded gratefully to hearing my son Micah talk to him via Facetime from
Afghanistan when I thought he might not survive that day. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It is difficult to admit to wishing for someone’s demise but
seeing my dad’s continuing deterioration with virtually no medical hope of
recovery, I don’t want to see his suffering prolonged. In the hospital just
after he fell, when being positioned for x-rays or MRIs, my brother told me he
screamed, “Jesus take me now!” When I visited several weeks ago, he tells me and
my brothers of “seeing Jesus and his disciples” in his dreams and clearly
expresses his desire to “be with Him”. <o:p></o:p></div>
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His hospice nurses have been puzzled by how he remains alive
each of the past several mornings, having expected that he would pass over during
the night. He stopped eating more than a week ago and doesn’t even accept a
drink of water or juice when offered. It has been a rollercoaster ride of ups
and downs. My brothers, sister-in-laws, or nieces bring my mom upstairs to see
him and sometimes he knows her but other times he just keeps his eyes closed.
He hasn’t spoken in the past three days and my mom, despite her Alzheimer’s
where she rarely initiates any conversation said to him, “Les, why won’t you
talk to me?”<o:p></o:p></div>
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Dad has lived a full, productive life. Despite three strokes
in the past few years which has confused some of his language – especially
mixing up his pronouns – he has been relatively physically and mentally healthy
for his age. To see him recently with his wrists so skinny that his watch goes
almost to his elbow is painful for me to see. I feel his pain as he winces when
he tried to sit up in his hospital-type bed. More than a week ago, along with
his cessation of eating, he started removing all of his clothing. The hospice
nurse reassured us that both of these behaviors were signs that he was ready to
pass. Yet each morning since I’ve returned to Minnesota after telling him I
loved him and that he should “rest in the arms of Jesus” and that we would
“take care of mom for him”, I have received a text message from one or both of
my brothers telling me that dad has survived the night and updated me on his
continued status among the living. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I love you, Dad. Your work is done. Please go to your
eternal reward and rest in the loving embrace of the Jesus you tried to follow
and emulate for the past 70 years or so. Yes, we will miss you and mourn your
passing but part of you lives on in all of those your life has touched. <o:p></o:p></div>
Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-46713789749463165652016-07-12T08:41:00.000-05:002016-07-13T15:27:18.646-05:00Open Letter to St. Paul's Mayor and Police Chief After Arrests on Interstate 94<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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July 12, 2016</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Mayor Chris
Coleman</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Police Chief
Todd Axtell</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
City of St.
Paul</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
St. Paul, MN
55406-1322</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Dear Mayor Coleman and Chief Axtell,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I wish I was able to have been in the streets on Saturday
night with some of my friends, standing in solidarity as a white ally to Black
Lives Matter – alas, I couldn’t risk arrest because of a recent blood clot
requires medicine twice a day for the next three months and I couldn’t take the
risk of being unable to take that medicine. I, like many of those friends, have
taken training in “militant nonviolence” as a way of working for social change
which I think you also must recognize must happen quickly<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>- especially in the wake of the killing
of Philando Castille – if we are to avoid even greater social disorder and
disruption. </div>
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<br /></div>
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I think you’ve made a terrible mistake in judgment in
“overcharging” most of those arrested on Interstate 94 with Third-degree Riot.
Did you notice that most of those who were so-charged were white, middle-class
activist-types who have been the bedrock of our communities for years? [Please note: the “overcharging” refers to a peaceful,
nonviolent gathering –with the notable exception of some outsiders not
affiliated with Black Lives Matter and/or Standing Up For Racial Justice (SURJ)
activists – rather than the fact that most were “white” or middle-class.]<br />
<br />
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<o:p></o:p></div>
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Many of those arrested went there precisely for that
purpose: to commit public civil disobedience as an act of solidarity with
people of color to stay to them: as a white ally, I feel your pain, hurt, and
suffering. I, too, want to end the silence in our state about the system of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">white silence</b> which allows the
continuation of policies of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">white
supremacy</b> to infect our police departments. [I say this with a deep sadness
as someone who deeply loves and cares for my brother-in-law in western
Pennsylvania who is both a retired Chief of Police and a retired Mayor of his
hometown, the small city of New Kensington. While he an I have our friendly
disagreements about the use and tactic of civil disobedience, I know he, like
you, is fair-minded and full of distress at the racial chasm we have allowed to
fester in our nation.]</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am one of the 25 white allies arrested for blocking the
Light Rail tracks on the afternoon of the Twins Opener this April and will be
in court to face those charges next week. I am ready and willing to go to jail as
an act of solidarity with Black Lives Matter Minneapolis for it. I‘m grateful
to hear that you, Chief Axtell, publicly stated yesterday that you will
continue to work with the Black Lives Matter movement as Chief. I was present
and grateful to first encounter you several weeks ago before your appointment
as Chief of Police when you came to the event at a mosque/Islamic Center in
Frogtown on Islamaphobia and stood side-by-side with the Imam and said how
necessary it is to work together to better our community. I was there as a
white Christian ally to show my Muslim brothers and sisters that they are a
valued part of our community. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If I may be so bold as to make a suggestion to both of you
for the next time such a confrontation occurs: give the mandated 3 warnings and
then make the requisite arrests without the smoke bombs and pepper spray. Yes,
keep your officers safe – I, too, like most of my friends absolutely denounce
the handful of self-proclaimed “anarchists” who hide in the crowd and throw
stones and invectives while covering their faces and their shameful acts. Just
arrest those who are there who want to be arrested as an act of solidarity and
want to be able to stand in Court to denounce our white supremist system which
so devalues the lives of others – both Black Lives as well as Blue Lives. Those
self-proclaimed “anarchists” want nothing more than a police over-reaction and
the chaos it produces and gives many of my true anarchist friends who are
committed to a thoroughgoing nonviolence a bad name. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I can say with certain assurance that my friend and
neighbor, Linda Clare Breitag, along with her daughter Sophia Breitag, who were
charged with “third-degree riot” and held in your jail for two nights acted
with the best of intentions as white allies and their treatment and jailing
brings disgrace and shame to your great city. Yes, I expect both of you to take
a stand defending your police – especially when they are under physical attack
– while not falling into the trap of those who seek more chaos into our
seething racial cauldron. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I, too, question some of the tactics of some of the young
leadership of the Black Lives Matter movement – especially in blocking
interstate highways – but it is obvious (at least to me) that our previous
nonviolent tactics have so far not brought about the justice and brotherhood
(and sisterhood) that Dr. King died for almost 50 years ago. I am willing to
suspend my own preferences of tactical style to allow this new generation of
leadership to emerge as long as they continue to embrace nonviolence. We need
to find a way to separate out those few actors (in both the ranks of the police
as well as “protesters”) who seek violent confrontation rather than threat
de-escalation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t covet your difficult jobs – but surely both of you
could do better. Please, at the very least, drop the scurrilous charge of
“riot” while leaving at appropriate change of “failure to obey a lawful order”
or “impeding traffic on a highway” and recognize the important role that civil
disobedience has always played in social change in our nation. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sincerely,</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Steve
Clemens</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
2912 E. 24<sup>th</sup>
Street</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
Minneapolis,
MN 55406-1322</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
612-724-3255</div>
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steveclemens@gmail.com
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Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-631025944602499712016-05-03T21:21:00.001-05:002022-06-22T14:25:46.518-05:00Daniel Berrigan: Mentor and Inspiration<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Dan Berrigan: Mentor
and Inspiration</b> by Steve Clemens, May 3, 2016<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I don’t think I heard about the draft file burning at
Catonsville, MD until a year or two later. After all, our high school baseball
team was hoping to win its second straight Ivy Prep League title (we fell one
game short with me in the on-deck circle with bases-loaded and two outs) and I
was caught up in Senior Weekend and my up-coming graduation. Even Dr. King’s
assassination the month before didn’t register in my sheltered life at an
all-boys college prep school on Long Island. My life of privilege allowed me to
virtually ignore the increasing carnage of the Vietnam War because it was
assumed all 41 of our graduating class of 1968 would be attending college and
receive “student deferments” as long as we maintained a decent grade-point
average. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I do remember thinking that the destruction of property,
coupled with the fact that most of the actors of the Catonsville 9 were Roman
Catholic, was not an appropriate act of dissent when I became aware of it about
a year after the May 17, 1968 occurrence. At the time of their trial, I was
wrestling with the momentous decision of registering for the military draft. A
month earlier I was issued a rifle and a uniform as part of my registration at
Wheaton College; all male students were required to enroll in U.S. Army ROTC
unless they had an honorable discharge from military service or a 4-F
(physically or morally unfit for service) or 1-O (conscientious objector)
status from their draft board. I was scheduled to register for Selective
Service on October 16 when I turned 18 years old. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was not an easy decision; my father had left his
Mennonite heritage and entered the U.S. Army when drafted in World War II. He
never talked to me (or to my brothers, I assumed) about his experience in
France and Germany as a radioman in the infantry as his unit followed General
George Patton’s soldiers. Only after his 80<sup>th</sup> birthday did he share
any details with us about this period of his life and then mostly to say he
wasn’t proud of the things he had done but he had “promised the Lord that if he
got home safely”, he’d return to the church and “follow the Lord.” Even though
the Mennonite Church my Dad helped found in 1950 never affiliated with any of
the Mennonite conferences and did not stress the traditional “peace witness”
expected of Mennonites, I was aware that some of my relatives were pacifist or
conscientious objectors even if my parents weren’t. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After prayer, reading scripture, and talking with a Resident
Assistant on my college dorm wing, I decided that I must register as a conscientious
objector – to all wars, not just the current one in Vietnam. But it was a
personal decision – a moral stand as an individual – rather than a social or
political decision at that point. I couldn’t in good conscience take up a gun
to kill the Vietnamese but I also wasn’t sitting in judgment on those who did
go or my government’s “foreign policy”. I knew little about what was happening
in “the far East” other than what my parent’s copies of US News and World
Report stressed: those “godless Communists” were killing our “Christian
missionaries” and wanted to force their atheism on all of southeast Asia. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
So Father Daniel Berrigan, his brother Phil Berrigan and the
other actors of the drama at the Draft Board office in Catonsville, Maryland
didn’t register. A year after becoming a conscientious objector, I started
participating in anti-war marches on the Wheaton, Illinois Draft Board, led by
“Father Tom”, a Maryknoll order priest from nearby Glen Ellyn. Sometime that
fall or early winter I came across Dan’s book about their trial, <u>The Trial
of The Catonsville Nine</u>. I was struck by Dan’s poetic description of the
draft files – they were cast as “hunting licenses for human beings.” That made
me re-think what was really going on. As I spent more time with Father Tom and
other “radical Catholics” at anti-war marches or taking courses at the
Maryknoll Seminary where he taught, I was struck by their vibrant Christian
faith and was jolted from my anti-Catholic upbringing. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That was a good thing as the books of Dan Berrigan fed my
soul and spirit in a way that few others did. <u>No Bars to Manhood</u>, <u>The
Dark Night of Resistance</u>, <u>Night Flight to Hanoi</u>, <u>They Call Us
Dead Men</u>, <u>The Raft is Not the Shore</u>, <u>America is Hard To Find</u>,
<u>To Dwell In Peace</u>, <u>We Die Before We Live</u>, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>…. The list could go on and on, especially his
commentaries on the Psalms (<u>Uncommon Prayer</u>), the Prophets,
Lamentations, Exodus, … Again, insight, challenge, humor, conviction. I didn’t
understand probably half of his poetry – but what I did understand, wow!
Especially “No and Yes and the Whole Damned Thing” that was published in
Sojourners Magazine in 1976. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I only met Dan Berrigan a few times – the first being at my
first arrest for civil disobedience a month before the Vietnam War ended. He
was one of the 62 of us who refused to leave the grounds of the White House in
March 1975, demanding that we meet with President Ford to reject the continued
funding of the South Vietnamese military and in rejecting what we called his
“punitive clemency” program for Vietnam War draft resisters. I was much closer
to his brother Phil and his partner in resistance, Liz McAlister, having joined
their Bible study group the year before. In 1980 I heard Dan speak at a
national Fellowship of Reconciliation gathering at Berea College and then in
the mid-1980s Dan came to our Georgia communities gathering at Koinonia Farm to
lead a weekend Bible study on the book of Revelations. I saw him again briefly
at larger gatherings or demonstrations but his inspiration and challenge to me was
much greater than my personal contact with him. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What stands out most vividly was his claim that our
[Christian] baptism is an embracing of the life and crucifixion of Jesus, and,
when we are raised out of the water, our resurrection to new life means that
there is nothing the state can do to threaten us if we’ve already chosen to
“die with Christ”. The state has no power over us since it’s most harsh
sanction, death, has already been embraced in our choosing to follow Jesus. The
state can jail us – but we’ve already “died to Christ.” <u>They Call Us Dead
Men</u> – if we can excuse the pre-feminist exclusionary language – was Dan’s
call to me to act out of my faith rather than my fears. Dan didn’t just write
about faith and resistance, he embodied it. He incarnated his faith by standing
in the street, hammering warheads, ministering to other fellow prisoners, and
sharing the Eucharist with all who gathered. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Dan, I love you, I thank you, I miss you. But I know your
spirit is still with us every time we gather to say “No” and “Yes” – not too
soon, not too quickly, not too easily, not too cheaply. Until our “No” is
swallowed up in [Christ’s] “Yes”. We are called to continue on the path you
trod for the past 50+ years. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">No and yes and the whole damn thing … A poem by Daniel Berrigan. 1976<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<!--StartFragment-->
<span style="font-family: "times new roman"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br clear="all" style="mso-break-type: section-break; page-break-before: auto;" />
</span>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> What is the point in saying no,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">What is the point in not
saying no?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> The questions make sense as long as there is
a point toward which the questions are moving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> If I say no, and there is a point at
distance, at which someone is saying yes, then it makes sense to say no; for my
no is transfigured, hastening into that yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> If I do not say no, and there is a point at
distance at which someone is saying yes, then my not saying no also makes
sense, as long as I am attentive to that yes, and want my not naysaying to echo
and be included in that yes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> I may however say no in a void, just as I
may refuse to say no, in a void. In which case my no saying and my non no saying
are lost in a void. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> We look for land marks, we look for sea
marks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> <i>“When
we are seated in a moving vessel and our eyes are fixed upon an object on the
same vessel, we do not notice that we are moving. But if we look further, upon
something that is not moving along with us, for instance upon the coast, we
notice immediately that we are moving. It is the same with life. When the whole
world lives wrongly we fail to notice it, but should only one person awake
spiritually, the life of all others becomes immediately apparent. And the
others always persecute those who do not live like them.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><span style="font-size: 10.0pt;"> (Pascal)<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> We must come from somewhere if we are to go
somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> We must go somewhere if we are to remember
that we come from somewhere.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> There is only one word in all creation.
‘Jesus is the YES of God.’ (Paul)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> We however dwell on the other side of that
yes; the grave side, the dark side, the death side, the underside. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> So it is important not to say yes too soon,
too easily, too often, too cheaply. This would be to debase the currency of
life itself which is not a money, but the blood of our brothers and sisters,
the blood of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Just as it is important not to say no in a
void. This would be to join our voices to the despairing wail of the damned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> It is important to say no in view of, in the
direction of, a yes which is forever distant, forever nearing.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Because we are hungry for fullness, for non
death, for life, for non suffering.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Because we cannot merely stand by or bystand or spectate or grandstand or
freeload or grimace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Because a because joins us, life to
lifeline, to the cause of goodness, of love, of truth in deed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Because the distance between the no we
insist on and the yes that insists on us, is constantly narrowing, reaching,
almost touching.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Therefore our word to all systems of this
world, right, left, center, imperial, colonial, fascist, racist, capitalist,
Marxist, maoist, castroist, reformist, is<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Not yet, not enough, not quite, not at all,
not by a half, not by a long shot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> Ours being an ethic of the promise, implying
that we keep our promise; to say no until the day when our no is swallowed in
His yes; until then we await and press forward and trust to His keeping of the
promise which is to say a payment no power or form or arrangement of this world
can estimate or hand over to mint or hoard or bribe us with <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">a war payment but more <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">a blood sacrifice and more<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">a livid stigma and more<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;"> His payment coming due on His day; nothing
less than the substance of his promise which is our rising from the ‘body of
this death’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">Life unimaginable<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">to the degree that our
misery, our moral stagnation, our spiritual and corporal and social plague, is
beyond healing<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<!--EndFragment--></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">any healing but one;
maranatha, come Lord Jesus.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-8242485791481556252016-04-13T15:18:00.000-05:002016-04-14T13:32:49.023-05:00Embodied Solidarity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrBewErUqpCtvq0R-_h48ZzodK0SFwBHIVhyphenhyphenpGFE3ejgJT_g63s8DwLvukj560gG8flFaeHgs_5adzjcuhcu08QyF9mQkQrbJOclOp-UXfhyphenhyphen91ZKzZTfEq8KVvzuaKn69VAQ3uB3sTyYo/s1600/Steve+arrested+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrBewErUqpCtvq0R-_h48ZzodK0SFwBHIVhyphenhyphenpGFE3ejgJT_g63s8DwLvukj560gG8flFaeHgs_5adzjcuhcu08QyF9mQkQrbJOclOp-UXfhyphenhyphen91ZKzZTfEq8KVvzuaKn69VAQ3uB3sTyYo/s400/Steve+arrested+2016.jpg" width="225" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Embodied Solidarity</b>
by Steve Clemens. April 13, 2016<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To the casual observer, the sight might have been striking
to a proponent of “American exceptionalism”: 25 activists who appeared to be
white according to our nation’s obsession with racial identity, arms linked
together, taking instructions and directions from a group of black women.
Blocking the tracks of the Light Rail transit system as well as two adjacent
streets, this action shut down the traffic outside Target Field for the
Minnesota Twins home opener. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
On the other side of this publicly funded stadium, another
group of Catholic Workers and local faith community leaders were being led by
another group of women of color in blocking a different intersection as some
dropped a large “Justice 4 Jamar” banner from the over-looking parking ramp by
the main entrance to the ball park. Inside, as the National Anthem was being
sung, two additional activists hung banners over the large black wall in
centerfield. They read, “ Re-open Jamar’s Case” and “Target Field: End Your
Slave Labor.” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXcrfAsoZmJNCD5Cz11uOMO1OJqNFD_kFOEHass2_H994pa224dizvetmcn7vOpuWgmIdb7wnq-SCBL3AC54k2uLstey73kTk2pooZmyXm9BBrfv1Vg6di6JxKinA5NmtGW1WvUpF5lE/s1600/banners+at+Twins+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioXcrfAsoZmJNCD5Cz11uOMO1OJqNFD_kFOEHass2_H994pa224dizvetmcn7vOpuWgmIdb7wnq-SCBL3AC54k2uLstey73kTk2pooZmyXm9BBrfv1Vg6di6JxKinA5NmtGW1WvUpF5lE/s400/banners+at+Twins+.jpg" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCQ9ncL1R2V1MaaeBQinGKxLUxqGbNXnm3UPfryUxJXXVuO7Z2xU2ZUiIHgcSBwdOpOIURLrZxhv9AW4Q_-QDm2IMAwv1CzUMu0Nash8NappQeuWIQcjvht-X91h0E2HVQnZDl1psvPQQ/s1600/White+Silence+sign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCQ9ncL1R2V1MaaeBQinGKxLUxqGbNXnm3UPfryUxJXXVuO7Z2xU2ZUiIHgcSBwdOpOIURLrZxhv9AW4Q_-QDm2IMAwv1CzUMu0Nash8NappQeuWIQcjvht-X91h0E2HVQnZDl1psvPQQ/s320/White+Silence+sign.jpg" width="180" /></a>Back outside, signs reading “White Silence = Violence”,
“White Silence Kills”, and “White Silence Killed Jamar” were directed at the
predominately white-looking crowd attempting to enter the stadium. Some shouted
encouragement, others angrily “flipped us the bird” or yelled for us to “Get a
Job!” We sang, and chanted, led by our cadre of brave black women until the
police issued their third warning to leave under threat of imminent arrest for
trespass. Our leaders from Black Lives Matter Minneapolis and the Black
Liberation Project moved to the sidewalk with the others who had served as
marshals as the police started to handcuff those of us remaining who were
blocking the train and the street. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Less than two weeks before, my wife Christine and I were
invited to be part of a walk along the Minnesota River led by Ojibwa elder,
Sharon Day. The women carried a bucket of water drawn from the source of the
river in west central Minnesota to be poured back into the river at its
confluence with the Mississippi at a place called Bdote by the Dakota people. I
was honored to carry the eagle staff behind the woman carrying the copper pail.
We prayed for the river, thanked her for her gift of life to the land. We
offered tobacco at ceremonies at the beginning and ending of each day of the
walk with a moving ceremony at the conclusion of the walk on Friday near the
repressive reminder of Ft. Snelling and it’s 1862-63 concentration camp for
Dakota women and children. On Wednesday of the walk, we passed the memorial
where 38 Dakota warriors were hung by the US Government in 1862 and while the
tears and sadness of the memories from our past lingered as we walked, the
river, fighting the pollution caused by industrial agriculture run-off, kept
calling us to continue our prayerful journey. As the young Native girls threw
an offering of corn, berries, wild rice, tobacco and other traditional symbols
tied in a red cloth into the river at the end, two eagles circled overhead. I
remembered a Native friend who told me that “eagles circling” are carrying our
prayers to the Great Spirit.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-IcRMolu6QnFv_pu9VnVmbhB-tBnFBVU6hgDPSXGJYO4HviGgDqPWMNE3NslYSfbgDgDNbMSCyAoj-prxCY15Z-AouIAeizKo4usTGmEZwMrCOnG5eJiIvW6kbmoUbkegBHCagbvxKqo/s1600/Steve+with+Sharon+Day.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-IcRMolu6QnFv_pu9VnVmbhB-tBnFBVU6hgDPSXGJYO4HviGgDqPWMNE3NslYSfbgDgDNbMSCyAoj-prxCY15Z-AouIAeizKo4usTGmEZwMrCOnG5eJiIvW6kbmoUbkegBHCagbvxKqo/s320/Steve+with+Sharon+Day.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In another two months, Christine and I will join some Muslim
friends at an Iftar – the meal to break the daily fast during the holy month of
Ramadan at a local mosque. We have done so for the past several years as a way
for Christians, Jews, Muslims, and others gather to help break down the
stereotypes and walls that often divide Americans. I remember how pleased my
Iraqi friends were when our delegation visited the Holy Shrines in Karbala and
Najaf, Iraq several years ago. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Embodied solidarity” is a term used by a Wheaton College
professor, Dr. Larycia Hawkins, as she donned an hijab during the weeks of
Advent as many Muslims were being vilified in the media at the instigation of some
Presidential candidates as well as religious “leaders”. She wanted to show with
her body her oneness and connectedness to those often seen as “the other”. It
cost her her job at the college, my alma mater after a storm of protest arose
from the broader “evangelical” community. I already had many of my own reasons
for distancing myself from Wheaton so this merely added to my list of
grievances. But I am thankful for her witness and example. I, too, want to
place my body in alliance with peoples pushed to the margins in our society,
culture, and nation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUqaE5R7uVPDRf6tckJBEcj73EsjykR3qZATmvxuBmrBztArTj244fwGXG3AToQmHWhgm7sVPwS9XdWhMM-vf-k8iViCYWSJ1cYIFogxsWxqTIpja3mJQKS4XOQlAkjOvDYT_piBfjSgw/s1600/Steve+with+Kathy+at+CW%253ABLM+action+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUqaE5R7uVPDRf6tckJBEcj73EsjykR3qZATmvxuBmrBztArTj244fwGXG3AToQmHWhgm7sVPwS9XdWhMM-vf-k8iViCYWSJ1cYIFogxsWxqTIpja3mJQKS4XOQlAkjOvDYT_piBfjSgw/s320/Steve+with+Kathy+at+CW%253ABLM+action+2016.jpg" width="320" /></a>Part of the time outside the Twins stadium I stood
arm-in-arm with my dear friend, Kathy Kelly. She had told me in the past,<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Where you stand determines what you see.” I
would add to that, “With whom you stand can also change your perspective.”
Following the leadership of Lena Gardner and Candace Montgomery of Black Lives
Matter Minneapolis, the inspiration of Rev. Osagyefo Sekou of the Fellowship of
Reconciliation, the love and compassion for the water evidenced by Sharon Day
of the Indigenous People’s Task Force, the passion of the action coordinators
from the Black Liberation Project, and the insights and observations of my
numerous Muslim friends has helped give this 65 year-old male who has for decades
identified himself as “white” a window into a world of exciting and challenging
diversity. Thank you! <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJpqrTWVQsoZ9c4uXA-tWORvsWqQ0xh6P0cm7EuyNAQqvdi_sHlVTV51f6newUA2mWKEqVcUNedwK9sDn8LHhkl13SePaV4CNLp3urHag8AkaRriVjdC3NxIdhYqoaGkxprhnV1BCvGA/s1600/Light+rail+blocade.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMJpqrTWVQsoZ9c4uXA-tWORvsWqQ0xh6P0cm7EuyNAQqvdi_sHlVTV51f6newUA2mWKEqVcUNedwK9sDn8LHhkl13SePaV4CNLp3urHag8AkaRriVjdC3NxIdhYqoaGkxprhnV1BCvGA/s320/Light+rail+blocade.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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As our signs read, “White silence kills.” Let’s break the
silence among those who identify in our culture as “white” and recognize that
racism against black people hurts me and you. Failure to include queer and
transgender people diminishes all of us. We have much to learn (and repent for)
from our indigenous neighbors. Muslims need to hear you embody a message of
“welcome!” I don’t want to live in the mythical American “melting pot”. We
don’t all need to blend together into some unidentifiable porridge; rather
let’s embrace our diversity as we embrace one another and determine to reject
the cancer of white supremacy which has poisoned our world. And, as Rev. Sekou
beautifully and forcefully remind us in our training for “militant nonviolence”,
we do this work out of “deep abiding love” and filled with “joy”.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-74528589795629473472016-03-16T18:05:00.002-05:002016-03-16T18:05:29.019-05:00Receiving the Sullivan Ballou Award<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggal7iD7iQZgpLyIBC1CgAo6xH6vlSv40Vh9uD04dJepUxnAwr_4FoKJI-0HtDIF5CDhavmzp6i5ZqZzmjV6V18tsC7NcQgs7-15XQs_Q494CowR1FQx1dN6HSgzSJDKtKNkog0DG7dl0/s1600/Sullivan+Ballou+award+2016.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggal7iD7iQZgpLyIBC1CgAo6xH6vlSv40Vh9uD04dJepUxnAwr_4FoKJI-0HtDIF5CDhavmzp6i5ZqZzmjV6V18tsC7NcQgs7-15XQs_Q494CowR1FQx1dN6HSgzSJDKtKNkog0DG7dl0/s320/Sullivan+Ballou+award+2016.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Remarks for Sullivan Ballou
Award. March 13, 2016 by Steve Clemens<o:p></o:p></b></div>
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<br /></div>
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Last evening my friend Dan asked me if I was supposed to
give a speech today at this award event. I told him, “I hope not.” But in
thinking about it this morning, I figured, why not?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I must say first of all that Judges usually send me off to
jail – they have never offered me money for my activities! Sullivan Ballou
calls us to “act from the heart” and the award is meant to recognize acts of
compassion.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The word compassion has been defined by others as “to suffer
with”. 38 years ago, as Christine and I were planning our wedding, we decided
to chose “Clemens” as our common last name primarily because one of it’s Latin
roots means “compassionate” and we thought it as a goal to strive for. She’s
been my partner and co-conspirator in this work ever since.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The best route to a life of compassion, I’ve found, is
exposure to the lives and stories of “the other”. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In my years at a high school boarding school for boys it was
rooming with Sun Bin Lee, my Asian-American roommate and playing sports with
Bob Seebacher, one of the few Jewish students at this Christian Prep school. In
college it was rooming with Ron Potter, the de facto leader of the black
students on campus and our Latino friend Aric Carillio. Learning from their
stories and experiences.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It led me to volunteer work with street gangs in
Philadelphia and later to work in a poor black community in the Mississippi
Delta region. In Washington, DC I heard stories told by Don Luce of the Tiger
Cages for political prisoners in Vietnam and by Mennonite Central Committee
worker Max Ediger about the plight of the Montenyaard peoples in the highlands
of Vietnam who were bearing the brunt of napalm attacks from the US as well as
attacks from all sides in that Vietnamese civil war. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I heard stories from Central American refugees from El
Salvador and Guatemala as I helped transport them (against US law) from the
Texas/Mexican border to Georgia and then to Canada where they were granted
asylum. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I visited Bob Redd on Georgia’s Death Row for 10 years;
Christine and my young sons joining me for the visits for the last several
years before he died in 1989. I’ve met other prisoners as their equals in many
jails and prisons as a fellow prisoner over the years. Each had a story to tell
to help crack open the hardness of my heart.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Following the invitation from Kathy Kelly to be part of the
Iraq Peace Team in Baghdad in December 2002, I joined the group to remain in
solidarity with the Iraqi people to face the bombs from my own nation with
them. I met some of those victimized by our previous war in 1991 who were now
suffering from cancers purportedly caused by exposure to depleted uranium used
by US troops.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was fortunate to travel to Afghanistan to plant trees for
peace on the Afghan New Year in March five years ago. There I met courageous
young peacemakers – many who had lost a parent, sibling, cousin or friend to
the violence of the Taliban or US drone strikes. We continue to have
conversations with each other over Skype and FaceBook connections. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Lately my Native American brothers and sisters have helped
me expand my horizon for compassion to the land, the rivers and lakes, and all
its creatures. They call me to listen to the rocks, listen to the waters,
listen to the animals and embrace the Spirit within. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
My work with IARP seeking reconciliation will continue –
though not as a Board Member. I’m grateful for the work of this organization as
well as my friends in the Muslim Peacemaker Team in Iraq for finding ways to
hear one another’s stories and continue to work for healing, peace, and
reparations. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><br /></span></div>
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Through all of this, compassion does not come naturally to
me – often it is the prodding and pushing of Christine , my sons, other
friends, and fellow activists that has proceeded my acting. So, on behalf of
all of them, I accept this award in hopes that all of us, together, can help
heal our world.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /></div>
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[The Sullivan Ballou Fund info can be found at: http://www.sullivanballoufund.org/]</div>
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Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-36615166679828125502015-09-11T04:53:00.000-05:002015-09-12T10:22:14.792-05:00Open Letter to Secretary of State John Kerry<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
[Written after attending hearing on Tar Sands pipelines in Federal Court yesterday]<br />
<br />
Dear Secretary Kerry,<br />
<br />
As a parent whose son and daughter-in-law work for you in West Africa, I was deeply ashamed of the inability of your department's dismissal of the rights of Indigenous Peoples exhibited by the lawyer arguing against Honor The Earth, MN350.org, and the Sierra Club's position at the Enbridge Pipeline hearing in front of Judge Michael Davis yesterday in the US Federal Courthouse in Minneapolis.<br />
<br />
I wanted to stand up in the courtroom and shout the words of Jim Morrison's cry in The Door's song so many years ago when we were young men: "What have they done to the earth?/What have they done to our fair sister?/Ravaged and plundered, ripped her and bit her/ Stuck her with knives in the side of the dawn/ Tied her with fences and ...dragged her down!" The song, appropriately, is titled, "When the Music's Over".<br />
<br />
To hide behind legal technicalities of a permit granted by LBJ in 1968 for a pipeline with "unlimited" capacity to cross our national border - before any of us knew the stalking horse of global climate change was marching over the horizon - exhibited the worst aspects of the collusion of corporate interests and mindless bureaucracy in the service of denial and greed.<br />
<br />
Who is going to represent the interests of the Earth? Of the danger filthy tar sands "oil" and its poisonous diluents cause to our Great Lakes, the Mississippi, and our pristine lakes with their abundance of wild rice growing over "sky blue waters"?<br />
<br />
As Secretary of State, you must help our nation respect and honor the Treaties signed by our government ensuring the rights of our indigenous friends to fish, hunt, and gather (yes, that life-giving wild rice) in perpetuity. Your lawyer said the State Department's only interest was the point at which the pipeline(s) crossed the border between The U.S. and Canada - leaving the issue of what the pipelines are carrying and it's destination to other faceless bureaucrats.<br />
<br />
Climate change is real. The time is short. Please, please, please conduct a thorough environmental review of the Enbridge Pipeline 67 (Alberta Clipper) and Pipeline 3 replacement - and consult with the Indigenous Nations, including Winona LaDuke and White Earth, before this climate-threatening project continues.<br />
<br />
Steve Clemens<br />
Minneapolis</div>
Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-37805031457354080642015-04-12T16:58:00.003-05:002015-04-12T16:58:43.199-05:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBwR8_E4tHiNjdYJEY72oZZpjSfqp9HrDyJawprhAhPFoKAfaLEEUHmlUbgnCPFg3ZjtzlB7jmteY8CQrVWWW6HRKNSfDSv8Zc1cJcMTuHJiC7vXhCHWmmExqCElNi_ur66Mq1TQEY2A/s1600/White+House+arrest+1975_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxBwR8_E4tHiNjdYJEY72oZZpjSfqp9HrDyJawprhAhPFoKAfaLEEUHmlUbgnCPFg3ZjtzlB7jmteY8CQrVWWW6HRKNSfDSv8Zc1cJcMTuHJiC7vXhCHWmmExqCElNi_ur66Mq1TQEY2A/s1600/White+House+arrest+1975_4.jpg" height="320" width="245" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Forty-Year Crime
Spree by Steve Clemens<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Near the end of March marked the 40<sup>th</sup> anniversary
of my first arrest beginning a life of crime that has averaged about an arrest
per year – or arrest-able actions. Truth be told, it actually began three years
earlier when I burned my Selective Service Registration Card after one of
Nixon’s speeches and mailed the ashes back to my local Draft Board. I had
registered as a Conscientious Objector when I turned age 18 in the fall of 1968
but then my lottery number was 254 when the military draft switched to that
system in the government’s attempt to lessen the growing anti-Vietnam War
protests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Despite the likelihood that my Draft Board would never be
sending me an induction notice given my relatively “safe” lottery number and
the withdrawal of combat troops from South Vietnam so, after I graduated from
college and losing that “educational deferment”, I decided to do my
“alternative service” by volunteering with the Mennonite Central Committee,
first in rural Mississippi and then in Washington, DC. I arrived in the
nation’s capitol city just a few weeks after President Nixon resigned in
disgrace following the exposure of the Watergate scandals. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I soon was invited to join a Monday evening Bible study
group at the Community For Creative NonViolence (CCNV) led by Phil Berrigan and
Liz McAlister. We used Abraham Joshua Heschel’s provocative book, <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>The Prophets</u></b>, as a jumping-off
point for our discussions on how we as Christians could embody the Gospel for
our own times. The end of January 1975 found me helping as volunteer staff for
“The National Assembly To Save The Peace Agreements” with thousands gathering
to hear anti-war speakers and listen to Joan Baez and other musicians who
arrived for the rally. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In February I joined my housemate John Swarr in going to the
White House tour entrance and reading aloud a copy of the Paris Peace Accords
to those awaiting entrance to the President’s home and office – highlighting
the ways our government was violating the agreements we has signed. When
threatened with arrest if we didn’t leave after being there for more than an
hour, we both left – not ready (yet) to cross that line of deliberate civil
disobedience. As our Monday night group processed our experiences, the radical
Catholic couple from Jonah House – especially Liz – were gently urging me to
consider risking arrest as a next step in my journey as a Christian peacemaker.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3CK3HPVU3EuY8sofpIoCTJG7qc8Zwlax6w0xmGZw1yTHog00zG8foD6Owhtbp5kDe8JgOrREArIZ54DW1_m-QU2_tF8mHHDEWY78bWpTV2dgMhQVQV_9uSE_FbN56c0dhH7SzTZo8BEQ/s1600/White+House+arrest+1975_5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3CK3HPVU3EuY8sofpIoCTJG7qc8Zwlax6w0xmGZw1yTHog00zG8foD6Owhtbp5kDe8JgOrREArIZ54DW1_m-QU2_tF8mHHDEWY78bWpTV2dgMhQVQV_9uSE_FbN56c0dhH7SzTZo8BEQ/s1600/White+House+arrest+1975_5.jpg" height="320" width="245" /></a>President Gerald Ford was asking Congress for more funds to
support the flagging efforts of the South Vietnamese troops who had replaced
the American soldiers under Nixon’s “Vietnamization” of the war. At the same
time attempting to quell anti-war protests, he had also proposed what we called
a “punitive clemency” program stating that draft resisters who had gone to jail
or fled to Canada or other countries or had gone “underground” could have their
rights restored and criminal records amended if they returned, surrendered to
authorities, and completed two additional years of some approved community
service. This “offer” was seen by many of us opposed to the war as a continued
justification for what we felt was not only illegal but also
counter-productive. Someone suggested we should respond to the President
personally.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Little did we know that this proposed act of civil
disobedience would be the last large arrest before the Saigon regime fell to
the North Vietnamese and NLF troops the next month. The plan for the action was
simple: a group of us would gather for the daily tour of the White House and
once inside, we would gather on the lawn of the building and refuse to leave
until we were granted a meeting with President Ford. I carried with me a typed
letter to the President outlining why I was participating. Many of those
joining the group had years if not decades of nonviolent arrests and expected
that we would be given a warning to leave prior to arrest. Those not planning
on going to jail that day should leave at that time recognizing that those
remaining would likely be handcuffed and hauled to jail. I’m not sure any of us
expected the President to meet with us. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There were 62 arrested that March 1975 afternoon, the
largest mass arrest at the White House to that date. Human Rights activist Dick
Gregory, Catholic priest Daniel Berrigan, former-nun Elizabeth McAlister, Ladon
Sheats, and many others became my co-defendants that day. What a group to serve
as mentors for a first arrest! It took several hours for the arrests and to be
transported to the jail. As we were being booked, the elderly gentleman
processed in front of me told the arresting officer his name and “occupation”
when asked. He responded, “James Peck, war resister”. I hadn’t met him before
but I knew well his steadfast commitment to justice and nonviolence when he was
savagely beaten during the Freedom Rides in the Civil Rights struggle in the
South as well as his opposition to nuclear weapons testing and drills in the
50s. It was an honor and privilege to be booked with an American hero!<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Yes, I was nervous that day. Other than a parking ticket
while in college, I prided myself in being a law-abiding, conscientious
citizen. To not “obey” a police officer or Secret Service officer went against
everything I was taught – and the decision to do so did not come easily. I was
greatly relieved to discover that we were being “released on our own
recognizance” (ROR) after being booked, photographed, and fingerprinted. I felt
proud that I survived the close to 6-hour ordeal and especially grateful for my
companions. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It wasn’t until our debriefing time the following Monday
evening during our regular Bible study that I discovered that not all of us
were released: apparently 3 of the group remained in jail because they felt
that if they weren’t white and well-educated with jobs they wouldn’t have been
offered ROR. They chose to act in solidarity with the poor black men who so
frequently populated those DC jails. Boy did I have a lot to learn – I never
even considered not acting on my privilege! <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Liz delivered her first child before our trial and was
nursing infant Frida Berrigan in the courtroom. I clearly remember her standing
up in that courtroom with her newborn resister and telling the Judge she was
compelled to act on behalf of the future generations. (That mother’s milk –and example
- has obviously nurtured Frida’s exemplary activism for peace and justice in
her own right). <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_EzcGOc_KINyOKhr76jcuG-oKPNAweRZVBVCAesVltuhj-Y7pmzj_SDehm_IrsTQpGDifPZvjYdiOmMcIC2xs3_T1VNyONaR1vg4B-4LNbJjftQi2SQJF0arhrQtZq_elENANy72AuNg/s1600/White+House+arrest+1975_6.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_EzcGOc_KINyOKhr76jcuG-oKPNAweRZVBVCAesVltuhj-Y7pmzj_SDehm_IrsTQpGDifPZvjYdiOmMcIC2xs3_T1VNyONaR1vg4B-4LNbJjftQi2SQJF0arhrQtZq_elENANy72AuNg/s1600/White+House+arrest+1975_6.jpg" height="320" width="245" /></a></div>
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We were given a 60 day jail sentence which was suspended
provided we weren’t arrested again during our probation period of 15 months-2 years. It was a good
start and introduction to a life of crime and punishment – but also one of deep
joy and commitment. I can’t say our world is better off today but I’m certain
it would have been worse if not for groups of nonviolent seekers of justice,
peace, and compassion. I’m so grateful for this mentoring.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-53134936409923913642015-02-05T19:26:00.001-06:002015-02-05T19:26:29.289-06:00On Not Seeing American Sniper <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">American Sniper Movie</span><br />
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
I have chosen not to see Clint Eastwood's new "blockbuster" film, American Sniper, for several reasons: I don't wish to add to the sales figures which continue to make it the #1 movie at the box office for 3 weeks running; I rarely spend $6-12 for a first-run movie, waiting until it comes to my local neighborhood theater for $2 senior rate; but, more importantly, what this movie symbolizes to my Iraqi friends.</div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
When I traveled back to Iraq for the first time since going to Baghdad in December of 2002 as part of a Peace Team, the people I met in Najaf, Karbala, and Babil (Babylon) in November of 2012 were happy to greet an unarmed American - and they told us so. Unarmed, coming not to conquer nor correct but rather to connect and communicate face-to-face. Not looking through the scope of a rifle for potential targets but rather mingling with the masses in the souk, at the Shrines to their revered ancestors and leaders, and at the universities and grade schools. Looking there, instead of finding "insurgents" I found inquisitive people eager to engage me as a potential friend and partner. </div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
Yes, I must admit I also encountered some bitterness and disgust at what some had felt was directly linked to the American invasion and the long military "occupation" which followed. Some of my Iraqi friends think many of the corrupt and ineffectual politicians now running their nation were put in place or funded by - or at least took advantage of the chaos created by - the American military intervention. Many of my Iraqi friends, while having no love lost for the departure of Saddam Hussein, see the present conflict arising between Sunni and Shi'a Muslims as being a result of a divide-and-conquer strategy by America and it's principal ally, Israel. </div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
So a U.S. movie which doesn't bother to take the time to explain WHY a patriotic Iraqi might become an "insurgent" to fight against a foreign invader trying to put in place a government in his/her own nation - but instead has as its flawed "hero" someone whose autobiography calls all Iraqis "savages" ... Well it isn't hard to connect the dots to see how American Sniper will not help us work for the needed reconciliation between Iraqis and Americans. </div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
<br /></div>
<div style="-webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(130, 98, 83, 0.0980392); color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.701961); font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; font-size: 17px; text-decoration: -webkit-letterpress;">
Ironically, all the controversy surrounding this movie might serve as a good reminder to Americans that all too often wants to "move on" to the next event-of-the-day (or week or month) that those on the receiving end of the American Empire don't have the luxury of moving on when infrastructure and relationships remain tattered and broken for most of our Iraqi friends. </div>
</div>
Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-76813940527466034212014-06-29T20:42:00.000-05:002014-06-30T04:52:49.747-05:00Day 2 of the Drone Trial in Des Moines<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Drone Trial Day 2,
With a Verdict</b> by Steve Clemens. June 29, 2014</div>
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The jury was out for only 30 minutes – the shortest
deliberation I’ve experienced in at least 7 other jury trials. When Judge
William Price made clear before the noon break that he wouldn’t permit jury
instructions which would allow jurors to consider our justification, it was
almost certain to me that we would be convicted. That is why we had started out
day 2 of our St. Patrick’s Day 7 Drone Protest trial with what is referred to
as an “offer of proof”.</div>
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Out of the presence of a jury, the offer of proof is
testimony submitted for the record which could be used in the appeal of a case of
testimony which is disallowed in the official “evidence” the jury considers in
rendering their verdict. Michele Naar Obed was sworn in (actually she affirmed
rather than swore the oath which was to tell the truth – but not necessarily
the “whole truth”) and took the stand to tell part of her story. She lived in
Iraq for three years, working with Christian Peacemaker Teams, first in Baghdad
and then in the Kurdish region in the north. She joined CPT realizing saying
“No” to war was not enough – she wanted to say “Yes” to something that worked
to prevent war and heal its wounds. She told the judge, “I have witnessed
drones flying over northern Iraq and I’ve met [extended] family members where
an entire family with 5 children were killed in their car after visiting family
members in the mountains by a missile fired by a drone. She met another mother
whose child was only “pieces” and asked “how can I bury her with so little
left?” That woman grabbed Michele’s arm, knowing she was an American, telling
her, “Can’t you tell people [in your country] to stop this?” She told the Judge
she “has taken numerous opportunities to try to deliver that message from this
Kurdish woman and when this [nonviolent] action was proposed, I felt I needed
to try to talk about it [to members of the military at the airbase.”</div>
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Elliott Adams, followed her powerful testimony with his own.
He described volunteering for Vietnam as a paratrooper and had also served in
the U.S. Military in Korea and Alaska. After his military service, he traveled
to several war zones, including Panama, Gaza, and Grenada to talk to others and
see for himself the realities of war. He served in public office for about 15
years, worked in the Fire Department, served on the School Board, done many
things in a life-long effort to make this a better world. </div>
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<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I took an oath to
defend the US Constitution when I entered the military … and [that oath] has no
expiration date. … I went to the Iowa National Guard Base to uphold the law. …
to exercise my First Amendment rights and to petition my Government for a
redress of grievances. … The rulings of the Nuremberg Tribunals obligates me to
act. … Article 6 of the Us Constitution … and Supreme Court decisions uphold
International Law as part of our own law.”</i> He went on to cite several US
Supreme Court decisions about the relevancy of International Law and referred
to the Law of War and the illegality of indiscriminate weapons. He then added
that drones also violate US laws as well, citing the War Crimes Act. He
referenced the Geneva Accords. As a treaty signed by our government, “It is
part of our law, not separate from US law, and it applies in every court.”</div>
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His voice cracked and quieted considerably when he got more
personal: “When I was in Vietnam, I was tested about whether I would follow
small laws – orders from my [military] officers – or follow the big laws,”
referring to International laws and norms about warfare. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“And I followed the small laws.
If someone had warned me, I might not have crossed that line.” </i></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>[Referring to that line between acting morally
and what has now haunted him for decades since his time in Vietnam – not
crossing a property line at the National Guard base.] <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“I needed to warn my fellow
brothers and sisters.”</i></b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
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The former National President of Veterans For Peace, Elliott
Adams, began to list all the ways he’s tried to deliver the message including
writing letters to Congress, the President, to the editor. He’s testified
before Congress. “The Nuremberg Principles 4 and 7 say I must act.” He
described the Hellfire missile [fired by military drones] as equal to 14 sticks
of dynamite; it is by it’s nature indiscriminate. Where they are exploded will
have “collateral damage.”</div>
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He concluded with a plea to the Judge, asking rhetorically, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“Where should I try to seek a redress of
grievances? At a Starbucks?, at the Salvation Army?, the Post Office since it
is a Federal facility? – No, the air base [where these weapons will be operated
from].”</i> He lamented the fact that according to the rules of war, if
military drones are “piloted” from this Des Moines airbase, this area will
become a legitimate military target.</div>
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Other defendants were willing to add to the “Offer of Proof”
but our lawyers felt this powerful testimony was enough to lay an adequate
basis for a future appeal if we decide to go that route. At that point, 8:50 in
the morning, the State rested its case and our lawyers entered their motion for
a directed verdict of acquittal on two grounds: the State’s witnesses didn’t
know exactly where the property line was for the base, claiming it was the
responsibility of the Civil Engineers; and, the defendants attempted to raise a
justification and the State’s evidence did not show we didn’t have
justification. </div>
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The Prosecutor claimed he just needed to establish the
elements of the trespass defense and argued that “without justification” is not
an element unless it is recognized by the court as an affirmative defense. He
stated they had “proven it was private property” and the Major testified they
were at least “50 yards past [the painted line].”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Judge Price said “when someone is there to petition the
government, just having [military] officers telling them to leave is not
sufficient.” He went on to point out that we were advised to leave by both the
military and the Des Moines Police, saying he felt this was sufficient evidence
to give the decision to the jury. “At this point, no justification has been
raised [since the offer of proof was not delivered before the jury]. The State
can’t anticipate all possible defenses. …Reasonable minds can differ on this.”
He stated the case should continue to go to the jury and dismissed the Motion
to Dismiss. He said both Michele and Elliott could testify about their personal
backgrounds and history but his ruling on the Motion in Limine would continue
meaning they couldn’t talk about their “philosophical beliefs” in describing
their attempts to deliver it [our letter of indictment] to the military. </div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The place to petition the Government is not in this Courtroom but
rather the halls of Congress and on the streets of America. It does not give
rise to justification to being in a particular place,”</i></b> the Judge
stated. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Funny, but I was always taught
in high school civics that the Judiciary was a third and co-equal branch of
Government and all three should be held responsible for the failings and
oversights and excesses of the other two. I guess not in his courtroom!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Judge had previously noted that some law students
serving as interns at the Iowa Appeals Court were present to observe and looked
at them when he remarked wryly, “The Appellate Court has given us no guidance
in this matter,” referring to the “without justification” language in the
trespass law. After the Prosecutor remarked, “We’re not here to punish speech
but to punish conduct. We’re not here about the First Amendment,” Michele said,
“I have a question. If we carried chains and a lock [to lock the gates of the
airbase closed], would the Prosecutor try to use that as evidence against us?”
after the Judge stated he would not allow the letter of indictment we carried
into evidence. The Judge allowed that we would be permitted to say our intent
was to present that document but said what we carried “was a slippery slope.
You could carry a book [and what it to be submitted as “evidence” for the jury
to consider].” As a sop to the defendants for ruling against all our other
motions, he did allow the photos we carried or had taped to our bodies as
evidence – over the objections of the Prosecutor. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When the jury entered the room at 9:40, the State officially
rested its case and our defense was allowed to begin. Ruth Cole, a 26-year old
member of the Rye House Catholic Worker Community in Minneapolis was the first
on the stand even though this was her first trial! She talked about her
education in the field of Early Childhood Education, teaching in elementary
school and her special interest in helping children suffering from childhood
trauma. She described the Catholic Worker values and commitment to hospitality
as well as advocacy. She said their goal was to “live your life in a way that
creates social justice.” When asked by the Prosecutor [attempting to defeat any
“necessity defense”] if she felt in imminent danger while at the airbase, Ruth
was clear with conviction in her answer: “I represent more than myself, … my
“body” was not in danger but I am connected to others who are.” I was so proud
to hear a first-timer when pressed in court to have such an insightful answer. </div>
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Julie Brown, a Des Moines Catholic Worker, skated as close
as she dared to the Judge’s “philosophical” line when she asked, “How can you
mourn your own child who is now just in small pieces?” She told the jury she
carried the photo of a child who had been killed in a drone strike “in case
they [the military personnel] wouldn’t talk to me. I had to find another way to
communicate my message.”</div>
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Elliott Adams described his military and post-military
experience when questioned by our lawyer. After saying he “felt obligated to go
to the base to prevent war crimes; it is my responsibility as a citizen,” he
was prevented by the Judge from talking about his belief of “small laws” versus
“big laws”. He told the jury he was open to more suggestions about ways he
could petition his government, recognizing that this Judge wasn’t interested in
performing that function in this trial.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Chet Guinn, a retired Methodist minister, had worked for the
church for 44 years and continues to function in ecumenical and interfaith
circles. When he attempted to read an excerpt of a statement from the World
Council of Churches condemning military drones, he was prevented from doing so
by the Prosecutor’s objection. Stating that his birthday was only 6 months different
from Martin Luther King, he claimed, “I wanted to inject King’s values into our
society today.” As soon as he tried to continue that he believed King would be
protesting drones with us today, he was cut off and he wasn’t able to continue
about his wealth of experience during Freedom Summer 60 years ago and his
life-long work for peace and justice. It was an honor to have this man with us.
He told us during our trial prep gathering, “I know I came late [to the
demonstration] but I felt it was necessary to have the church present.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Michele Naar Obed told of her degree in medical pathology as
well as her commitment to nonviolence. She told of her decision to join
Christian Peacemaker Teams and spending 3 years in Iraq during the recent war.
However, she was cut off and not allowed to talk about her witnessing the use
of drones and meeting with victims’ families when the Judge ruled in favor of
the Prosecutor’s objections.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eddie Bloomer, another military veteran and member of Vets
for Peace told how he has been a member of the Des Moines Catholic Worker
family for 21 years. “As a former member of the military, I love my country,”
he stated while trying to explain his participation that cold St. Patrick’s Day
morning last March. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The Judge called a recess at 10:40, leaving me as the final
defense witness. When I got to the stand 15 minutes later, when asked by our
lawyer what I carried with me that day, I showed the indictment, and described
the blue scarf I wore that day, saying it had been given to me by friends in
Afghanistan. I then held up the large photo of Abdulhai that I carried and told
the jury he and his friends gave me a letter to carry back to the US to deliver
to the President via Keith Ellison, my Congressman, three years ago this
Spring. It called on our President (and all other combatants) to end the use of
military means and use diplomacy instead. They have never heard back from
either the Congressman or the President. I wanted to carry their message to the
airbase that morning. I also talked about 4 presentations by a Pakistani
Federal Police Officer, Mubarak Zeb, who described how drones make his law
enforcement job much more difficult in his home country, especially in the
tribal areas. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The lawyers and Judge discussed jury instructions while five
of the defendants went to lunch with some local supporters. After lunch,
despite our objections, the Judge allowed the State to present a rebuttal
witness – a Lt. Colonel who is the Base Civil Engineer to officially establish
the base property line. Although none of us testified in any official capacity
as to where the property line was, thus no “rebuttal” was warranted, The Judge
let him say the property line was 70’-80’ from the fence (not the more than 50
yards testified to the day before by the Major) but he had to admit on cross
examination that all of the “Federal Property” keep out signs were posted on
the fence and gate, a line we did not cross. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The closing statements were next and jurors were forbidden
from taking any notes during them “since they aren’t evidence.” The Prosecutor
said “This isn’t the ‘Crime of the Century’ but it is a crime. It is not less
of a crime if no one is hurt. … Liberty can only be maintained when laws are
enforced. …Motives are immaterial to the fact that they [broke the law].”
Michele quoted from the Bible where she said she was instructed that if she had
a disagreement with a brother or sister to go to them directly, then go with
another, before you go to court. That was what she was trying to do in speaking
directly to the National Guard. “Which is more important,” she asked, “property
or life? We came to humanize, to bring life, to bring hope. We walked down that
drive to change hearts and minds of the people behind that fence. We tried to
uphold the Spirit of the law.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Elliott told the jury that he remains haunted from his experience
in Vietnam because he followed only the “small laws.” Glenn Downey, one of our
pro-bono lawyers concluded by again talking about lines and boundaries.
Finally, in rebuttal, another Prosecutor said they [the State] must prove 3
elements of trespass – “everything else is smoke and mirrors. … The only thing
that matters is that they were on that property. We need to take all laws
seriously. They chose to get arrested.” No word, apparently that, for him or
the State, “all laws” might include the “bigger laws,” International Law, which
Elliott and others of us wish the court (and jury) would address. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
30 minutes later we had our answer and off we went to jail
for reasons of conscience and compassion. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-70287304962743966802014-06-28T09:33:00.000-05:002014-06-28T10:12:36.964-05:00Jail, Part 2<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFblrbHknOVucNvlgE8Rw1xZ2oYNsd_0mIakXUwaX9dtrbPFZXNGRLMGPCA-5ZAbOIBA_mX1lhnX-2qlh6vFqAwOIuDRN8dbihyphenhyphen_Krv4oxlVypfS5wMwCA9bJD22WKs1RneUXKz3ZyNTo/s1600/CCI27062014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFblrbHknOVucNvlgE8Rw1xZ2oYNsd_0mIakXUwaX9dtrbPFZXNGRLMGPCA-5ZAbOIBA_mX1lhnX-2qlh6vFqAwOIuDRN8dbihyphenhyphen_Krv4oxlVypfS5wMwCA9bJD22WKs1RneUXKz3ZyNTo/s1600/CCI27062014.jpg" height="400" width="307" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Doing Time in Des
Moines, Part 2</b> by Steve Clemens. June 28, 2014</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Judge William Price bragged about the new, “at least 3
star”, jail that Polk County, Iowa runs. He smiles and exchanges pleasantries
with us and our lawyers as the deputies are collecting the paperwork to haul us
off to his self-described plush accommodations. Obviously he has never entered
as a “paying customer”! I’d love to see if he has the cojones to spend 2-3 days
inside, incognito, before he sends anyone else to that jail. Same for the
Prosecutor (although, in fairness, he only recommended a fine for our
conviction on trespass) as well as all the COs (Corrections Officers) and staff
at Polk County’s “finest”. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I write about my jail experience to demystify it, hoping to
embolden others to consider civil disobedience and jail witness as another tool
in their repertoire of working for peace and justice.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After 20 hours in the “cooler” (I understand more clearly
the street slang for prison/jail after my first frigid stops within the jail),
I was handcuffed and chained again to be moved to “BarneyLand”, the euphemism
given to another holding way-station in the jail before entering general
population (referred to as a “pod”). The name came from its early days when the
TV there only played PBS and because of the prevalence of cartoon character
shows like the purple dinosaur, Barney, the name stuck; even the guards use it.
It has 2-person cells on the upper level and more on the lower level which also
includes 3-4 single person cells. My cell had a rolled steel bunk with
mattresses on each bed with a built-in pillow device – a great improvement from
laying directly on cement! Don’t get too excited – its not a posturepedic or
any other chiropractic-approved bedding! The toilet and sink are separate and
porcelain. A stainless steel 18”x18” shelf serves as a desk/table with a stool
bolted in front. A stainless steel “mirror” completes the ensemble. The cell
door has a clear window so I can see the clock outside the COs station, located
between two identical “BarneyLand” units. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am assigned a lower bunk (hallelujah!) and after unpacking
the “bedroll” I received before entering the unit, I begin to arrange my new
residence by placing my nearly threadbare sheets and blanket on the mattress. I
also now possess a towel, washcloth, a plastic cup and a spork. I had asked the
night before and again for a Bible but I am told “you have to wait until you
get to a pod before you can have one.” After being told by others that you
could be in BarneyLand for up to 24 hours, I figured I’d probably remain there
to finish my sentence. Of course not. After getting close to 2 hours of needed
rest on my bunk (since we were locked in the cells), the CO yells to us,
calling us by last name to “come down and get your uniforms – you are going to
a pod tonight after dinner.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I am issued 2 sets of two-toned green pants and shirts,
another T-shirt and boxers, and another pair of socks. We are told to change
out of the orange jumpsuit and return it to the laundry workers who gave us the
clothes. We are again unlocked to come to the main level for dinner to eat at
the stainless steel tables and stools bolted to the floor. A ham bologna slice
with bread is complemented with cooked carrots, Frito-like corn chips, canned
pineapple, blueberry pie, and milk – served on the same molded plastic trays. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
By 6:30 we are assembled again, re-handcuffed and chained
for the march to our respective pods. I’m assigned to a lower bunk, 630, in
North 6. It holds about 60 inmates in 4-man, 2-bunk bays on two levels. Each
bay has 3 walls with the front completely open, facing the day room. At the end
of the bays on both levels are 4 toilets and 4 sinks on each level. Opposite
the bay area are showers and a TV room with hard plastic chairs designed to
look like cushioned, living-room-type chairs. The CO has his desk on that wall
opposite the bays directly in the middle. In the day area are both phones for
expensive calls and video screens for visits. I wasn’t there long enough to see
how they work but with others milling about, it didn’t seem to afford any
privacy except over the handset. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
After I made up my bunk, I took a stroll around to see my
new digs. Four guys sitting together at one table ask if I’m in for DWI.
Another laughs and said, “I recognize you” and points to a picture of the hefty
banker with a mustache on the Monopoly Board Game. When I tell them about
drones, only two of the four have ever heard of them and they didn’t see them
as a necessary problem. As I explain about my friends in Afghanistan and my
friend in Pakistan and their experiences, you can see a light go on in their
imagination. When I tell them I chose to go to jail instead of paying the $100
fine (I put it, “I chose to do the time instead of paying the fine”), they each
gave me a fist bump and said, “Alright!” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In traversing the pod, I see one guy open a cabinet door and
start rifling through paperback books. When he is done, I quickly check to see
if there is anything I’d like to read since I’m sure I won’t sleep soundly on
my steel bunk – even with a mattress. I find a copy of Tim O’Brien’s <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><u>The Things They Carried</u></b> and even
though I read it years ago, it is well worth and read. Christine and I had just
seen a play at the History Theater based on it a month or two ago. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
One guy approaches me and offers some instant coffee – a
generous offer here since coffee is only available from the commissary in a
cost-cutting effort by the jail. I’ve never been to a jail or prison where
coffee hasn’t been a staple of the inmate diet! Other ways of taking it out on
the vulnerable are evident with the posted notice that any visit to the nurse
will incur a charge of $5, to the Doctor $10, Mental Health visit $10, as well
as charges for any prescriptions. The big surprise awaits check-out time.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
They say necessity is the mother of invention. I was pleased
to see the guys had rolled one of the large Brute trash receptacles right in
front of the toilet closest to the COs desk. If you need to take a dump, roll
the trash can between you and anyone walking by; at least a modicum of privacy.
If you want more, wait until after lights out at 10:30 PM and before 5-5:30 AM
when they are back on for breakfast. At night only lights at both far ends of
the pod are lit. Or, after breakfast and cleanup, most of the guys go back to
sleep for several hours so there is less traffic by the toilets. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There are no windows to the outside in the entire prison
except two louvered ones about 15’ high on the outside wall of an enclosed rec
room. The room itself consists of cement block walls, several Plexiglas windows
on the side facing the CO desk, and a cement floor. Some guys use the area for
walking exercise but unless you buy some shoes at commissary, walking in the
shower shoes is not the best experience. The windows in our rec room are
obscured, one louver open in a way you can tell if it is daytime or night but
not the weather. But Mother Nature has its own way: early in the morning a loud
boom of thunder erupted and I could hear the driving rain. Later in the early
afternoon, the thunderstorms returned during time for commissary and a nearby
lightning strike darkened the entire prison for about 5 seconds. Several
inmates yelled, “jail break!” and the two women distributing commissary got up
to run out of the pod – reacting much quicker than the CO. We laughed when the
lights came back on as they sighed with relief. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With only the two obscured windows at the end
of the pod, it was very dark! </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Although the Judge’s order stated I was to be jailed from 4
PM until 4 PM two days later, 4 o’clock came and went. I had all my stuff
packed, ready to go since 3, thinking I should walk out the door in my street
clothes at 4 and it would take some time to check out of this bed and
breakfast. Finally, as the clock ticked on, at 4:08 the phone rang and the CO
yelled out, “Clemens”. He patted me down and took me to the pod door where I
was once again handcuffed and chained for the march back to the release area.
We stopped en route for Eddie to join me and then had to sign to get our
property and clothes back. We put on our street clothes and then Michele and
Ruth arrived as well. I was asked to sign a form which acknowledged I received
my invoice for room and board charges - $195! I told them there was no way I
was going to pay such an absurd bill and I’d refuse to sign it. They said, “We’ll
bill you anyway.” So, go figure – go to jail for two days because you won’t pay
a $100 fine for reason of conscience only to be issued a bill for $95 more than
that amount to undergo such indignities. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
What do you expect from an empire in the throes of decline
and desperation?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-81349002065798306672014-06-27T13:05:00.002-05:002014-06-28T16:57:45.428-05:00Going To Jail As Solidarity<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQBA-ta_GxeA45P6CYQL_fSgKADkOsNzlPpcZBia0gxFJ7KUZWsKQmuBPgXt2KNnaxglwEZblIiFn_ReE4VT146e2iYli3RZ6P1nivPzVMaFVKDcJojSVJ0BJXClUlv2RyM1QL2hXvCM/s1600/Drone+Sentence+2014,+page+1.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWQBA-ta_GxeA45P6CYQL_fSgKADkOsNzlPpcZBia0gxFJ7KUZWsKQmuBPgXt2KNnaxglwEZblIiFn_ReE4VT146e2iYli3RZ6P1nivPzVMaFVKDcJojSVJ0BJXClUlv2RyM1QL2hXvCM/s1600/Drone+Sentence+2014,+page+1.jpeg" height="320" width="245" /></a></b></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Going to Jail as
Solidarity</b> by Steve Clemens. June 27, 2014</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I spent 20 hours on the boundary between discomfort and
pain. I thought of Martin Luther King writing about redemptive suffering and
offered my time in the noisy, cold, boring void of the Polk County Jail on
behalf of my despondent and discouraged friends in Afghanistan. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had watched a nearly 4 minute video Hakim had made of my
friends Abdulhai, Faiz, and Zekerullah in Kabul before I left for the second day
of our drone protest trial. I wept as I heard the despair they experienced in
the wake of the recent election run-off and the continued violence and terror
in their occupied nation. Listening to and watching them helped me make the
decision to take the road less traveled –well, less traveled by most, except
the Catholic Workers. Who else would choose 48 hours in jail over paying a $100
fine?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I had a premonition of what was to come well before the jury
returned with its verdict when the Judge ruled he would not allow a Jury
Instruction to include the words “without justification” in the charge of
Criminal Trespass, despite the wording of the law as passed by the legislature,
before the lunch break on the second day of trial. I took off my wedding band
and placed it on the key ring with my car’s remote and my house key. As soon as
I was found guilty, I gave Frank Cordaro, my friend from the Des Moines
Catholic Worker, my iPad, cell phone, keys, wallet, comb, notebook and pens I
had used during the trial so I wouldn’t have to book them into “property” at the
jail – after quickly texting my wife that I was headed to jail. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I must admit this wasn’t the first time I’ve chosen jail
over paying a fine or doing community service without talking to Christine
first. I had at least told her it was a possibility - if the sentence was fewer
than 72 hours -because I wanted to be able to continue donating blood platelets
every two weeks. Jail time for more than 72 hours would mean I couldn’t donate
blood again for a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
At the last moment before being hustled out of the courtroom
I remembered I still was wearing my hearing aids so I handed them to fellow
defendant Elliott Adams (who had agreed to pay the fine) to give them to Frank.
It is a good thing I kept my Driver’s License since the paperwork generated
from the court on my sentencing listed my name as “Douglas Clemens Stephen.”
Might be good to have my proper ID to get out of jail on Thursday late
afternoon!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We were escorted out of the courtroom by Polk County Sheriff
deputies, taken to the lower level of the courthouse, were padded down,
surrendered our belts, everything from our pockets (including my “Get out of
jail Free” card from the Monopoly Game), handcuffed us, attached a waist chain
to the cuffs and added leg shackles on our ankles. We shuffled off to a waiting
police transport van with two opposite benches in the rear compartment. The
three women had been separated from us in the courtroom so Eddie Bloomer and I
ducked and shuffled up and into the van to join two other male inmates who were
returning to the jail after court appearances. Noticing my dressier clothes (I
had already removed my necktie and given it to Frank), they asked me if I was
in for a DWI (Driving while intoxicated).<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
When I told the men I was headed for jail for protesting
Drones, the first reaction was “You must be one of the Illuminati!” When I
laughed as said I wasn’t sure what that was, the guy said, “Of course you would
deny it if you were one of them!” As the conversation continued with what
military drones were and that the protest was organized by the Catholic Worker,
his face lit up and he told us his brother used to go over to that place. He,
too, had eaten meals there. And when Eddie told them he had been living and
working at the Des Moines Catholic Worker for more than 20 years, I knew we had
just made two allies on the inside. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
However, when we arrived at the jail, they had us separated
from the other two. They had already received either the two-toned green or the
orange-and-white outfits with “Polk County Jail” prominently stenciled on both
the pants and shirt. They shuffled into one area while Eddie and I, still in
our street clothes –minus our belts – were placed into what felt like a
refrigerated holding area after our leg irons were removed. We remained
handcuffed to our waist chains for this first stop into the bowels of the belly
of the beast. It was a room about 12’ x 20’ with concrete benches attached to
the two outside walls which were deep enough to lay down. In the corner was the
requisite stainless steel sink/toilet combo. Cement floors, cement block walls
on three sides with a large glass window on the fourth, brightly lit – this was
where we remained over the next 2 ½ hours as others came and joined us. They
removed one handcuff so we could eat our supper of 2 hot dogs with rolls,
cooked peas, coffee cake, and milk. We each told a guard if we had any medical
issues (and that we weren’t suicidal) and then just waited and waited. Eddie
and I made a good team together – he told me what to expect as he’d been locked
up here for civil resistance many times – and I helped him pull up his
way-oversized jeans that he wore from the Catholic Worker donation box. Without
a belt and with such baggy pants, the guard had placed the waist chain through
a back belt loop and they constantly made his pants sag in such a way that he’d
be welcomed at a hip-hop convention. This for a Veteran in his late 60s!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Next, we were herded into a large area where our cuffs and
chains were finally removed, we surrender our street clothes and got orange
jumpsuits, brown boxers and a T-shirt, socks, and a 3” toothbrush, toothpaste,
soap, and a comb. We had already received bright orange plastic shower shoes at
the jail section of the courthouse so at least we were fashionably coordinated!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Eddie and I briefly saw co-defendant Michele Naar Obed
across the room in her two-toned green outfit; no sight of the other two women
she left the courtroom with. After our photos were taken, Eddie and I were
separated for the duration. He told me to try to get a roll of toilet paper to
use as a pillow and I was grateful for his advice.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was placed in a 9x11 cell with a stainless toilet/sink, a
3’ high partial block wall along its side for minimal privacy, and an 8”
raised<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>cement “bench” that was 2’x5’
where another inmate was trying to sleep in a fetal position with his blanket.
(Each of us was told to grab one blanket as we entered this cell.) Throughout
the next 17 ½ hours up to 7 other men came and went with most of the time
leaving 4 of us in this cell with no mattresses, a bright florescent light
overhead, and our blanket. I claimed the white painted “bench” after the first
guy got bonded out and tried to make do with the roll of toilet paper he had
been using. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was cold, noisy, and the bright light was constantly on.
One inmate was singing loudly next door; another screaming curses and
obscenities at the guard because he claimed he hadn’t gotten his phone call. All
night long the heavy metal doors opened and slammed shut, people coming and
going, and you could hear the guards chatting away loudly outside the cell
door. I was miserable. I was cold, I ached. It was impossible for me to sleep
but some of the others were soon snoring loudly. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But I kept thinking of the privations and challenges of my
friends in Afghanistan to put my plight into perspective. I had selfishly
hogged the toilet paper “pillow” for the night hours. About midnight I was told
to see the nurse about my medical history and then back again to my cell. I was
disappointed that it was only midnight after seeing a clock en route – I
assumed at least several more hours had elapsed. I couldn’t read the clock from
the cell as the time crawled on slowly. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While struggling to remain warm, trying to nap on the hard
concrete with my aching muscles and bones, I thought of my toilet paper pillow
as not much better than the rock the Biblical Jacob used during his vision of
the ladder rising to heaven. I didn’t have a dream as vivid or insightful but
what went through my mind, over-and-over-again, was the song “By Breath” by the
perceptive and passionate Sara Thomsen. “By breath, by blood, by body, by
spirit – we are all one …” It connected me to the Afghan Peace Volunteers and
my co-defendants – now in other cells. Ruth Cole had so insightfully answered
the Prosecutor when asked if she felt in “i<span class="hvr"><span style="mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">mminent</span></span>
danger” while standing outside the gate at the Iowa National Guard base. She
boldly stated she couldn’t separate her “body” from the bodies of all others
around the world who were being threatened by drones. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Breakfast came about 5:30 AM as the cell door opened and we
were handed a molded plastic tray with Froot Loops, milk, OJ, two pieces of
bread and two tubes of peanut butter. Finally, after lunch, 20 hours after
being taken into custody, I was cuffed and chained again and told I was to be
taken to “BarneyLand”, my next stop in the belly of the beast we call the
Prison-Industrial-Complex. </div>
</div>
Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7976511371259061844.post-77128200247177288902014-06-23T19:03:00.000-05:002014-06-28T16:59:27.376-05:00Drone Protest Trial in Des Moines - Day 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Drone Trial for St. Patrick 7, Des
Moines, IA – Day 1<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Judge William
Price, Iowa District 5C, greeted the 7 defendants facing trial for Criminal
Trespass at the Polk County Courthouse. Built in 1902, his regular courtroom
was so small that he couldn’t fit in all the defendants or the lawyers – not to
mention the 70 prospective jurors and any members of the public coming to
support us. Judge Price huddled with our two pro-bono defense attorneys and the
two prosecutors while the prospective jurors watched a movie about service as a
juror. Next thing I saw was 30 of those jurors filing out of the courtroom and
back to the jury pool office. It was discovered that in our type of misdemeanor
charge with multiple defendants, we will each get only 2 strikes rather than
the 4 we were expecting after a pre-trial discussion yesterday afternoon. With
defense and prosecution each getting 14 strikes, and needing a jury of 6, with
a reserve in case any jurors were struck for cause, it was decided that we
would question 40 jurors rather than 70.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The Prosecution
would be handled by David Albretch and Jim Hathaway and our pro-bono lawyers
for five of us are Larry James, a former Prosecutor who now handles mostly
pro-bono (no charge to the defendants) cases and Glen Downey, a recent resident
of Iowa, having moved here from the Pittsburgh area where he was an English
Professor before becoming a lawyer who handled many protest/free speech-type
cases. He is not a member of the Iowa bar yet but has been given permission to
handle our case with Larry’s presence in the courtroom. James is a gregarious
and enthusiastic lawyer who also was a former military officer at the air base
where we were arrested! Downey shared some of his work defending Greenpeace and
other protestors in Pennsylvania as we walked to lunch. Two defendants, Michele
Naar Obed from the Hildegard Catholic Worker House in Duluth and Elliot Adams,
former National President of Veterans For Peace have asked to go “Pro-se”
(represent themselves) so they can retain the right to ask questions of the
other witnesses and make their own closing statements. The Judge warned them at
the start that they should be aware that we all face a maximum sentence of 30
days in the Polk County Jail so they had better weigh that before proceeding on
their own. Both Michele and Elliot are very experienced as defendants in civil
resistance cases so they weren’t surprised at the Judge’s attempt to discourage
them in going this route. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Voir Dire, the
legal term for questioning prospective jurors didn’t start until a few minutes
before 11 and the Judge’s questions took us up to a lunch break. Of the 40,
there were 4 people of color and the pool seemed to include younger people than
my last trial in Winona in February. Normal questions like “do you know any of
the lawyers or defendants?, have you ever been a juror before?, and do you have
any family members or friends who are police officers?” also included some
others likely unique to this case: “have any of you participated in a
demonstration?, and do any of you subscribe to ‘Jury Nullification’?” Three or
four admitted to the former, including an older man who stated he marched for
civil rights in the 60s and was in “peace demonstrations” in the 70s. Later we
found out he served in the Peace Corps two years and had helped out at “the
Catholic Worker” community in the past! (Can you guess who was the first
prospective juror struck by the Prosecution?)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">In contrast, a
construction worker volunteered that he was responsible for “readiness” with
his military unit and felt “harassed” by people opposed to the military mission
with which he was engaged. When asked by the Prosecutor how he would respond to
someone on his property “who refused to leave”, he quickly smirked and said
he’d “turn the hose on them.” The Prosecutor quickly tried to turn his remark
into a joke by saying something to the effect of recent “hot”
[temperature-wise] days but the man’s demeanor didn’t waiver from grim
determination. (He earned his place on our list of those to strike.) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">By 2:30 we had
selected a panel of three women and three men and the Judge began to instruct
them about the procedures for the case. Don’t talk to anyone else (including
each other) about this case; don’t do any research on your own about this;
don’t watch the news, don’t read the newspaper. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">The trial
resumed after the 3 PM break with opening statements by a Prosecutor and a
Defense Attorney. Albrecht painted the case as an issue about the right to
“exclude others from your property… their decision to break the law has
consequences.” Downey countered by observing that there are many boundaries and
lines in our world today and they sometimes change. “What or where the line is
today may not be where that line is tomorrow, or next year, or even next
century… Where one person sees a hard line or boundary, another sees an
opportunity for change or advancement.” He concluded that the jurors should
listen to all the facts and evidence … “and then you follow the law and your
conscience and do what is right” because in a democracy, that is what you do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Day 1 concluded
with 3 witnesses for the Prosecution. Chief Master Sergeant Jeff White was in
charge of day-to-day security at the 132<sup>nd</sup> Iowa Air National Guard
Base on the blustery St. Patrick’s Day morning that we were arrested. He
described his duties and how he called a higher-ranking officer on duty to
issue the order for us to leave after 7 of us stood in front of the closed gate
by the base entrance. When asked if the people who were later arrested were
“peaceful”, he would only grudgingly say, “they were non-compliant”. When
pressed further by Elliot Adams, one very schooled in both military procedure
and principled protest, Chief White admitted that no one attempted to go over
the fence, under the fence, through the fence or around it. Even though he
stated the “defendants blocked the gate”, he later admitted that the military
had already closed the gate before the demonstration started and instructed all
base personnel to use a different entrance/exit than where the anti-drone
protestors were. When pressed about exactly where the base property began and
public property ended, he admitted that was the responsibility of civil
engineers rather than security forces on the base.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">Major Ken
Hartman, the Wing Executive Officer who also serves as the Public Affairs
spokesperson for the airbase told the jury that he served as “the voice of the
Commander” at any protests outside the base. He said the 7 of us were creating
a “safety hazard” in that we were “impeding traffic flow” but later admitted
the gates were already shut before we “stepped over the line” and no one
attempted to enter or leave the base from that entrance while we were there. He
was the one to issue the formal warning to us to leave or we would be arrested
and he then asked the Des Moines police officers to arrest us. He admitted that
it “was all very cordial” and He didn’t remember us asking him to speak with
the base commander or to deliver the letter of indictment we carried with us. When
pressed, he agreed his did not wish to engage in any conversation with us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">However, Lt.
Russell Schafnitz, the Des Moines Police Department Commander of the STAR
(Strategic Tactical Response Team) Unit was the arresting officer on the scene.
After identifying all the defendants from their photos taken during the arrest
and then locating us in the courtroom, he told the jury that the defendants
told him they “would leave if they were able to have a dialog with the National
Guard members first”. He said we discussed the First Amendment with him as well
as our desire to “seek a redress of grievances”. He made a point to shake
Michele’s hand after he left the stand while exiting the courtroom after she
asked him, “Did you handcuff me?” He replied, I didn’t handcuff anyone that
morning and Elliot Adams added how appreciative all of us were by the way we
were treated by Schafnitz and the other Des Moines police at the scene. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman";">As the clock
approached 4:30, the Judge called it a day, stating we should be in the
courtroom by 8:15 tomorrow. Our lawyers want us to gather at 7:30 to discuss an
“Offer of Proof” we will submit to preserve some testimony in the event of an
appeal since the Judge previously granted a Motion in Limine which states <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">“The defendants may present before the jury
the general reason that they were present at the place of arrest (eg; to object
to the presence of drones) and the general outcome they were seeking but are
prohibited from expounding on the reason they harbor the belief as to why the
conduct they were protesting was wrong. This Court finds that as a matter of law
the philosophical reasons for the conduct of the Defendants is not
justification as a matter of law and is therefore not relevant to the trial of
these cases.”<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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Steve Clemenshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15327631898210218027noreply@blogger.com2