Loras students participated in SOA protests.

By Joseph McGerr
Special to Lorian

On the evening of Thursday, Nov. 17, around 10 p.m. a group of 16 Loras students, sponsored by Campus Ministry and Peace & Justice club, and lead by Professor John Eby and Loras Alumnus Amanda Dellwo, embarked on an 18-hour van ride down to Fort Benning, GA, to volunteer on behalf of the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW).

Since 1990, advocacy organization SOAW has been hosting a protest rally annually at the School of the Americas (SOA), currently known as WHISC or WHINSEC at Fort Benning, GA. The protest marks the anniversary of the murders of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador in 1989 at the hand of SOA graduates. Nineteen out of the 27 murderers were graduates of the SOA.

Crosses were constructed representing the victims of SOA graduates.

The SOA is a training school within the U.S. military that trains Latin American soldiers in U.S. military procedures, which they then take and apply back in their own countries. Unfortunately, there have been quite a few SOA graduates that have been linked to human rights violations within the Latin American countries they serve. It is for this reason that the SOAW was formed and has annually protested the continuation of the SOA. (I invite you to further research the topic on your own or contact someone who went on the trip.)

Our own involvement with the SOAW and the protest consisted of volunteering to protect the stage and sound equipment from vandalism over the two nights during the protest, which entailed sleeping outside on the stage and taking watch shifts to keep an eye on everything, in addition to passing out programs to all the people in attendance and collecting donations from those attending in order to raise funds for the SOAW to continue its activism.

This was my first time on the trip, and I can say that it most definitely changed me for the better. I was surrounded by a wonderful group of people, all of them passionate about non-violence and linked together through this common cause and experience. Some, like me, were on their first trip, but there were also a lot of seasoned veterans there to help us through the experience, especially the more emotionally overwhelming parts of the trip.

The protest rally was two days long. Saturday was quite celebratory, and there were many organizations at booths and tables that gathered under the common cause of peace and non-violence. The stage was filled with speakers, both Spanish and English speaking, with translators for each, and also had many singers and musicians. It was wonderful to see so many people gathered in the community for a common cause, and the atmosphere was nothing but light and welcoming. Even the weather seemed to fit the mood with a warm, sunny Georgia day. By night, however, the weather dampened as if anticipating the solemnity of the following morning. We put up tarps to protect the stage (and our sleeping bags) that night and spray-painted shirts that we got for the occasion.

Loras students protesting at School Of America.

The next morning we were up by 6 a.m. to prepare for the day, and were greeted with rainy skies and soggy clothes and shoes. This day was a solemn day, dedicated to all those who lost their lives at the hands of SOA graduates. Each person who attended the rally was given a white cross with the name and age of a victim. We spent the time listening to the speakers and reading invocations together as a community. Following this, there was a great ceremony in which the name of every known victim of the SOA graduates was sung. The crowd walked in solidarity along the boulevard, ending at the fence which blocked the entrance to Fort Benning. Here we all placed our crosses in the fence, along with banners, flowers, paper cranes and other symbolic items.
That day was one of the most moving experiences of my life, and I know it had to have been for all who were there to witness it, as each name was individually sung out in remembrance. After that we had little time left and had to once again pile into the vans for an 18-hour ride home. We all discussed our experiences, thoughts and emotions, reflecting on the weekend on that ride back, and comforted each other with many hugs and smiles. We arrived back at Loras around 7 a.m. Monday morning.