SOA Protest/ Ignatian Solidarity Network Teach-In

Recently I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the School of the Americas Protest and Ignatian Family Teach-In in Fort Benning, GA. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this event, it’s basically a gathering of thousands of social justice/Jesuit-lovers from dozens of high school, colleges, and communities from around the country. The weekend is packed with speakers, musicians, and prayer all centering on the theme of the nature of our Christian faith being intertwined with the struggle for justice. I first learned of the SOA while in El Salvador. The 6 UCA martyrs, Oscar Romero, Rutilio Grande (who my JVC house is named after), and the 4 Churchwomen were all victims of SOA graduates, as well as the countless innocent people massacred at El Mozote. After learning more about the SOA and meeting people in El Salvador affected by the violence I became more interested in the gathering, but never had an opportunity to attend. This year as a Jesuit Volunteer living out the four values of community, social justice, simple living, and spirituality, my attendance at the protest seemed quite appropriate since the event itself is a lesson on the interconnectedness of these values.

Since I was having trouble finding a way to Georgia, all planning for the weekend was spur of the moment. Thursday after work, Katie and I rented a car and drove 6 hours to New Orleans. We arrived at the JV house around 2:00am and spent the night on the New Orleans JVs’ couch. We woke up early the next morning and caught a bus with a group of students from Loyola New Orleans and drove 7 more hours to Fort Benning, GA. Loyola hooked us up with a hotel room at the Marriott, but since the NOLA JVs hadn’t planned out sleeping arrangements, we had about 5 people crashing on our hotel floor. Since Katie and I had spent most of our monthly stipend on renting a car, we survived the weekend by reverting to a simple Hurricane Ike diet of bread and peanut butter, which we brought with us from Houston.

Other than the over crowded sleeping space, hunger, and sleep deprivation; the weekend was an amazing and powerful experience. The sense of community at the protest was amazing. I had my JVC community and met past and present JVs from all over the U.S. and abroad. I had my Fordham community, some people I met while in Ecuador, and best of all I had my El Salvador community. It was great to reunite with everyone I studied abroad with and even some of the Salvadorians who traveled to the U.S. just for the event.

Friday and Saturday were filled with inspiring speakers. Some powerful speakers included the president of John Carroll, Fr. Niehoff, who kicked of the weekend with a call to action by saying, “Our dissatisfaction at injustice is a sign that the spirit of God is still working through us.” Fr. Niehoff was followed by a JV support person and Catholic Worker, Joe Mueller, who spoke on learning as a vocation and the need to continue educating ourselves no matter our age, because knowledge is always power. One of the most anticipated speakers of the weekend was John Sobrino, S.J., one of two survivors of the massacre of the Jesuits at the UCA in El Salvador. He gave a powerful speak on the need to take action against injustice in a non-violent way. He said, “We are called not to fight people, but environments where God is absent.” Saturday was concluded with a huge Mass. Sunday was the actual protest. Twenty thousand people went to the gates surrounding the military base. It was a somber, prayerful event. Everyone lined up holding crosses with the names of the people killed by SOA graduates as cantors sung out the names. After each name was sung, the crowd would respond, “Presente (Present).”

We marched slowly until we reached the gate and we placed our crosses in the fence as a kind of memorial to the dead. It took over three hours for each name to be called. It was an amazing act of solidarity with the people of El Salvador and everyone affected by injustice that words cannot describe.

Paz,
Stephanie