By Jeff Leys & Linda LeTendre
My “peace homies”are at it again! This time 14 of them were arrested yesterday, April 9, Maudy Thursday, the day of the Last Supper, at the Creech Air Force base in Indian Springs, Nev.
The arrests occurred during a 10-day vigil which seeks to raise public awareness of the increasing use of unmanned drones in the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Air Force personnel based at Creech control the Predator and Reaper drones being used in Central Asia.
The 14 people walked through the open main gate shortly after 3:00 p.m. Air Force security personnel stopped them after they walked into the base. They were seeking to engage in dialog and conversation with the Air Force service members controlling the Predators and Reapers used in Central Asia. In a gesture of good will, they offered to break bread and share pizza with Air Force personnel, who refused their offer.
The Nevada State Highway Patrol responded, as did the Las Vegas Metro Police Department. The activists were arrested on the charge of trespass and transported to the Clark County Detention Facility. The 14 were booked and processed at the facility. At this writing there is no word of their release.
The action was part of the annual “Sacred Peace Walk,” a Lenten reflection activity sponsored by the Nevada Desert Experience (NDE). This group was organized in the 1950s, when the Western Shoshone Nation's homelands began to suffer from nuclear weapons testing conducted by the U.S. and the United Kingdom. A few peacemakers came out to challenge the nuclear testing and a few more joined them in the 70s. People of faith gathered for the first “Lenten Desert Experience” at the Nevada Test Site in 1982 to witness against ongoing nuclear violence. Soon the resisters were calling their movement “Nevada Desert Experience." To learn more about NDE clink HERE>.
Those arrested were:
John Dear, S.J. (N.M.) – Fr. Dear is one of my heroes! A protégé of Fr. Daniel Berrigan, SJ. Like Fr. Berrigan, Fr. Dear preaches the Gospel in such a way that it seems as if it were written just yesterday. I'm amazed that the ink is even dry. He has been arrested more than 75 times for standing up for peace and justice and admonishing us as Jesus did to put down our swords. You can learn more about Fr. Dear by clicking HERE.
Kathy Kelly (Ill.) – Kathy is with “Voice in the Wilderness” and twice nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, another of my heroes.
Dennis DuVall (Ariz.)
Renee Espeland (Des Moines, Iowa Catholic Worker Community) – The Des Moines CWC is a blessed hotbed of resistance against violence and empire.
Judy Homanich (Binghamton, N.Y.)
Steve Kelly, S.J. (Calif.) – Fr. Kelly was part of the original Guantanamo Pilgrimmage of people who went to Cuba and walked to the prison to pray and call for our government to stop torturing the prisoners, give them the rights of habeas corpus and set the innocent free. He accompanied Fr. Louis Vitale to the Capital Region last year and spoke at Siena College about loving our enemies. He too has been arrested numerous times for calling on us and our government to forgo violence. He refuses to cooperate with the prison system and therefore has spent a great deal of time in solitary confinement.
Mariah Klusmire (Albuquerque, N.M., Catholic Worker community)
Louis Vitale, O.F.M. (Oakland, Calif.) Fr. Louis is the founder of Pace e Bene, an organization that teaches nonviolence. He spoke in the Capital Region at Siena about loving our enemies last June and will speak again on May 15 at the Pastoral Center on North Main in Albany. To learn more about Pace e Bene click HERE.
Jerry Zawada, O.F.M. (Tucson, Ariz.)
Sister Megan Rice, SHCJ (Nevada Desert Experience, Las Vegas, Nev.)
Brian Terrell (Strangers & Guests Catholic Worker, Maloy, Iowa)
Eve Tetaz (Washington, D.C.) I have had the blessing and honor of witnessing with Eve on at least four occasions. We were on trial together for both the Supreme Court and Ghosts of the Iraq War (Senate) actions. Eve is 77 and her full-time job is trying to pull us back from the brink of destruction. She is who I want to be when I'm her age.
Brad Lyttle (Chicago, Ill.)
Elizabeth Pappalardo (Crystal Lake, Ill.)
These people are what in meant by the Biblical phrase, “a great cloud of witnesses."
A blessed Passover and Easter to all!
