Jeremy
Hogan
“You are a guest … Bush is our neighbor”
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Some
parents of the dead in the Iraq War want the crosses representing their kids taken
down. They disagree with Cindy. And if they can they’ll take the crosses
that line the road near Camp Casey I and II. And the Sheriffs, who don’t
agree with Cindy either, will stop them. They are heroes here. Word is they don’t
get overtime and they are working long hours. But they are friendly.
I
ask one if Bush called up the Sheriff’s department and told them to protect
free speech.
“No.
We’ve got a job to do. To keep the peace,” he says.
This
is no longer a woman in a ditch … this is now a movement. But September 24
is less than a month away and we’ll see. On September 24 there will be an
anti-war protest in Washington D.C. which has the potential to be massive. One
September 26 there will be “non-violent direct action” and civil disobedience
across the nation’s capitol. I predict it will be violent when the police
start busting heads.
Later
in the evening Martin Sheen shows up and again I find myself fighting the bloggers
and other media to access to what is a bad photo opp of Cindy and Martin holding
a sign. Bullshit … I came to Texas for this. I say again fuck this. And I
sit down.
Later
in the evening I end up in McGregor, Texas, a town six miles south of Crawford.
Alaska Gyrl says I can take a shower in her hotel room, which I can’t turn
down. Then, in the hotel lobby I meet Kathleen Rumpf … who Martin Sheen said
is one of his heroes.
There
are no press handlers either and Rumpf is the real deal as much as Cindy Sheehan
who has become the center of all this. And this is what the right is complaining
about … they say Cindy’s movement has been hijacked by other causes.
But I don’t see it that way. These people came to support Cindy just like
the right has come to support their point of view at “camp reality”
across the road from Camp Casey I and at the Yellow Rose in downtown Crawford.
Rumpf said
she just got out of prison for her part in activities protesting the School of
the Americas. She said she spent a lot of time in solitary confinement because
the government classified her as a terrorist. She said she also helped expose
torture in the jails of America. It makes sense, a man in Bloomington, Indiana
was killed by a Taser at the county jail and another was tased 19 times after
he was taken in custody for a fist fight …he’s suing.
But
before today I’d never heard of her before. She looks like she could be a
nun, I mean she’s middle aged and her demeanor is very non-threatening. She’s
definitely clear minded. And I’ve met some crazy people in my time. She looks
over my shoulders at the photographs I’ve been making which I am editing
on a laptop. And it’s getting late, I’ve missed my chance for a shower.
But she graciously offers me hers and a place to sleep on the floor of her room.
Later, I did a little research and here is what I discover.
In
1997 Kathleen Rumpf and several others were arrested for prying the letters off
Ft. Benning’s main entrance sign. A stencil and paint was used to create
a new name: "Home of School of Americas/School of Shame" and "SOA=torture".
We celebrate
the Boston Tea Party … but someone who protests the School of the Americas
is a terrorist. Now I wouldn’t personally do what Rumpf did …but the
irony here is not missed.
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