Belly chains wrap around your waist and chain your hands to your side allowing limited mobility, enough to eat awkwardly and carry out needed functions in a very restricted fashion. I am wearing a set and waiting to be processed in the Las Vegas, Nevada jail.
Next to me is a young man, 26 years of age who is marveling at how old I am. He is stunned that Fr. Louie Vitale is 81 and Fr. Jerry Zawada is in his late 70’s. We have been arrested for protesting drones at Creech Air Force Base, 03/27/13, while our young friend had an existing warrant on an old traffic ticket from when he was 16. Several seats away, a drug addict is going through withdrawal and throwing up. The women of our group are segregated and sitting in the back of the room. The youngest of our group, Rev. Felicia Parazaider is 39. 8 of us have been arrested for refusing to be complicit with our government’s program of targeted political assassinations, the “kill list program”, the murder of hundreds of children and thousands of non combatants in the Middle East, Pakistan, Afghanistan and other countries. In fact we have both a legal and moral responsibility to bring these acts to the attention of our government. Each of us carry an indictment which we had hoped to deliver to Col. James Hecker, the base commander. We were charged with disturbing the peace.
It takes only a few hours to learn that jail is simultaneously interesting and incredibly boring all at once. With enforced idleness and an oozing institutionalized callousness permeating the air and attitudes of many, but not all of our jailers, we are glad the processing is going fairly quickly. In the second holding area, a fight breaks out between two arrestees. The police subdue one man, strapping him to a chair and putting a hood over his head before carrying him out.
Eventually we end up in a small holding cell called the kick-out room. From here prisoners are being released or transferred to another facility. In the kick out room we talk, pray, sing, wait,stretch, do push ups and sleep. Most of us are called out, one by one to finish our electronic fingerprinting with a scanner. I felt sorry for the police officer, working in a windowless room with harsh florescent lighting and a boring, repetitive and thankless task, attempting to collect electronic fingerprints with a poorly working machine.
My circumstance and current life trajectory brings me to a sobering conclusion. Given my continued refusal to accept the murder of children and weaponized drone war crimes, it seems likely I may be in jail for more than a few hours in the not to distant future. Since it is Holy Week, and I am sitting with two Franciscan priests my thoughts touch upon Jesus. I wonder if he spent time in jail. While certainly Jesus suffered the (extreme) anguish of being a prisoner, according to the historical record there was no jail time; he was found guilty and crucified within a day. I wondered if he was guilty as charged; blasphemy and an insurrectionist. He taught love and nonviolence and intervened on behalf of the poor. If he lived in the US today he would certainly be found guilty for these crimes. Perhaps he also would have qualified as a “nonviolent paper terrorist” a new governmental classification. His society like ours, cherished violence, supported empire, torture and incarceration while marginalizing the poor.
Afterwards, I spoke with Rev. Felicia Parazaider, founder of Joyful Hearts Ministry, “an interfaith ministry about diversity, inclusivity, and love. We are a spiritual community seeking to heal ourselves and the world, one heart at a time.” Rev. Felicia confided in me. When I am arrested I really have the opportunity to speak with the other women in jail. They are very open and trusting because we are equals, prisoners. There is no barrier, no air of outside authority. I am sitting in chains on the same bench and I am able to do so much more. For some this will bring to mind Hebrews 13:3 (CEB). “Remember prisoners as if you were in prison with them, and people who are mistreated as if you were in their place.” Rev. Felicia, Fr. Louie and Fr. Jerry have all spoken lovingly of their prison ministry, working from the inside out. In once incarceration, Fr. Jerry told me how they liquefied grape jelly to make "wine" for communion at Mass. God Bless you all.
In the 1980’s, the former Archbishop of Seattle, WA, Archbishop Hunthausen said, “Our nuclear war preparations are the global crucifixion of Jesus.” His expression of opposition to nuclear weapons has touched me deeply. On Good Friday, Rev. Felicia, Fr. Jerry and I were again arrested with 17 others, protesting nuclear weapons and the illegal occupation of the Western Shoshone Homeland at the Nevada National Security Site (aka Nevada Test Site). Each of us had legal land use permits issued by the Chief of Western Shoshone National Council, Johnnie Bobb.
It is time to abolish nuclear weapons, ban weaponized drones and take seriously the teachings of Jesus. It is also time to end the occupation of the Western Shoshone Homeland. Given the criminality of our government, I am honored to be in this company and can think of no more fitting place to be on Good Friday. God willing I will continue disturbing the war.
John Amidon is an attendee of Albany Friends Meeting and member of Veterans For Peace.
On March 27, 2013, John Amidon was arrested at Creech AFB with 7 other men and women protesting US war crimes and the illegal use of drones for political assassinations. This action was part of the Sacred Peace Walk sponsored by Nevada Desert Experience. More information and videos can be found at NevadaDesertExperience.org under the Sacred Peace Walk or by Googling anti-drone protests at Creech AFB.
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