Sitting In To Stop The War

Michael T. McPhearson

March 16, 2007

Michael T. McPhearson is the executive director of Veterans For Peace, which is supporting nonviolent civil disobedience in local cities across the United States March 16-19, 2007. This is an excerpt of a letter describing his act of civil disobedience at a congressional office.  

My first open act of civil disobedience took place February 27 at the office of Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo. I had gone with three veterans and other activists as part of the Occupation Project , to persuade Carnahan to vote against any bills that continue to provide funding for the war in Iraq. Jim Allen, a member of our entourage, and I, decided to sit in to protest Carnahan’s refusal to pledge not to continue funding for the war. As a result, Jim and I were arrested.

Carnahan’s basic rap is that he is against the escalation and believes the war must come to an end. He cannot promise to vote against a bill he has not seen. He thinks that Rep. John Murtha’s, D-Penn., plan is promising: to restrict, through oversight, the ability of the president to continue the war and placing high standards on troop readiness before deployment. But, he said, he does not want to de-fund the troops. We explained that de-funding the war is not de-funding the troops; legislative restrictions on the executive branch will not end the war. Giving money to the president for the war will only prolong the war.

We also told him that Democrats should put the president on the defensive and make him explain why he continues to wage war when Congress has demanded a change of course based on the mandate from the American people. We emphasized that every day Congress spends looking for less direct ways to end the war, on average three U.S. service members die, as do many Iraqi children, women and men.

Unfortunately, we reached little agreement beyond the obvious—the war must end. It appears that most Democrats and Veterans For Peace are on a different timetable.

Our sit-in at Rep. Carnahan’s office was part of weeks of outreach and meetings to change his mind. I decided that I was not leaving until I received a satisfactory answer. Thus I was willing to risk arrest.

There are many who ask, “Do you really think being arrested will make a difference?” No, I do not know if my refusal to leave and subsequent arrest will make a difference. However, I do know that inaction will change nothing.

My journey to civil disobedience has been one of reflection and hesitation. I did not come to this decision easily. As a black male in America who has been trained to be wary of the police, it has not been easy to decide to willingly put myself into their hands. I have spent most of my 42 years trying not to be arrested. I have plenty of examples of police misconduct against Black men. In the late 1990s the sodomizing of Abner Louima and the shooting death of Amadou Diallo by police officers in New York City heightened my fear of being pursued and in the custody of police. In November 2006, Sean Bell, a young and unarmed man leaving his bachelor party at a nightclub in Jamaica, Queens, died in a storm of 50 shots fired by five undercover police. The names of these three victims stay with me, and remind me of dangers I face.

So what motivates me? Why have I decided to move forward with this tactic? I am motivated by the death of tens of thousands—perhaps hundreds of thousands—of people in this war. I am most motivated by the life of my only son, who is a soldier in the 101st Airborne who has already participated in one tour in Iraq.

I am also motivated by the January 3 death of Jeremiah, my 7-month-old grandson, of a genetic disease. I am motivated by the fact that when I peer through the pain of his death in search of reasons and people to blame, I can only find the reality and cycle of life. It is natural for people to die from disease, and for the most part, not any one person is to blame. But where I must accept the reality of life, Gold Star parents must face the reality of war, a human activity caused by human actions. Where I can find no one to hold responsible for my anger and pain, an Iraqi can hold my nation, my son and me responsible for their pain. This is the sense of urgency I hope my small act of civil disobedience will help convey.

Lastly I ask myself, if not now when? After nearly four years of protest, over 3,100 dead U.S. service members, tens to hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis who are guilty of nothing but living in Iraq, obvious lies by our leaders that took us to war, a possible war with Iran, an election for a change in direction, no change of direction by our President and an indecisive Congress who needs to be pushed in the right direction—when would be a better time to give civil disobedience a try?

Thousands of Americans agree. They will take action with their bodies and hearts on the fourth anniversary of the invasion of Iraq through the national Declaration of Peace initiative , which represents more than 800 local and national groups and has organized more than a hundred actions in 30 states.

We are at a critical moment. Congress will soon vote for a $90 billion appropriation that could fund the war until the end of President Bush’s term. After this vote, Congress will have little power to end the war. We need to flood Congress with letters, phone calls, emails and faxes demanding they end funding. We must show up at their door in force. If enough of us sit in, they will end the war. If we don’t, they won’t. Maintaining a majority and a gaining the presidency is the priority of the Democrats. Ours is ending the war.