Frances Crowe - An Unexpected Holiday Gift!
I am sitting in Anacostia Police Station in Washington D.C. The day before, on December 16, 2010, as an act of faith and in the spirit of peace and Christmas, 131 men and women, many of whom were U.S. veterans, were arrested in an act of civil resistance to the ongoing wars in the Middle East. Interestingly enough I don’t remember seeing a single individual dressed as a priest, rabbi or cleric of any type (with the exception of a Buddhist nun and monk) even though all of our religious traditions profess to believe in peace and love. Yet in practical affairs they mostly and willingly endorse war and killing and send their sheep off to slaughter. I thought Jesus said, “feed them”!
To be fair, having served in the USMC, I am in no position to judge and there are a handful Christians and others who practice non-violence. My friend, Fr. Louie Vitale is currently in federal prison serving 6 months for protesting the infamous U.S. Army, School of the Americas also known as the “School of Assassins”. Fr. Dan Berrigan his life dedicated to peace and justice and in so many ways he has reminded us that civil disobedience is not the problem in this country but civil obedience is.
Waiting less patiently now, a small, tranquil and elderly woman comes in and sits down next to me. I soon realized that she was waiting for her arraignment date also. We begin talking and I learn she is 91 one years old, a Quaker from Western MA. I would later learn that she has been working for peace and justice since the end of WW II. One of her friends, a younger woman in her 60’s, told me, that when we are feeling discouraged , we say to each other that, “if Frances can do it, we can do it.” I was sitting next to Frances Crowe.
Speaking with Daniel Ellsberg, Chris Hedges and Coleen Rowley was great, but honest to God , meeting Frances Crowe was thrilling. Perhaps at this point in my 60 some years of life I am a sucker for silver haired old ladies (although I still like the young ones too) who have worked for peace and justice, longer than I have been alive.
Frances is relentless in her opposition to war. She has been arrested at the White House, the Pentagon and the Nevada Test Site. She is a war tax resister and also described as an “eco-pacifist”. At one demonstration she painted, “Thou shalt Not Kill” on nuclear submarines, earning a month in federal prison. However that morning, I did not know of her history or work aside from her witnessing with us the day before. It was her tranquility, her determination and that almost invisible quality of humility, a quality so unobtrusive and which I encounter so rarely which so deeply impressed me.
It is likely we will all be considered idealists on a fools mission or worse for our civil resistance to war but I do know thanks to Frances, Louie, Dan and others, that “Thou shalt Not Kill” is more than a weak suggestion to be ignored by both Church and State, at our convenience. I also know sitting next to Frances in the Anacostia Police Station was an epiphany of our capacity to work for peace and justice, an epiphany of love and one of the best Christmas presents I have ever been given. If Frances can do it, we can do it.
Paz, John