A Jailhouse Reflection

Submitted by John Amidon on Fri, 03/29/2013 - 09:43

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.