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The SOA 16
“If... the machine of government... is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law.” - Henry David Thoreau
On November 19, 2006, sixteen human rights activists were arrested after carrying the protest to close the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC) onto the Fort Benning Military Reservation, publicly defying the laws which prevent political speech on military bases and making a bold call for justice and accountability.
The sixteen were held at Ft. Benning and charged for "unlawful entry" by the federal court. Fifteen of the sixteen arrested were released after bail money ($500 - $1,000/per person) was posted. One person, Margaret Bryant-Ganer, opted to remain in prison, awaiting trial; she is being held at Muscogee County Jail in Columbus, Georgia. The sixteen will apprear in federal court in Columbus on January 29, 2007 to put the SOA itself on trial.
(Photo: Melissa Helman, a student at Northland College in Wisconsin, climbs over the barb-wired fence at the main gate of Fort Benning)
Click on the names below to read statements and biographical information of this year's POCs.
The "SOA 16" are:
Margaret Bryant-Gainer, 38, Shenandoah Junction, West Virginia
Tina Busch-Nema, 48, Kirkwood, Missouri
Don Coleman, 69, a co-pastor at the co-pastor of University Church, from Chicago, Illinois
Valerie Fillenwarth, 64, a homemaker from Indianapolis, Indiana
Philip Gates, 70, a retired school superintendent from Prescott, Arizona
Alice Gerard, 50, a freelance journalist from Grand Island, New York
Joshua Harris, 30, from San Diego is a graduate student at Claremont University
Melissa Helman, 23, a student from Ashland, Wisconsin
Martina Leforce, 22, Berea, Kentucky
Julienne Oldfield, 69, Syracuse, New York
(Katherine) Whitney Ray, a 17 year old college student from Indianapolis, Indiana
Sheila Salmon, 71, Sebastian, Florida
Nathan Slater, 23, Berea / Edmonton, Kentucky
Mike Vosburg-Casey, a 32 year old piano tuner and chicken farmer from Atlanta, Georgia
Grayman Ward, 20, a fitness equipment specialist from Raleigh, North Carolina
Cathy Webster, 61, a peace activist and grandmother from Chico, California
Support those Facing Prison for Speaking Out Against the SOA
 Prison witness has been a core element of the SOA Watch movement since its beginning. In the tradition of Gandhi, Dorothy Day, Martin Luther King Jr., Aung San Suu Kyi and countless others, SOA Watch activists have used peaceful, nonviolent resistance to expose the horrors of the SOA/ WHINSEC and to express solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Latin America.
As a result, 211 SOA Watch human rights defenders have collectively spent over 92 years in prison. Over 50 people have served probation sentences. Their sacrifice and steadfastness in the struggle for peace and justice provide an extraordinary example of love in action and have given tremendous momentum to the effort to change oppressive US foreign policy and to close the SOA/ WHINSEC.
Click here for actions to take in solidarity with those in prison and on probation.
Read the chronology of past SOA Watch prisoners of conscience.
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