Sunday, August 20, 2006

Susan Crane Released from Jail-note of gratitude

This was on my Parentsforpeace mailing list. Susan originally is from our area. Her son and his father do some good work in our local peace movement.

Dear Friends,

Thank you so much for your prayers, letters, cards and visits while I was in the Alexandria Detention Center these last 30 days. Your suppport made my time easier, and brought encouragement to the other women who were in the cell block with me.
While I was in the jail, several people wrote asking what I had done at the Pentagon: The theme of the Holy Week Faith and Resistance retreat was: Who are we betraying, arresting, torturing, and crucifying today? On the morning of Holy Thursday about 40 of us went to the Pentagon where Betsy Lamb, Brian DeRouen, and I were arrested as we partially blocked a checkpoint by kneeling and holding a banner that said, "No Torture, No War." Others hammered nails into a life-sized wooden cross, and then a hooded person in an orange jumpsuit stood as if crucified. We sang and prayed as workers entered the Pentagon that morning, some visibly affected by our witness.

The arraignment, trial, conviction and sentencing was July 21 in from of Judge Buchanan and I was immediately taken to the Detention Center. While I was inside the jail, I was struck by the continual violence in the movies and TV shows that were constantly on in the cell block. The theme of Violence as the Great Restorer of Order,
was replayed over and over again every hour. Walter Wink's portrayal of the Myth of Redemptive Violence, (the good guy seems to be losing to the bad guy, but then at the end, the good guy does some great feat of violence, and order is restored) was in the cartoons, the movies, the news and the detective novels available to us. It's no wonder that people believe that we need better nuclear weapons, an aggressive military, and more and newer bombs and missiles.

And in the midst of this glorification of violence, I was remembering Dr. Kings words: "Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that. Hate multiplies hate, violence multiplies violence, and
toughness multiplies toughness in a descending spirial of destruction.

And so in the jail, while talking with jail ministers, guards,and other prisoners, I risked being considered naive, impractical, and simplistic by saying that I think Jesus meant it when he told us to love our enemies. As I am coming out, I hear that Jeff Deitrick is going in. He has a thirty day sentence for occupying Sen. Feinstein's office in L.A. He's being held at the L.A. county jail, and we don't have an address for him
yet.

It is a joy to be here in the Jonah community. Carol is moving carefully on her broken foot, Liz, Ardeth, Eden, Eta, Steve and Gary are all working hard on all sorts of projects. thanks again for all your support.

Peace, susan

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