The Pioneer Valley was recently lauded in the opinion pages of The Boston Globe as a locus of progressive activism in the commonwealth.
Central to that activism over many years were Juanita and Wally Nelson, two peace and civil rights activists, subsistence farmers, advocates of simple living and local food. They were also war tax refusers, people who refused to pay for what they opposed with every fiber of their being: war and killing. Wally and Juanita Nelson lived on Woolman Hill in Deerfield from 1974 until virtually the ends of their lives in 2002 and 2015, respectively. They were known for their integrity and for the extent to which they embraced a philosophy and lifestyle of nonviolence.
War tax refusal has usually meant a refusal to pay for war in the conventional sense: a shooting war with bombs, missiles, guns, chemical and biological agents, and (these days) drones — not to mention the maintenance of a nuclear arsenal, the most hideous form of violence we humans have created.
Today, we are faced with a different type of war. The Trump administration has declared war on virtually every progressive measure this country has ever enacted, from civil rights to voting rights to women’s rights to LGBTQIA rights to free speech … the list expands day by day. Most pernicious is the war against the natural environment. Trump has turned the EPA into the Environmental Destruction Agency and is seeking to reverse every measure addressing climate change that previous administrations took pains to enact. Antisemitism has been weaponized to suppress free speech on college campuses. Words like diversity, equity, and inclusion, for which civil rights activists risked their lives, have become dirty words.
Not for the first time, the war has come home.
The example of Wally and Juanita Nelson forces us to ask the question, “If you don’t support what the Trump administration is doing, why are you paying for it?” If we pay our federal taxes, we are supporting the Trump/Vance/Musk agenda, at least financially, no matter how many protest rallies we attend.
The Nelsons insisted that the struggle of our times is that of freedom. Wally famously said, “Freedom … You don’t vote for it. You don’t shoot for it. You don’t tell other people what to do about it. Freedom is something you do for yourself.” Juanita put it this way: “You don’t create change by doing something one day a month or one day a year. It has to be your whole life.”
For the Nelsons, tax refusal was a way of exercising freedom, of living one’s life according to one’s most deeply held beliefs. You, too, can choose your level of noncooperation with the Trump agenda. Most importantly, you can redirect your federal taxes to those organizations and causes that are being defunded by Trump at the direction of billionaire Elon Musk. You can fund climate change mitigations, DEI initiatives, independent media, aid to the homeless, protection for immigrants, Headstart, reparations for Indigenous people and African Americans, resources for LGBTQIA people, your local library. You don’t have to hope that your tax dollars will go to the right places. You can make sure that they do.
We can defund the Trump agenda if we dare to do so. Tax refusal is not for the timid or the meek. Plus, it takes a certain amount of discipline and training to carry it through, as is true of any form of civil disobedience. You don’t have to go through it alone, however. There are people and organizations to provide help and support. But these times call for bold actions.
To find out more about Juanita and Wally Nelson and their legacy of active nonviolence, including a new audio documentary called “Eyes on Freedom,” visit www.nelsonhomestead.org. Even better, come to a discussion on May 18 or June 8 and visit the Nelson homestead itself on the grounds of the Woolman Hill Quaker Retreat Center in Deerfield. Visit www.nelsonhomestead.org/home/get-involved to register for one of these dates. There is no charge to attend. Information and resources about war tax resistance can be found at nwtrcc.org.
Bob Bady, Betsy Corner, Aaron Falbel, Mary Link, Jane McPhetres Johnson, Paula Rayman, and Joe Toritto are members of the Nelson Legacy Project.