Hello, fellow reader of the Recorder.
You have heard from me before on this subject. I have told you about the Muslim men still being held at Guantanamo Bay Prison in Cuba. I am just back from an annual protest in D.C. to remind you they are still there. Five of the remaining 40 detainees were among those cleared for release by the Obama administration yet have no prospects of getting out. I should have invited you to come to D.C. with me this year, but didn’t think far enough ahead. So I’ll do that now for next year. Then there might be a president we can appeal to to save the lives of these men.
These are human beings whom successive U.S. administrations — ones we elected — have tortured. That is enough of a reason to remember them: for the brutality they have endured, and for the on-going agony of not being allowed a single visit from family or friend for the 10 to 14 years of their detention. Only one of these men has been officially charged with a crime. The slim channel for release of the others has been closed by Trump.
Keep in mind that there were once 779 men here. Nine have died in custody. Five more are cleared. That means that roughly 735 were detained “by mistake.” Not a good record on which to base keeping the rest of them captive. Yet, due to the fact that “evidence” was obtained by torture, they are in legal limbo.
Another horror of the existence of Guantanamo is the message it sends about Islam. The detainees were and are exclusively Muslim, as if only Muslims are terrorists, as if all Muslims are terrorists. It sets the stage for Islamophobia. It institutionalizes Islamophobia.
The heavy price tag for the prison, ($540 million/year) is the money we need for our schools, our housing, our health care, our infrastructure repair. This speaks to priorities. It speaks to our moral values.
So, while we protest to save our planet from burning up; while we act to prevent another war; while we call out white supremacy and racism, sexism and homophobia, let us raise up 40 men who also deserve life.
Sherrill Hogen is a member of Witness Against Torture, Racial Justice Rising, Franklin County Justice for Palestine, the Poor Peoples Campaign, and the UCC Church of Ashfield.