Protester follows conscience, even to prison

	The Interview, a regular feature of The Catholic New World, is an in-depth conversation with a person whose words, actions or ideas affect today’s Catholic. It may be affirming of faith or confrontational. But it will always be stimulating.

This week, Catholic New World staff writer Michelle Martin talks with Dave Corcoran.

Dave Corcoran, 66, doesn’t want to go to jail. But he might, after “crossing the line” at the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas) at Fort Benning, Ga., in November, despite being ordered to stay away in 1999.

The annual November protests fall on the anniversary of the murder of six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter in El Salvador in 1989; protesters believe those responsible learned their tactics at the School of the Americas. In its 55-year history, the school has trained more than 60,000 Central and South American soldiers.

Last year, all nine protesters who were called before a magistrate to answer for violating “ban and bar” letters received jail time; this year, 26 of the 65 people who were arrested after violating orders to stay off the base will face a magistrate May 22.

Corcoran works as a chaplain at the Cardinal Bernardin Cancer Center at Loyola Medical Center. He and his wife, Barbara, live in Des Plaines.



The Catholic New World: What was it like when you started protesting at the School of the Americas?

Dave Corcoran: When I first went three years ago, there must have been about 8,000 people there at that time.

There’s a certain number that cross the line, and there’s a certain number that just stay out in front of Fort Benning. I crossed the line. There’s about a three-mile walk into the base before you get to a guard tower. They let us get about halfway in, and they stopped us, and they escorted us on buses and took us out to a city park. I felt that was too mild of a thing. They really didn’t do anything to us.

So two years ago when I went, I was a member of a funeral procession, commemorating all those who have been killed in Central and South America by people who have been trained by our government at the School of the Americas. I carried one of these cardboard coffins, and we led the procession in. We knew that the people who carried these were at high-risk for being arrested. That’s what they did—they put us on a bus and took us to a hangar where they processed us, and we signed what they call a “ban and bar letter.” The letters ban us from the base for five years, and say that if we come back during that time, we could be arrested and be subject to up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $5,000.

When I went back this past November, I had my wife with me. There were about 3,000 people who crossed the line, and they arrested all of us. When they saw my name on the list already, I knew it was possible that I might be called up before the judge. But it got later and later this year, and I thought they were just going to ignore us. But no, my name was on a list of 26 who were going to have to go before a judge on May 22 in Columbus, Ga.



TCNW: How do you feel about the possibility that you might have to go to jail?

DC: Well, I’ve sort of got used to it now as I’ve been thinking about it. It’s been pretty scary. I know it’s what God wants for me at this time. I really wasn’t among the high-risks; I didn’t expect to be arrested and processed this time.

I figure for me it’s going to be rather easy. It’s going to be harder for my wife. Now, when I’ll possibly be in a minimum-security prison, I think it will be for me like an extended retreat. It will be like working with prison ministry, instead of with cancer patients like I do now.

I’ll ask the judge if he can commute my time so I can serve here at the cancer center. In my statement that I make before the judge, I’m going to mention that I do help people live with cancer and die with cancer. That’s an important ministry to me. If I get time, I’m going to request to go to the closest minimum-security prison to Chicago, and that’s in Oxford, Wis.



TCNW: What will you say to the judge about why you were there?

DC: Back when I was in Columbus, Ohio, there was a fellow named Benny who had been doing some protesting in the streets, and he said, “They’re using cattle prods on us now.” I said, “What’s that?” I didn’t even know what it was at the time

I’ve always felt guilty, because I didn’t go to protest with him, and I don’t know what happened to Benny. He may have been killed someplace since then. It was at the time when Martin Luther King Jr. was still alive. But it’s sort of in the back of my mind that I will not fail Benny anymore. I’m putting my body on the line. I’ve been in Guatemala, I’ve been in Colombia, and I see how people there are suffering, and it’s because of our tax dollars, some of it, making it possible, training these people at the School of the Americas.



TCNW: Have the protests had any effect?

DC: There’s been a bill before the Congress, both the House and the Senate, to close it down every year now for the past two or three years. There haven’t been enough votes to pass it, but they’re concerned enough now to change the name. We’re hoping each year that there will be enough votes, enough people writing their congresspersons, that they will close it.

I know it’s making a difference. It’s going to make a difference.