It was sad to read the scurrilous attack on Rigoberta Menchu in a letter to the editor in Wednesday’s Star.

The writer went to great length to smear this humble woman who has been so courageous in exposing the cruelty of the powerful military toward her family and the indigenous people of Guatemala.

The fact that her background has been scrupulously vetted by the Nobel Committee apparently means nothing to the writer. I understand Rigoberta is one of the few women to win the Nobel Peace Prize in its 100-year history.

Fortunately, the letter writer was apparently quite alone in the huge crowd of students who were inspired by the example of this humble woman Tuesday night and moved by her encouragement to them to take advantage of their educational opportunity to prepare themselves to be a force for good in the world.

Hopefully, many will follow her example in standing up to those who would oppress others.
Right now each of us has several opportunities to do just that. There is a bill before Congress at this moment to close the infamous School of Americas, in Columbus, Georgia, which has for decades, trained leaders and death squads of oppressive governments in Latin America.

If enough students contact their Representative to support the bill to close this school of assassins, it may actually pass this time.

By going online, students can also join thousands of others in a message to President Obama to take executive steps to close the school.

Thousands of concerned U.S. citizens will be gathering Nov. 20 through Nov. 22 in Columbus for the annual protest led by Father Roy Bourgeois, where each year a number of courageous folks will “cross the line” into the School and peacefully accept arrest, followed usually by a prison sentence of 6 months. Several from DeKalb will again be among those at the protest.

As was also mentioned after Rigoberta’s talk, the leaders of the military coup which recently overthrew Honduras’ democratically elected government were also trained at the School of Americas.

With President Zelaya currently confined in the Brazillian Embassy and his thousands of supporters attacked by the Honduran military, the U.S. needs to join the democratic governments around the world in not only condemning the coup, but in also removing all military and economic support of Honduras until President Zelaya is allowed to resume his rightful post.

Instead of attempting to “kill the messenger” as the writer did, each of us can look at what’s happening and take peaceful steps to halt our government’s role in supporting death squads in our neighboring Latin American states.

Our Representative in this 14th Congressional District is Bill Foster or students may write or call the Congressman in their home District. Students can make a huge difference if they act peacefully for change.

Sincerely,
Cele Meyer
Founder of DeKalb Interfaith Network

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