|
Walter Ayala
¡Presente! Once
again I was present at the protest of
the School of the Americas. It was my
second year attending the protest, and
like before, I was awestruck. I was in
awe at the amount of people who attend
every year to protest. In awe at the
number of names called out of people who
have been murdered…
The protest of the
SOA hits close to home for me. Growing
up in Los Angeles as a Central American
made the experience even more powerful
for me. In Los Angeles I know many
people who have fled their homes in
Central America due to fear of being
murdered by “los escuadrones de la
muerte” (death squads). But, it also
hits home personally for me; I am half
Salvadorian. I remember the first time I
ever visited El Salvador was in 1996 and
I fell in love with the land and its
people. I had never gone before because
my family feared something could happen
to us. Many friends had returned to El
Salvador in hopes of returning to Los
Angeles with the rest of their family;
months later we would find out that they
had been murdered. Being in El Salvador
for the first time made me proud, but
yet it was sad. I remember driving
around the streets of San Salvador with
my uncle. He was explaining to me how
there were no men in the country. A
whole generation of men had been
exterminated over a senseless civil war.
So I once again
was present to protest a school which
murdered so many people in so many
countries. Every time a name was called
chills ran through my body. I saw many
people crying, people cheering for the
fact that someone had crossed the line,
and everyone in unison “¡Presente!”
Attending the
protest makes me angry and wanting to
fight and speak up for those who cannot.
But yet, at the same time, I leave
feeling helpless. I feel helpless
because after everyone leaves Fort
Benning, most people return back to
their lives and forget all about the SOA
and those who have been murdered. How
many of us actually keep on fighting?
Nevertheless, I keep hope alive that one
day soon this school will be no more.
|
