There is a simple beauty in the way the Guantanamo Committee (9/11 Families for Peaceful Tomorrows) go about their business. They ask that justice be delivered to the 9/11 family members. Put the prisoners on trial. Close Guantanamo. . And then maybe, just maybe we can all move on. They go about their business quietly, and they are calm even when shouting in the streets.
They’re pretty much alone. Well, not really. There are other groups and individuals who share their vision, but very few who’ve committed thousands of hours, dollars, and travelling days at a time, precious time putting feelings into non-violent actions. How Guantanamo became a central issue for Peaceful Tomorrows is a long story wound in competition, politics, and of course money.But what they’ve actually done is a simpler tale of a wave of direct and indirect actions all focused on the injustice of Guantanamo and the ongoing trauma it causes.
How these individuals came together is yet another story, perhaps less complex, of ‘joining a club nobody wants to belong to.’ Each person lost a daughter, son, father, mother, or partner in life on 9/11. That’s what 9/11 families are. The Guantanamo Committee sits in on every hearing. They lobby incessantly. The call. They write. They March. They post. They plan, and then they execute (pardon the term). They do whatever they can, and the progress is evolutionarily slow. They haven’t lost their sense of humor. They haven’t lost their energy. They haven’t quit. They will prevail.
