June-July 2005

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A Celebration of the Life of Elmer Maas

Elmer Maas lived August 29, 1935 - May 8, 2005. Elmer said "the happiest day of my life" was September 9, 1980, the day he and seven others took simple hammers to Mark 12A nuclear warhead casings at a General Electric (now Lockheed Martin) weapons plant. S. Anne Montgomery and Elmer Maas participated in the Plowshares 8 action together. What follows are excerpts from her obituary for Elmer Maas first published at www.brandywinepeace.com/Elmer.html, Brandywine Peace Community, PO Box 81, Swarthmore, PA 19081; 610/544-1818, brandywine@juno.com.

The civil rights marches of the 1960's taught Elmer that to win freedom and justice, we must be willing to pay a price. Elmer never stopped paying. His commitment led him from the comparative security of college teaching to part-time jobs and full-time peace work. He was active with the Peoples' Voice Cafe in New York City, the War Resisters League, the Kairos and Atlantic Life Communities, and, at the heart of everything, the Plowshares movement to realize Isaiah's vision (www.plowshares.org).

For the past 25 years, Elmer either participated in or facilitated most of the Plowshare actions that followed the September 1980 action (more than 80 so far). He understood that the threat and actual use of nuclear weapons represented the determination of those in power to use any degree of violence to maintain political and economic control over the earth's resources. He also understood that nonviolent resistance, grassroots community-building, and simple living are at the roots of the Gospel message.

Elmer was a remarkable combination of humanist scholar and jailbird, with the awesome ability to clarify the historical relationships of religion, philosophy, art, music, and, of course, Plowshares. He would return from court scenes to regale us with musical compositions ranging from "The Jailhouse Blues" to more classical offerings, all flowing from his mother's treasured piano.

Elmer, your work is complete. Your legacy is your great and loving and humble heart. You always worked behind the scenes, tireless even when exhausted, waiting outside a police precinct to be certain everyone was released.

My memories of you include a night struggling through polluted waters to a Trident submarine. They also include the easy task of luring you to "The Met" to relax and explain the cultural significance of a Renaissance painting.

We will remember you with gratitude, but most of all we will try to struggle up the mountain of nonviolent love, "that God may teach us God's ways and that we may walk in God's paths," beating the swords of violence into plowshares and learning war no more.

Civil Liberties Hero, Fred Korematsu, Remembered

The following obituary is excerpted from an article by the staff of civilrights.org, "The Civil Rights Coalition for the 21st Century," 1629 K St. NW, 10th floor, Washington, DC 20006.

Civil rights advocates mourn the death of Fred Korematsu, defendant in a landmark case that constitutional law scholars have referred to as a "civil liberties disaster." Korematsu died on Wednesday, March 30, 2005. He was 82.

In 1942, Korematsu, an American citizen by birth, was jailed for refusing to be interned under the executive order policy that forced 120,000 Japanese Americans into internment camps during World War II.

He appealed his case all the way to the Supreme Court, which ruled against him, declaring that the internment was not caused by racism, but was rather a "military necessity" justified by the Army's claims that Japanese Americans were signaling enemy ships from shore.

Korematsu's conviction stood for nearly 40 years until a legal team of pro bono attorneys successfully reopened his case, alleging government misconduct, including the intentional suppression of government documents categorically denying that Japanese-Americans had done anything wrong. In overturning Korematsu's 40-year-old criminal conviction, the district court judge wrote:

"Korematsu remains on the pages of our legal and political history. As a legal precedent it is now recognized as having limited application. As a historical precedent it stands as a constant caution that in times of war or declared military necessity our institutions must be vigilant in protecting our constitutional guarantees. It stands as a caution that in times of distress the shield of military necessity and national security must not be used to protect governmental actions from close scrutiny and accountability. It stands as a caution that in times of international hostility and antagonisms our institutions, legislative, executive and judicial, must be prepared to protect all citizens from the petty fears and prejudices that are so easily aroused."

In 2004, Korematsu added his voice to the civil rights leaders and groups advocating for non-discrimination against Arab-Americans post-September 11, 2001, writing in a San Francisco Chronicle editorial:

"Fears and prejudices directed against minority communities are too easy to evoke and exaggerate, often to serve the political agendas of those who promote those fears. I know what it is like to be at the other end of such scapegoating and how difficult it is to clear one's name after unjustified suspicions are endorsed as fact by the government. If someone is a spy or terrorist they should be prosecuted for their actions. But no one should ever be locked away simply because they share the same race, ethnicity, or religion as a spy or terrorist. If that principle was not learned from the internment of Japanese Americans, then these are very dangerous times for our democracy."

"Fred Korematsu was a genuine American hero. His courage shined during one of America's ugliest hours," said Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights.

An Emmy-winning documentary about Fred Korematsu's life, Of Civil Wrongs and Rights, appeared on PBS in the US in 2001 <www.pbs.org/pov/pov2001/ofcivilwrongsandrights/storyline.html>. Steven Chin and David Tamura authored and illustrated a children's book about him, When Justice Failed: the Fred Korematsu Story.

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