On the morning of October 28^th, the day before our “Occupy Aerojet” action, I spent a couple hours in the neighborhoods around Aerojet Ordnance, handing out fliers about the storytelling and soil and water sampling we were to do the following day. The varied reactions serve as a portrait of the differing interests and concerns within the Campaign to End Depleted Uranium Munition Production in rural Tennessee.

My first stop was Davy Crockett High School, about a mile from Aerojet Ordnance on State Route 34.

A few months ago Depleted Uranium (DU) was a sinister weapon of war to my ears, albeit intangible and nondescript. Confronting Aerojet Ordnance, a DU weapon manufacturer outside Jonesborough, TN on this CPT Delegation, is serving as an immersion course in DU munitions and the physics and chemistry behind this radioactive waste. The fog is slowly lifting for me.

Now that I've been here in Jonesborough longer, I'm starting to feel less at a loss for where to start with the issue of DU. Two things in particular have helped that happen.  First, on Saturday, our delegation helped Dr. Michael Ketterer of Northern Arizona University collect some more samples for his ongoing work in tracing the level and spread of DU contamination from Aerojet Ordnance.  Then on Sunday, we had a press conference in Jonesborough, which connected us with a few people from the local community.

The more I learn about depleted uranium, the more I realize how little we know for certain about its effects on quality of life and health.  While we can say for certain that war kills, the details about DU's impact in the whole picture are conflicted and under-researched.

Where Can God Be Found?

Can God be found

          in the footsteps of pilgrims treading over ancient stones while black and brown boots trample and grind down the living ones

          in the gaze through a picture window inside a glistening, new room built illegally on lands stolen from a neighbor

          by rifling to the bottom of a six year old child’s school b

CPT Delegation Blog

Friday 11^th March 2011: Jerusalem

This is the third day of our delegation and the entire experience continues to be profound, illuminating and moving.

Karen Hernandez, who participated in CPT's March 2009 delegation to Palestine/Israel, writes: "I support and believe in the Palestinians—their right to inhabit the land they live on and have lived on for many, many years, and I support their plight.  Does this make me Anti-Semitic?" Click here for her complete blog.

Upon returning to the U.S. from Israel-Palestine, I've thought a lot about fear. In a couple of weeks, the organization I work for is hosting a symposium on addressing fear in the church and broader society. Today on a planning call we talked about how fear is a tool used to exercise power over others and about how we can be instrument to address fear, too, by being aware of the narrative we tell when we choose not to be afraid in a scary situation.

In short, the Palestinians live under an occupation without a clear path toward statehood. Israel’s reluctance to stop building settlements, let alone dismantle those in the West Bank, makes the occupation seem unshakeable. This is especially true when one considers the United States’ reluctance or inability to significantly influence Israeli foreign policy.

1/25/2011

We have now been in Palestine eight days. We started in Jerusalem for a couple days, then spent roughly one day in Bethlehem, three days in Hebron, and one in At-Tuwani. During this time most of what we saw was disturbing (e.g., aggressive Jewish settlers and an assertive Israeli military implementing unjust laws). The occupation is pervasive.