¡Scott Presente!

Here it is August 15, 2023. What a difference today makes! Latin America and my Cousin Scott and I . . .       Scott died six years ago. My husband Antonio Salvador Torres Cumbicus and I live on. In memory of my beloved cousin, we have traveled to Ambos Nogales (both Mexico and the U.S. side if the border) There we paid a young student to bring her art supplies. Together we created a banner. I like to think of my paying her as part of the PEACE economy. And I remember my beloved cousin Scott Nicholson. He lives on in my memories. ¡Scott Nicholson Presente!

Song: “What a Difference a Day Makes” (English lyrics by Stanley Adams to song written by Mexican composer Maria Grever)

Tony n I still have our landline phone number 916 451 4366.

 

Well, here it is November 15, 2021. Thankfully, my dear cousin didn’t have to endure Covid-19! Last year, November 20, 2020, my husband and I got the news that three of our friends had died of Covid-19. These friends were the twin brother and younger sisters of our close friend-the best man at our wedding 45 years ago. Their deaths after weeks in hospital shocked us. This morning I got an email from a young volunteer, Witness for Peace Solidarity Collective, Honduras. This reminded me of my cousin Scott. The young volunteer wrote:

“While migrant caravans, corruption, and violence dominate the headlines, the Honduran people are leading the struggle against U.S. neo-colonial intervention. Join us for a presentation and discussion with leaders on the ground and friends in solidarity with Honduras.”Reclaiming Land and Life in Honduras (Facebook Event Thursday, November 19th, 2021

5:30 – 7:00 PM California Time

Zoom Link: https://tinyurl.com/NCRHonduras

English-Spanish Interpretation will be provided

It has been a while since I have posted and I miss my bro everyday.  Some days are better than others.  Sometimes, I experience pure joy.  Sometimes that makes me happy – other times it makes me a tad guilty.  You see, I always knew that my Bro and I would be there for each other, through everything life threw at us and we were.  Time and time again, such amazing love and support we had for each other.  We stood by either other through our parent’s divorce, Mom’s dementia and passing, Dad’s Alzheimer’s.  I knew that my brother would always be there for me and I would be there for him.  Then he got hurt and got sad and I was positive that I could, and would, see him through it.  My brother always told me that I could not save everyone and everything, and as usual, he was right.  In the end, I could not save my Bro and I am immensely sad about that.  My bro and I did not have kids, and are not married but we knew we would grow old together and everything would be OK.  I cannot go back in time and save my bro.  Maybe Scott is saved.  He got to decide how and when to end his life.  Although, the why still pains me, I am grateful that he made the choice.  I also learned how short life can be, what is important and that most things are not.  I experience joy in a beautiful sunset, the warmth of the sun or the beauty of the sea.  My brother is in all of that.  I will forever have him in my heart.  Miss you, Bro….  Baby Sis

En este momento cuando vienen a mi mente toda la labor de este ser espectacular como lo fue SCOTT, siento que nos falto tiempo para expresar todo el agradecimiento que como colombianos teníamos hacia el, Scott fue una persona muy importante y valiosa  para nuestra comunidad, en especial para mi que lo conocí tanto, compartimos momentos inolvidables y así  fue pararte  de mi familia, todas sus enseñanzas su colaboración el acompañamiento que nos brindo fue tan importante que al no estar, quedo un gran vació entre nosotros.

Yo se que ya no estas y siento mucha tristeza en este día que te fuiste, que no te pude volver a encontrar, que deseo retroceder el tiempo y abrazarte fuertemente, para que este abrazo quedara impregnado en ti y nunca te sintieras solo, pero la distancia nos separo y ya no pude, pero creo en que estas descansando, y que eso es lo que tu querías. 

Tu sueño es hermoso, descansa  tu labor en este mundo a dado los frutos que tu deseabas, y por medio de ello tu sigues vivo como ese hombre espectacular y hermoso que eras, siempre hasta el día de mi muerte estarás viviendo en mi corazón en ese lugar que tu te ganaste, mi amigo mi confidente eres un tesoro que jamas se desvalorizara.

te extraño 

Nidia Castellanos 

   

 

By Brady Torres

October 5, 2016 a year ago, I invited my cousin Scott Nicholson to dinner at his favorite Mexican restaurant there in Nogales, Mexico in Sonora Mexico on the Mexican side of the border – Don Fito Munroy’s restaurant. Thank you Community for Justice and Peace in the Americas (CAJA) Missoula Montana friends for putting together this way of honoring my dear departed cousin Scott. I still reel in shock from hearing his sister answer my last phone call to his cell phone with the words: “He took his own life a few weeks ago.”   And so, even though the grief and shock has weighed me down making my movements slow…. this year – in honor of all who struggle, I will again travel to Arizona and be with the School of the Americas Watch (SOA) Convergence 2017 participants.  I will keep trying to call attention to all those there urging justice and peace for the people living along that border. This time I hope to try and set up some kind of  an activity: perhaps a scholarship in Scott Nicholson’s name: – for Deferred Action Child Arrival (DACA) students; OR start building the Scott Nicholson Peace and Justice Center somewhere in Latin America….My husband Antonio Salvador Torres Cumbicus and I have a small lot on the Pacific Ocean coast where the whales swim to every year from Alaska. Witnessing for peace in conflict areas of Latin America truly takes a toll. I myself have had to take frequent breaks from news of the violent conflicts there and refresh my soul. Hopefully I will be able to meet some of you there in Ambos Nogales November 10, 11 or 12 at the Hotel Americana in Nogales, Arizona on the U.S. side of the border. I will be carrying the banner which I helped sew  for Sacramento Action Latin America (SALA). Like CAJA, we have been having pot-luck meetings monthly since 1978 here in Sacramento, CA. And though the attendance can be sparse (afterall not many would be willing/able to hear about all the killing that goes on in some of those highly conflicted areas without some hope of improvement) – I will keep trying to pay attention to the small signs of hope….the Home of Peace and Hope (HEPAC) the name of the small community center that Scott devoted himself to until his tragic illness overtook him.  In Peace and Solidarity….Brady María Condy-Torres    916 451 4366 (our home phone number in Sacramento California)

As I said years and years ago when Scott and I were both speakers in Bozeman at a human rights conference, Scott was one of my heroes.

He was one of the most courageous and compassionate and loving peace and justice makers this world has seen — and I thank God for his life.

I was honored to know Scott and admire his great work for several decades as he worked courageously and with great compassion for human rights and peace and justice in Honduras, in El Salvador, in Colombia, on the U.S. border in Mexico and here in Montana.

~ Frank Kromkowski, Co-Coordnator, Helena Service for Peace and Justice, https://www.facebook.com/HelenaSERPAJ/

by Alexis Lucile Condy

I was saddened to learn of the death of my second cousin, Scott Nicholson. I had found contact with him on line in 2004 and maintained an on line correspondence over time.

Also, I planned with him to share a video of one of his trips to Colombia, and it was viewed by a local Amnesty International group, as well as other friends of mine. He visited once in January of 2005 and enjoyed a meal with us at my father’s home. I have a picture of Scott in childhood and one of his Mom, Helen, who had been in the wedding of my father and mother. Helen was the first cousin to my Dad.

Scott had a wonderful smile and we shared many interests. Although it has been awhile since I have backpacked into the wilderness, I did that a lot in my youth. I have worked as an educator and union organizer as well, and have helped to bring internationally acclaimed peace activists to the Sacramento area. I had hoped for a long and uplifting affiliation with my cousin, but that was not to be the case.

When I met him in January of 2005, I was able to recognize him in his favorite color of blue. When I last saw him in Mexico in October of 2016, he met my sister and I for lunch and dinner near where he worked. When I was struggling to remember a phrase in English that described some of the complex feelings I have had for years since a parent center I was setting up in California was robbed, he was right on target with the phrase.

I don’t know what to do with the family memorabilia. I have suffered depression in my life, and hope that I would be remembered fondly by those around me. Scott seemed to have fond memories of visiting with us in 2005, and loved sharing his pictures.

For my sixtieth Birthday, I went to see Liza Minnelli in Southern California….so for Scott I will quote the song Judy Garland sang when we were all young

“Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue….and the dreams that we dare to dream really do come true”  Cousin Alexis Lucile (named after Scott’s great aunt Lucile)

by Debbie Nicholson

The celebration of Scott’s life on 09/10/17 was an amazing, powerful and I cannot thank anyone enough.  I saw the most wonderful organizing at work as the event took shape to be a tribute befitting my brother’s life.  I know there were so many people who took part and contributed.  I want to mention Rita, Cliff, Jay, Paul, Erin, Mo, Burke and JC for making me feel at home and part of their lives.  I could feel my brother’s love washing over us all during the event and I know how proud he was.  As the speaking drew to a close, I watched many who participated break down in real grief and it helped me to understand that I am not the only one grieving.  I am so sorry to all of you for the loss of my bro.  As I mentioned to several,  the first two months after Scott’s passing to the other side, I was lost.  Rita and Burke reached out but did not crowd me, they just kindly let me know they were there and they wanted me to be a part of the celebration if I could.  Such amazing compassion.  Finally, I realized it was time to stop grieving and start living again.  As my god-daughter Devon quoted, “Don’t be sad because it is over.  Be happy because it happened.”  So I started thinking about how Scott lived his life and not how it ended.  All the fun we had together, all the times shared, how amazingly grateful I am that he was my bro.  I learned so much this weekend and I came home knowing I have a family in Missoula and with others that loved Scott.  I now look to the future and know that life is good and how lucky I am.  Please also know that what so many of you do can take a toll.  Be sure to show the same compassion and kindness to yourself, as you do to others.  My heart-felt love and gratitude to you all.

Debbie (aka Baby Sis)

by Burke Stansbury

I got to know Scott in the year 2000. He stood up after a film showing in Missoula and announced the first meeting of a new group called Community Action for Justice in the Americas – CAJA. I was immediately struck by this straight-laced white guy with a well-trimmed mustache. He was clean-cut, formal, and kind of geeky…not exactly the person you’d imagine to be leading the revolution. But his passion and determination came through and I was impressed. I showed up at the first CAJA meeting and I’ll always remember how Scott did the round of introductions – insisting that we should go around the circle to the LEFT and chucking to himself as he said it. Scott did that at every subsequent meeting I ever saw him facilitate, and he always laughed the same way, as if it were the first time he had ever made the joke.

During that first year of CAJA I put together my first flyer, helped organized my first event, facilitated my first meeting, and acted as the media spokesman for the first time at an action. Scott mentored me at every step of the way, encouraging me to take on bigger leadership roles right on up the ladder. I’ve been an organizer every since, and its fair to say that where I am today has as much to do with Scott as just about any one else in my life.

There are two reasons for that: one is that he was the first person to actually suggest to me that I could and should devote my life to community and political organizing. Until he said that it hadn’t occurred to me that such a thing was possible.

The second is that he told me that if I really wanted to learn revolutionary organizing, strategy and political analysis that I had to go live in El Salvador. He connected me with an organization called CISPES and I subsequently worked for a year in San Salvador and then 8 more years in the US with CISPES, traveling frequently during that time to El Salvador.

El Salvador was also quintessential part of Scott’s revolutionary consciousness. He went there in the late 1980s with the civil war still raging and helped impoverished campesinos who had been forced from their villages by US-funded government bombing to return and re-populate their own destroyed homes. It was the ultimate act of bravery and resistance in the midst of imperialist violence, and Scott was deeply affected by the experience of witnessing that act. He was also impressed by the brilliant organizing tactics that leftist guerrillas and the social movement in El Salvador employed to beat back a regime propped up by the biggest military in the world.

What Scott also learned during his time in El Salvador is that that witnessing – and subsequently telling the stories, as well as facilitating leaders from Latin America in telling their own stories — is an extremely potent strategy in countering violence and injustice. He would employ the strategy repeated over the next three decades of his life to tremendous effect.

In El Salvador, Scott was not only witnessing; he was putting his body on the line and risking his own safety to help and protect those threatened by the military, those facing hardship and suffering because of US policies. It was something he continued to do for decades, most prominently in Colombia during the civil war there, and most recently on the US-Mexico border. It’s fair to say that constantly being around places and people experiencing violence, suffering, destruction and death took its toll on Scott. It had serious, long-lasting psychological effects. The trauma this produced stayed with Scott and contributed to his depression, and ultimately, to his death. It is important for us here today to acknowledge that.

There’s one final story I want to tell, involving one of the best memories I have of working with Scott in our CAJA organizing prime. A historic leader of the Salvadoran teachers union named Rafael Coto came to Missoula as part of a tour organized by CISPES. It happened right around the time that a campaign to prevent professor and adjunct firings at UM was fizzling. Scott knew Coto from his years living and working in El Salvador, and they had a trust and camaraderie that was infectious. After a big public event, a group of CAJistas took Coto out to the Union Club and soon Scott was getting him fired up about the injustice of the pending teacher layoffs. As an educator himself, Coto felt solidarity with the UM professors, and fueled by Scott’s prodding (and a few beers) he started scheming a new campaign to stop the firings.

We shut the bar down that night, sketching out our plan on the back of a napkin as Coto told stories of teacher strikes in El Salvador during the war. The next day Scott called me up and we went to work, eventually building a coalition, organizing a high-profile protest outside the football stadium, and ultimately helping to stop the worst of the cuts. Of course, Scott always talked how it was a union leader from El Salvador who reignited that campaign, and for him it demonstrated solidarity at its best – a two-way street in which activists in the US could take lessons from our comrades in the South and turn them into organizing victories.

Scott embodied such solidarity. I will always remember what he taught me, his determined spirit, and his extraordinarily deep commitment to fighting for justice in the world.

by Erin Thompson

I first saw Scott and learned of CAJA at a presentation they hosted on Colombia by Katie Knight. I knew immediately I wanted to be involved, but when I reached about meetings, it was summer.  Scott responded to let me know that CAJA didn’t meet much in Summer, but he encouraged me to come to a meeting in the fall. It turned out that my first meeting was on September 11, 2001. A ton of people showed up, but Scott remembered that I had emailed him in the summer. He took care to say, hey, you reached out earlier this year, I’m glad you came. From then on, he took me under his wing, mentoring me in my activism, and supporting me into leadership. He always let me lead, careful to guide but not direct. When the time came to hire a coordinator for CAJA, Scott suggested it be me. This was how he operated. He was dedicated to inclusion, and to supporting women, and young people, in this work. He always highlighted women’s organizations, brought women leaders to the U.S.to speak, and called out men in Colombia who failed to support women’s role in the struggle. He was a feminist, and I hadn’t seen that before from a lot of men around me.

Only once did I go for a hike with Scott. It turned out to be 10 miles straight up, in the Mission Mountains – it was brutal! Towards the top of the peak, we encountered a raging river. I thought – well, I guess we’re turning around. But before I could finish my thought, Scott was stripping down to his boxer shorts and wading thigh deep into the icy waters. I opted to balance precariously on fallen trees, at risk of washing out at any moment. We celebrated our successful crossing, both laughing. In retrospect, maybe not the smartest idea. But that river wouldn’t stop us. We would get to the top. And that is how Scott approached everything in life. If an obstacle was presented to him, he found a way around it, or literally through it. He was determined.

Scott was powered by a conviction so deep, he could transcend fear. Scott was the driving force behind the CAJA delegation to Colombia in 2005. This wasn’t your ordinary delegation. We went places most people don’t go. Once we slept in a union office, which was protected with bullet-proof glass. Some of the people we were accompanying had body guards. We went where people needed us. For me, this was a glimpse into Scott’s life – his truest calling. He was a witness, putting his life on the line for others, because he believed in justice for all.

He had an immense love for life. He almost always wore a smile, and I can still hear his contagious laugh — a loud, air-catching laugh. In the toughest of times, this laugh had a calming effect. (Like the time we ran out of gas in Colombia, in the middle of an oil field, at dusk, in a dangerous area.)

There are simply too many stories to share. The one thing I know, is that Scott literally changed my life. Without him, I would not be the person I am today. I feel immense gratitude for the time I spent with him, and for the lessons he taught me. He was truly one of a kind. I will sorely miss you my dear friend.

Scott asked us to continue the struggle for peace and justice. I pledge to do that. And to take care of myself, in service to my mission for social justice. With the deepest respect, love, and admiration, Scott Nicholson, ¡Presente!