Month: July 2017

A Meaningful Life

by David Jones

I had the honor of knowing Scott and hosting him down here in Hamilton on his human rights tours. Despite often paltry turn-outs for the presentations, he continued- without judgement-  trying to educate the citizens here about the unjust conditions he encountered, because for him it was all about trying his best no matter the outcome. The guest presenters (usually amazing, powerful women) would come to our gatherings and speak to the situation in their country and then we would all retire to our living room here and chat and catch up and break bread. These are cherished memories for myself and my wife Char and we will miss that bright spirit and giant smile. As a board member of CAJA, I was inspired by Scott’s dedication, passion and courage. He lived to make the world a little better and certainly succeeded in transforming the lives of many he touched. In his name, I hope to re-double my own efforts and keep his life’s work as a beacon.

He saw so much and I guess there comes a time when you just have to lay down your burden and trust in what’s next.

And for the cruel person who tears

out the heart with which I live

I cultivate neither nettles nor thorns: I cultivate a white rose

Hasta siempre

 

My Brother’s Last Thoughts

by Debbie Nicholson (aka Baby Sis)

Friends of Scott,

My brother did leave a note and I have been holding it in my heart and in my despair have been remiss in sharing it, my apologies, I will do so now.

Dear Deb, Dad, and friends,
I have been very blessed by a life that was filled with wonderful and meaningful experiences. I’m unable to see any quality of life and I would prefer not to continue in this way. I would prefer for you to remember me as I was for most of my life (particularly the last 30 years of solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Latin America) and I ask that you continue the struggle for social and environmental justice, and to cherish the love and compassion of each other, and the beauty of nature.
With much love,
Scott

Tribute to Scott

by Paul Haber, originally posted on June 26

I am deeply saddened to learn of Scott’s passing. I am saddened by the deep pain he was feeling; something just seems so unfair about that much pain for such a gentle, giving soul, someone who had committed so much of his life to relieving the unnecessary suffering of others. I am grateful that he now has relief from that pain and I wish him much love and solidarity in whatever is next.

I suspect I share many similarities with others in my experience with and feelings for Scott. I have never, in my entire life, met anybody more committed to compassionate service to others. There have always been people like Scott on the planet, and they have always been rare. He walked the talk in a way that inspired those who knew him. We could not match Scott but he helped make us better people. I smile when I remember how he never tired of telling me to honor my own experience and not blow it off by calling it first world problems. He always took suffering seriously, his own as well as that of others, and met it with an incredible compassion.

Scott was brave. Not only was he brave in how he helped other people out in the desert crossing the US-Mexican mean borderlands. But, well before that, in Colombia, and before that in El Salvador. It is really extraordinary, what he did consistently since as he might have put it, had his “eyes opened” the 1980s. Scott was brave also in how he was willing to share his feelings. I saw him angry in the face of injustice, I saw him cry when he felt sad. I saw him smile when he was happy. Those last photos he posted on Facebook were classic Scott: happy in one, gloomier and in more pain than I had ever seen him in the other. Scott did not know how to bullshit.

Scott was one of the finest human beings and best friends I have ever known. He is missed, he will be missed, and he will be remembered.

My Bro

By Baby Sis (Debbie Nicholson)

Scott Douglas Nicholson was born in Little Company of Mary Hospital in Torrance on July 11, 1958.  He was an only child until his little sister was born on May 13, 1960.  Scott grew up in San Pedro, CA.  As a young child, he wanted to be a Presbyterian minister.  Scott become very interested in motocross in his adolescent years and spent many weekends at the local motocross parks with his Dad, his best friend, Denny Cardona and other friends.  Scott developed a love of nature and photography with camping, skiing, and backpacking trips with his father.  Scott’s mother also was a lover of nature and prose which impacted him throughout his life.

Scott spent much of his time traveling and took a trip through Europe right after high school.  He also spent a year skiing by spending the winter in the Pacific Northwest and the summer in New Zealand and Australia.
Scott also played electric guitar and was a big fan of Jimi Hendrix.  And, yes, he burned…..
Scott ended up with two Master’s Degree’s one in Finance and one in Social Work.  The second degree began his interested in Central American studies.  He learned Spanish by spending three months in Guatemala.   Scott began his life in human rights and social justice in Nicaragua, moved to El Salvador, Colombia, then Nogales.  Scott went were the needs were the greatest.
Scott often took solo backpacking trips into Canada and the Pacific Northwest, where the took amazing photography of the scenery and the wildlife.
Throughout his life, he worked every job imaginable, including Holiday Inn Maid and Department Store Santa.
As I wrote in a Facebook post:, His favorite color was blue. Everything he could own in blue, he did. Every Christmas I had to buy him blue clothes. I am quite the fashionishista and always tried to get him other stylish things – but no chance – only blue. 🙂
He favorite bands were The Grateful Dead, The Moody Blues and Deep Purple. I would say his favorite songs were Nights in White Satin, My Woman from Tokyo, Sugar Magnolias, and Green Grass and High Tides.
His favorite Christmas movie was Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. We watched every year. His favorite part was when Rudolph started to fly and said “She thinks I’m cute”.
He loved Disneyland (but not the crowds) and his favorite ride was the Flight of Peter Pan and he was amazed that they never thought to Fast Pass it.
He could recite all of the seven dwarfs in alphabetical order.

These are some of the things that made him the best brother than could ever be and why he will forever be in my heart.

Remembering Scott Nicholson

This site is dedicated to our dear friend Scott Nicholson who passed away on June 24, 2017. Scott was a long-time Latin America solidarity organizer and human rights accompanier. He lived and worked in El Salvador during the civil war, and later spent years doing accompaniment in Colombia. In recent years Scott was a volunteer on the US-Mexico border supporting uprooted people in their efforts to cross the border. He inspired many people across the Americas with his deep commitment to justice.

Please share your tributes or memories of Scott here

Favorite Memories of Scott

By Burke Stansbury

I was in the middle of a week-long RV camping trip when I got the news that my friend Scott Nicholson had died. As we drove back north from California I had a lot of time to think about Scott and how important he was to me at a turning point in my life. Here are a few memories:

— The fall of 1999, there was a showing in Missoula of Saul Landau’s film about the Zapatistas. I was in college and having studied Latin American politics and spent time in Mexico and Guatemala over the previous two years I was itching to get more involved in solidarity work. It was probably Pamela Voekel or Paul Haber (favorite professors of mine at UM) who told me about the film. At the conclusion of the event a straight-laced guy with a mustache named Scott got up and announced the first meeting of a new Latin America solidarity group in Missoula. Based on his clean-cut appearance and formal, kind of geeky demeanor he wasn’t exactly the person you’d imagine to be leading the revolution… but his passion and determination came through and I was impressed. The meeting ended up being the founding of Community Action for Justice in the Americas, or CAJA, and the organizing work we’d do over the next few years – in solidarity with Salvadoran maquila workers, Colombian human rights activists, the Zapatistas and beyond – was life-changing for me. Through CAJA, I not only got to team up with Scott but also worked with great comrades like Rita Jankowska-Bradley, Erin Thompson Switalski, Ted Morrison, Mo Essen, Leslie MacColman, Gary Graham Hughes and many others.

— In 2000 CAJA organized a tour visit to Missoula with Rafael Coto, a historic leader of the Salvadoran teachers union. 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 as a human rights accompanier during the civil war, 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.

If I recall correctly 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.

— Maybe it was during that campaign or another campaign the next year to get the University of Montana to divest from Coca-Cola (another Scott brainchild)… but I have a very vivid memory of Scott and I leaving a coalition meeting together and replaying how it went as we walked across campus. Continue reading Favorite Memories of Scott