Month: September 2017

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!

By Anna (Swanson) Peterson

I will always remember Scott as one of the nicest and most selfless people I have ever met. I first met Scott via CAJA when I moved to Missoula for grad school. He was always warm, inviting, passionate, and caring. He strived and worked for justice and fairness in the world and dedicated his life to others. He was once of the most kind, gentle, and compassionate people I have ever know. He is and will continue to be greatly missed.

by Betsy Danforth

Scott first contacted the MSU Women’s Center about 12 years ago to see if we would be interested in hosting a presentation by a Colombian woman who represented a group of activists from a village called Arauca. Indeed we were interested!  This event began a long relationship with one of the most gentle, selfless and dedicated human beings I have ever met in the fight for social justice, human rights, and equality.  Scott and Yaneth stayed at our house (a tradition that lasted for years with a variety of speakers), and their joint presentation (with Scott serving as the most patient and precise translator ever!) began an annual series of lectures about the situation in Colombia, women’s and community activism, and the many struggles that average citizens faced in a time of endless wars.  Later, when Scott took his position with Global Ministries on the Mexican/U.S. border, he continued his visits to MSU to inform the students about what was happening along the border.  I enjoyed Scott’s visits as much as the presentations, and I treasured what developed into a friendship.  When I heard of his struggle with depression, I was deeply saddened to think that he suffered while he helped SO MANY people avoid or deal with their own suffering.  Scott was blessed with a soul deeper than the vast majority of us, as well as selfless dedication, patience and an enormous sense of what was right and good.  If there is a Heaven, Scott is most certainly there!