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!
[From the Missoulian; written by Rita Jankowska-Bradley]
MISSOULA — Scott Douglas Nicholson, beloved former Missoula resident who dedicated 30 years of his life fighting for social justice and human rights throughout the Americas, died on June 24, 2017. “I can’t think of anything else that I’d rather be doing,” he said. “It feels like the work we do is important, and it has some impact.”
Scott was born in 1958 to Helen and Robert Nicholson. He grew up with his sister Debbie in San Pedro, California. As a child, Scott wanted to be a Presbyterian minister. In his adolescence Scott had an avid interest in motocross, then developed a love of nature and photography; camping, skiing, and backpacking with his father. Scott’s mother’s love of nature and prose influenced his life. A music aficionado and fan of Jimi Hendrix Scott, played electric guitar with burning passion. His favorite bands were The Grateful Dead, The Moody Blues and Deep Purple. Scott was humble; working as a Holiday Inn maid and department store Santa. Scott loved to travel; a trip through Europe after high school, a year skiing in the Pacific Northwest and summer in New Zealand and Australia.
Scott envisioned a very different life for himself. In 1985, business degree in hand, he was working at a bank in Pocatello, Idaho, as a management trainee. It was fortuitous that he attended a lecture about American funded terrorism in Central America. At that moment, he decided to trade his career in banking to study social work. Scott earned his MSW degree from Eastern Washington University in 1988, was active with the Peace and Justice Action League of Spokane, the St. Anne’s sanctuary program, and hunger alleviation initiatives in Washington State.
He began his solidarity work in Latin America at the Mesa Grande refugee camp in Honduras, home to thousands of people who had fled from the U.S. sponsored war and repression in El Salvador in 1989. He accompanied people back to their homes in Guancorita. In July 1990, the town was renamed Comunidad Ignacio Ellacuría in honor of the rector of the Jesuit Central America University where a massacre had occurred.
Scott came to Missoula in 1996 and began Friends of Ellacuria, then in 2000 helped start Community Action for Justice in the Americas (CAJA) to work in solidarity with the people of Latin America in the struggle for social and environmental justice and ending harmful U.S. intervention. CAJA invited many Latin American activists to Missoula to share their struggles against injustice. In one of CAJA’s first activities Scott organized a tour with a historic leader of the Salvadorian teacher’s union, Rafael Coto. In Missoula, Rafael shared his story then helped students make connections with the injustice of the impending adjunct teacher layoffs at the University of Montana. CAJA organized a high-profile protest outside the football stadium, igniting community support to stop the worst of the cuts and showing the importance of solidarity between activists across borders.
CAJA led many other campaigns including the push for UM to join the Workers’ Rights Consortium to ensure that collegiate garments were not produced in sweatshops, and the drive to have UM terminate its exclusive contract with Coca-Cola due to the killings of union organizers in Coke bottling plants in Colombia. Scott’s passion in CAJA helped inspire countless students to commit to a lifetime pursuit of human rights, peace and environmental justice work
Scott was an organizer with the Montana Human Rights Network (MHRN). In 2002, he received a Missoula Peacemaker of the Year Award. In 2004, he left Missoula to spend seven years in Colombia working to bring the truth about the U.S. involvement in the war in Colombia and accompanying women’s organizations, peasant associations, and labor leaders to protect them from murder by the right wing paramilitary. Annually, he would return from his solidarity work with community leaders to share their stores at events across Montana and the region. In 2008 Scott received a Montana Amnesty International Award for his human rights work. In 2011, he joined Global Ministries’; he lived and worked at Home of Hope and Peace (Hogar de Esperanza y Paz) community center in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.
From 2014-2016 he was a UM adjunct faculty member in social work co-teaching a course on Human Rights and Social Justice on the US-Mexico border.
To rejuvenate his passion for justice, Scott took solo backpacking trips into the Canadian wilderness. He had an eye for photography, both of scenery and wildlife and as witness to the struggles of people in Latin America.
Scott studied many religions beginning with Christianity and then moving to Eastern religion and philosophy and meditation and yoga (Yogananda).
Many Montanans joined with Scott in his work and have incredible memories and stories to tell. He was a teacher, mentor, friend across the Americas and is widely remembered and honored. His sister says he was an incredible brother.
With much love, Scott asked us to continue the struggle for social and environmental justice, and to cherish the love and compassion of each other, and the beauty of nature.
To honor his legacy, CAJA and the MHRN are organizing an action on the Orange Street bridge preceding a remembrance celebration on September 10 at 5 p.m. Friends of Scott will gather in Missoula on September 10 at 6 p.m. at Silver Park to celebrate his life and dedication to the values of racial and economic justice. Please wear blue, Scott’s favorite color, and bring a dish to share with friends. A tribute website honors Scott’s memory, www.scottpresente.org. He is survived by his beloved sister Debbie and father Bob.
Sunday, September 10
Defund Hate: Build A Wall Against Racism and Sexism for Scott
5 – 6 pm
Organized by Montana Human Rights Network
In honor of our friend Scott Nicholson, who dedicated his life to social justice and human rights in solidarity with our sisters and brothers in Latin America, we are rallying to DEFUND HATE!
Last year Scott held the ‘Build a Wall Against Sexism and Racism” banner at one of Trump’s golf courses. Scott new about building bridges and standing up to Trump’s divisive rhetoric. So, gather with us at the Orange Street Bridge in blue (his favorite color) from 5-6 pm and then head to Silver Park pavilion at 6:00 for a memorial for Scott. More details here
A Remembrance for Scott Nicholson
6:00 – 9:00 pm
Union Hall, 208 E Main St
Missoula, Montana (note location change due to smokey conditions)
Please join us in honoring the incredible life and work of Scott Nicholson. We will gather, share in a communal feast, and exchange memories of this truly incredible person. A 30-40 minute program will begin at 6:45 pm.
*Please wear blue in honor of Scott’s favorite color
*Sign up here to bring a dish to share.
(Per park rules, no glass. Beer/wine only for alcoholic beverages)
*Bring memories/pics/reflections of Scott on an 8.5×11’’ piece of paper. We will use string and clothespins to hang these for people to read at the event. After the event, they will be collected and put into a bound book for Scott’s sister.
*Want to share a memory or tribute? Please post it here.
Questions? Contact Erin at erin.switalski@gmail.com or visit our Facebook event page
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
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
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.
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.
🙂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.
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.
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
