¡Scott Presente!

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

By Global Ministries

Missionary Scott Nicholson, a friend to many at Casas Adobes Congregational UCC, passed away recently. He led many tours for their members across the border and inspired their ministry, Needlework for Nogales Children (N4NC).

Rev. Angel Rivera Ogosta, Executive of Global Ministries for Latin America, wrote the following tribute:

It was with deep sadness that we received the news of the passing of our colleague and dear brother in Christ, Scott Nicholson.  Scott was a member of the University Congregational, United Church of Christ, Missoula, Montana.  He was assigned to be a Global Ministries’ Long Term Volunteer to serve at the Community Center sponsored by Home of Hope and Peace (HEPAC), Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.   His service consisted in providing food and primary education to the children of uprooted people that arrive in Nogales on their quest to cross the border.  Also, he collaborated on the efforts to interpret the reality of migration to US and international visitors to the Center.   Previously, he had served as a Short Term Volunteer working with Social Organizations of Arauca, Colombia, as a consultant in the administration of productive projects in rural communities.  His commitment with Latin America and the Caribbean goes back to other experiences, aiding in El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras, adding up to 25 years of solidarity and presence throughout the continent.

A friend recently shared that, “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… Scott was brave. Not only was he brave in how he [was present in the life of] other people out in the desert crossing the US-Mexican Borderlands. But, before that, he accompanied communities in Colombia, and before that in El Salvador. It is really extraordinary, what he did consistently since 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.”  Certainly, that was Scott: sincere and honest about his feelings and thoughts.

We thank God for his life and vocation, for his passion, tireless dedication, and love that he always put into his ministry of accompaniment and solidarity among the “poorest of the poor” through his short but fruitful life.  Global Ministries and its two co-executives – the Rev. Julia Brown Karimu and the Rev. Dr. James Moos, ask for your prayers at this time of sorrow, particularly for Debbie, his beloved sister, Robert, his father as well as friends and loved ones.

update: To send messages of condolence to Scott’s sister, mail them to: Debbie Nicholson, c/o Friends of HEPAC, P.O. Box 1334, Nogales, AZ  85628.

Rev. Julia Brown Karimu, President
Division of Overseas Ministries
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the U.S. and Canada
Co-Executive, Global Ministries

Rev. Dr. James Moos, Executive Minister
Wider Church Ministries
United Church of Christ
Co-Executive, Global Ministries

Rev. Angel L. Rivera-Agosto
Area Executive, Latin America and the Caribbean
Global Ministries

By Community Action for Justice in the Americas (CAJA)

With a heavy heart we want to let you know of Scott Nicholson’s death.