He's not the best known of the Berrigan boys -- Daniel and Philip hold that honor.
But Jerome Berrigan, 82, is no stranger to the protest business.
In town as part of the SOA Watch's attempt to close down the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, Berrigan found himself a comfortable chair in an otherwise barren apartment near the staging area on Benning Road and watched as speaker after speaker took the podium.
"This is my sixth trip down here," he said. "And is it just me or is the blare louder than it's ever been?" He referred to Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA," which rattled off the concrete walls of his room.
Berrigan, like his brothers, is no stranger to jails. Though he has no intention of trespassing onto Fort Benning this weekend, he was arrested Oct. 5 while protesting in front of the USS Intrepid, now a floating museum docked on the Hudson River in New York.
"We stood in a circle near the gangplank to keep people from going aboard," he said. "The ship is a museum for war, nothing else. I don't want kids and families corrupted by that." A judge later dropped charges against the 29 arrested.
All six Berrigan boys -- Thomas, the eldest, and Philip, the youngest are dead -- learned from their parents in Syracuse, N.Y., to become advocates for the poor.
"My dad never turned away anyone who ever knocked on our door looking for a meal," Jerome Berrigan said. "That carried over to his sons."
From the Depression through the Second World War to the civil rights movement, the Berrigans raised their voices. Daniel and Philip were part of the Catonsville 9 during the Vietnam era. They broke into a Maryland Selective Service office, burned all draft records and were promptly arrested. Their fame grew from there. First a play, then a film starring Gregory Peck, were made from the Catonsville protest.
Philip Berrigan, who spent a total of 11 years in prisons for his protests, wanted to end the proliferation of nuclear weapons after the Vietnam War ended.
Daniel Berrigan still lives in New York, but did not accompany his brother South this week.
"I really want to see what goes on here," said Jerome Berrigan, who walked with Martin Luther King Jr. in Selma, then became a vocal protester of the Vietnam War. "I won't ask to speak. Others can clearly do that. But I'll listen. I'm concerned about this school and what it teaches."
A father of four, Berrigan doesn't see his children following his footsteps.
"They sympathize with the cause," he smiled. "But they're not ready to pick up signs just yet. Maybe when they're my age."
© 2003 Columbus Ledger-Enquirer
###
Printer Friendly Version
E-Mail This Article
