In Southern Montana, not many of us want voter suppression. In Arizona, the portion may be larger. Here though, we have a strong consensus on voting rights. We honor the American way of voting, with ballots more respected than bullets. It’s a problem when our governor and two of our congressmen succumb to the wave of hundreds of Republican-sponsored voter-suppression bills. Governor Gianforte set a dangerous one before our legislature, and it passed. We want citizens in Big Horn County to keep the right to vote here clean; we should not tolerate anti-American nonsense in Montana. We are grateful for Janette Rankin, and proud that her legacy has continued with voting rights advocacy by Dr. Janine Pease of Little Big Horn College. Arizona may have worse problems with voter suppression. But let’s not gloat.
On a sunny morning in the 1980’s I was leading a workshop in a small Catholic mission town on the Tohono Oʼodham nation which straddles the southern border with Mexico. I was speaking to a group of a dozen or more clergy and musicians working in Christian ministry on Indian reservations in the West. We were gathered with a few local participants in shade under a palm tree in the center of the walled enclave with the Catholic mission church.
Our quiet proceedings were interrupted by a tremendous explosion. It was followed immediately by a second explosion. Some of us in panic threw ourselves to the ground. I got up and ran to a wall, feeling the shaking of jet engines blasting. My ears were ringing so I could barely hear, but as I climbed a stairway and looked toward the sound, I saw clearly two dark blue delta-wing fighter planes climbing straight up. They then curved away over upside down, twisted right side up and flew away in formation.
Our hosts told me and the others to go on with the meeting. It’s something that happens unpredictably, they said, and it was over for at least the day. It took a while to calm our nerves and continue working on our agenda.
I had earlier gotten acquainted with a janitor who sat in our meetings. During our lunch break I went to him and asked where the planes had come from. He said they were from the Navy base over by Kitt Peak. In the following week I researched and found this was most likely a practice atomic bombing run to fly at supersonic speed low toward a target, set the plane into a steep climbing loop while precisely releasing the bomb to arc up and over like a hail Mary pass. Then the plane would be miles away to protect from radiation released. If not just practice, the bomb would have exploded as timed just above the ground.
But it wasn’t “just practice” to American citizens there. My janitor friend said the sonic boom caused their sheep to abort, windows to be broken, and many people to move away from the town being targeted for practice atomic bombing by the United States Navy. I asked about the size of the town’s sheep herd. He said it was less than half what it was before the practice bombing runs began.
He said there would be a council meeting that afternoon. I asked for and was given permission to speak with a member at break time. It turned out to be the chairman. I offered to tell our Montana Senator Baucus when I returned to Montana in two days about what I had experienced. I said I was sure our Senator would stop this military practice activity against this real town. His response was, “No! Please, please do not inform anyone in the government. After many decades of trying, we have finally just recently been given the right to vote. If you speak to your senator we could lose our voting rights again.”
I felt ashamed of my country. This is America, where we have the best, most reliable voting record of any nation. It’s led by honest, reliable citizens right here in our small towns too. They happen to be mostly Republican, and the kind of people who should be leading the GOP now.
