Bringing Guantanamo Home

By Nic Eaton Special thanks to Jess Turturro, Constantine Tziovaras and Witness Against Torture.

117 days of hunger, 166 prisoners. While Twitter and Facebook repeat the refrain, even the most conscious of us can start to see numbers rather than people. The struggle to  shut down Guantanamo Bay (and other torture black sites like it) has been going on well before I took an active role. Countless heroes have dedicated their time and energy to bringing the reality of Guantanamo to the streets of the United States- internalizing this atrocity and domesticating the problem.

As my roommate and I donned the orange jumpsuit and hood, our privilege became astoundingly clear. We could take off the jumpsuit. We could adjust the hood. We could come andgo as we pleased. We were not imprisoned, tortured, ridiculed or harassed. We couldsee our friends and families and we could sleep without nightmares.

As you do a load of laundry, take a drag of your cigarette, flip through 300 channelsor mutter as you drag yourself to work imagine the line of prisoners who trail behinyou and those who lay beneath your feet. Resolve yourself to lift them up and walbeside them or resign yourself to contributing to their endless suffering.Nic Eaton is a labor organizer and member of the Organization for a Free Society. Follow him at @TalkLabor'