About 35 people held vigil in the hot sun outside Governor Cooper’s Raleigh office on Wed., June 26. They came from Mecklenburg, Orange, Durham, Wake, and Johnston counties to urge the Governor to break his silence on North Carolina’s shameful role in CIA torture.
At the end of the vigil, Jeremy Collins, Director of the Governor’s Office of Engagement, joined the group for about 15 minutes. He accepted 375 signatures on a petition urging the Governor and Attorney General to investigate Aero Contractors. He said the Governor opposes torture, and he would convey the group’s concerns to the Governor. He agreed to set a meeting to discuss specific action steps for the Governor to take.
Brian Wendelgass of NC Council of Churches did a great job as MC:
Attendees represented numerous organizations, including NC Stop Torture Now, NC Council of Churches, Raleigh Friends Meeting, Amnesty International Group 213, Movement to End Racism & Islamophobia, Triangle WILPF, Eisenhower Chapter 157 Veterans for Peace, Fr. Charlie Mulholland Catholic Worker House of Garner, and North Carolina Peace Action.
Powerful short speeches were given by: Robin Kirk, co-chair of NC Commission of Inquiry on Torture; Rev. Nancy Petty, Pullen Memorial Baptist Church; Doug Ryder, Veterans for Peace; Joe Burton, NC Peace Action; Prof. Deborah Weissman, UNC School of Law; Manzoor Cheema, Movement to End Racism & Islamophobia; Vivian Taylor, Iraq vet, Duke Divinity student and Council of Churches intern; and Rabbi Eric Solomon, board member, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call For Human Rights. Manzoor speaks below:
Attendees carried portraits of a few of the at least 49 people, all of them Muslim, rendered by Aero Contractors for CIA torture:
