By Kevin Annett
www.itccs.org
Some years ago, a stumbling native man who barely survived Indian residential school tortures came up to me and offered me $5 to support our campaign, even though it was all the money he had. I refused it, naturally, because he was destitute. He seemed hurt by my refusal. Finally he handed the $5 to me again and said,
“You’re out there for all of us. So I got to be there for you.”
He was someone who didn’t think in terms of why he couldn’t do something, but why he could, and why he had to.
When someone comes to you on the street and asks you for some spare change, they are usually not just asking you for money - they are also wanting to know that they still exist and have value, and that you see them.
I guess that’s true for me, too, when I send out occasional appeals for financial support so that our Tribunal can survive: I am really asking thousands of men and women if they care anymore about the horror that happened and still goes on against the innocent. And by that I mean, care enough to back outrage with action.
My friend Russ Letica said on the airwaves of my blog radio program yesterday that we should never talk about “abused” children, when they were and are raped, tortured, violated and murdered horribly. We must always call the crime for what it is: and publicly name the names of the killers so that no more children will suffer.
For twenty years, I have done simply that, and, to paraphrase my murdered friend, Bingo Dawson, I have given victims a way to fight back and not be victims anymore.
Unfortunately, most of the people who should have been supporting this struggle have not done so: not so much because they cannot, but because they won’t. They won’t support our work and contribute of themselves because, I have learned, they have the fatal belief that nothing they can do will make any difference. $10 sent to bolster our work seems to be just a drop in the bucket when we face the mammoth forces of church and state.
I have never been able to ask for help, even when the cause is urgent and my situation desperate. I was trained by my family, and then by my vocation as a clergyman, that my purpose was to serve others and not ask for anything in return, to carry on simply because of the necessity of a thing.
That training runs deep in me, so that, even during my worst years, when I was literally living out of a car in Vancouver and going without food, I put any money I had into helping survivors and publishing their truth of the residential schools genocide.
In the course of that struggle, I learned to trust that when I am on the right road, the help will come, and always in unexpected ways.
That is true, but only to a point. Now that our campaign has reached a critical mass, and the graves of thousands of murdered children are ready to be opened, and modern-day child trafficking is being exposed by our efforts, the Empire responsible for the slaughter has struck back at us severely. Once again, our forces have been scattered or killed, our funders scared away, and even loyal supporters now drop away in fear.
That’s why what you give now is so vital, especially by giving me and our Tribunal the financial means to travel, hold events and bring our documentation to world courts. And since we only rely on community funding, every amount you give helps.
I’ve sent you all the information how to financially sustain our work. It’s up to you now. Without you, our campaign will falter and die. It’s that simple.
With my thanks,
Kevin Annett
with The International Tribunal into Crimes of Church and State (ITCCS) – London, Dublin, Brussels, Rome, Ottawa
www.itccs.org
ps: As a reminder, here is how to contribute:
You can make individual or group donations to our Tribunal and its work by three methods:
1. By a cheque, made out to Kevin Annett, and mailed to me at:
1000 Walker St., Unit 223
Holly Hill, Florida, USA 32117
OR
2. By direct bank deposit, made into this account:
a) For deposits into Bank of America branches within the USA:
Account of William S. Annett (chequing)
Bank of America
699 S. Nova Road,
Ormond Beach, Florida 32173 (ph: 386-672-3280)
Account Number 8980 1557 8687
Routing Number 026 009 593
b) For a wire transfer from any other bank in the USA, or from any other bank in the world:
Account of William S. Annett (chequing)
Bank of America
699 S. Nova Road
Ormond Beach, Florida, USA 32173 (ph: 1-386-672-3280)
Account Number 8980 1557 8687
Sort Code 0959
Swiftbic Code BOFAUS3N
Routing Number 026 009 593
3. OR, of course, in cash if we meet in person!
Note: A receipt will be issued to you for your donation, as well as a complimentary copy of our award-winning documentary film Unrepentant.
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