My first time in Miami: judge at the Elite Model Look competition, with after party in the Versace mansion.
My second time in Miami: campaigner with Amnesty International’s Guantánamo Cell Tour, no after party.
While a lot has changed for me in that time (before: private car, after: SuperShuttle), not much has changed for people illegally detained by the U.S. government in Guantánamo, Afghanistan and God-only-knows where else.
They are still held without charge. Still denied habeas and fair trials. Still at risk of torture. And we still wait for justice for the September 11th attacks. I’m a New Yorker, saw the towers with my own eyes, and I want to see those responsible punished. But abusing human rights is not the way to do it. Fighting terror with terror doesn’t work. Duh.
Anyway, Miami gave me hope that we can turn things around. All the people who stopped by the cell were great–or at least entertaining. I loved the homemade anti-Amnesty t-shirt one of our repeat visitors wore. I wanted to trade him my orange Counter Terror With Justice shirt, but I got shy. I was sad that the huge counter-protest he promised never materialized–we could have gotten even more press.
